Authorities in the South are searching for a teenage couple accused of carrying out a string of crimes across multiple states.
According to the Associated Press, 18-year-old Dalton Hayes and Cheyenne Phillips, 13, have been on the run since fleeing Grayson County, Ky. on Jan. 3. The Associated Press adds that Phillips was somehow able to convince Hayes (and the rest of his family) that she was 19.
Since leaving their hometown, Hayes and Phillips have left a stream of carnage in their wake, including auto theft and using stolen checks. Their crime spree has taken them across state lines:
Twice, the teens were able to evade law officers in Kentucky, the sheriff said. They crashed the first truck they stole and hid in the woods. Then they later stole another truck nearby, Chaffins said.
Chaffins said he believes Hayes - who had run-ins with the law as a juvenile - is calling the shots as the teens try to stay ahead of police.
The two were spotted Monday at a Wal-Mart in South Carolina, where the teens are thought to have passed two stolen checks, said Manning, South Carolina, Police Chief Blair Shaffer. They were seen in a vehicle that apparently was stolen from Kentucky, he said.
Authorities believe they then headed to Georgia and stole a pickup truck from the driveway of a man's home in Henry County, about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta. The homeowner awoke Wednesday to find his vehicle was gone, along with two handguns he kept inside, Henry County police Lt. Joey Smith said Friday.
Hours later, another truck the couple is suspected of having stolen in another state was found nearby. It had been crashed through a fence and abandoned behind a vacant building on neighboring property, Smith said.
Martin said her son texted her a few days after their disappearance to say the couple was in Mississippi. They were spotted soon after that in Kentucky, she said.
The Associated Press notes that police say unless Hayes and Phillips surrender soon, the "outcome [will] not be good" for them. NBC News reports that they were seen panhandling in Florida yesterday.
[via Associated Press and NBC News]
