Teen runaways Cheyenne Phillips and Dalton Hayes 'dump stolen truck in Georgia'

A truck allegedly stolen by two teen runaways has been found dumped in Georgia - as their days-long crime spree reaches a fifth state.

Cheyenne Philips, 13, and her older boyfriend, Dalton Hayes, 18, were last seen at Hayes' home in Grayson County, Kentucky on January 4 and have been on the run ever since.

More than a week later, on Sunday 12, they allegedly stole a truck from a couple's home in Clarkson, Kentucky before driving through a cattle farm and abandoning the damaged vehicle.

The following day, they were spotted on surveillance footage walking around a Walmart in Manning, South Carolina and driving yet another stolen pickup.

By Wednesday, that pickup truck was found dumped in Henry County, Georgia, ABC News reported, and another nearby vehicle - a silver 2001 Toyota Tundra - was reported stolen.

To get from Kentucky to South Carolina and then to Georgia, the couple likely also drove through Tennessee and North Carolina, bringing their crime spree to five states.

Authorities have not offered a motive for the spree, but NBC reported that Hayes was a suspect in other robberies, while his mother said they fled after she confronted Phillips about her age.

On January 4, Phillips' father reported the girl missing after she spent the night of January 3 at Hayes' home, WHAS reported.

Police contacted Hayes' mother, Tammy Martin, who said she thought her son's girlfriend was 19 - not a seventh-grader.

She told WDRB that the couple had been together for three months and her son did not know the girl's real age either.

'He's told me that he loves her,' she said. 'He actually bought her an engagement ring.' 

After the police contacted her, she sent a message to the girl. 

'I texted Cheyenne and said the police are looking for you, she says why, I said they say you're under aged,' she told WHAS.

When Martin retued home, the pair were gone.

After they had been on the run for a week, police started seeking them for a different reason.

On Sunday evening, Jim and his wife Kathy McGrew retued to their home in Grayson County from church to find the duo stealing their truck, WHAS reported.

The teenagers raced down the road with police in pursuit, before tearing across a cattle farm, smashing into a fence and driving into the woods. They then fled through the trees on foot.

Mr McGrew searched for them in his plane while police used a K-9 unit, but all they found was the abandoned, wrecked truck with $7,500 worth of damage and a trail of clothes left behind. 

Later that day, they stole a red 2006 Toyota Tacoma, the sheriff said. There was a firearm inside the car when it was taken.

The vehicle was seen outside a Walmart in South Carolina the following day and surveillance footage also shows them inside the store.

While in Walmart, the teens used a stolen check that was $20 over the items they were buying, so the cashier gave them the difference back in cash, Manning Police Chief Blair Shaffer said.

They then repeated the ploy with another stolen check, walking away with $40 in cash, Shaffer said.

On Wednesday, the second truck was found dumped and another within walking distance was taken. That vehicle, which belongs to a firefighter, also had firearms inside at the time it was stolen from just south of Atlanta in Henry County, police said.

Tammy Martin said she's worried about what her son might do. 

'He's never went this long without contacting me, and it's really very stressful,' she said. 'I'm just worried that they're not safe anymore.' 

'Plot': The teenagers allegedly used two forged checks to get cash back from the cashier at Walmart

Escape: The couple left in this 2006 Toyota Tacoma, which was later found dumped in Georgia

Phillips' mother also made a tearful plea for her daughter to retu.

'It's really hard knowing your child is out there,' Sherry Peters told WSBTV crying. 'Please come home, please come home. We can work through whatever that it is.'

Hayes is wanted for custodial interference and other offenses. Both are suspected in at least two felony thefts and other crimes but no charges have been announced, Grayson County Sheriff Norman Chaffins said. 

When asked about the underage relationship, Chaffins said: 'We're not worried about that right now.'

He called for the two to be arrested or tu themselves in 'as their behavior is becoming increasingly brazen and dangerous'.

'We just want them to come in, tu themselves in because eventually it's just going get worse for them, and law enforcement, and we do not want that to happen,' Chaffins told WLKY. 

 

Fears: Sherry Peters also made a tearful plea for her daughter to retu home to Kentuck

The sheriff said he believes Hayes is calling the shots as the teens try to stay ahead of the law.

'This is not a game to us,' Chaffins said. 'Our biggest fear is that Dalton is not going to stop for the police, he's going to run every time they approach him and they get in a pursuit. When a pursuit starts and somebody is not going to stop, the outcome is usually not a good one.'

Their crime spree has drawn comparisons with the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde, who carried out robberies at banks and gas stations as they traveled across the U.S. in the 1930s. The story was made into a film starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty in 1967.

Cheyenne was wearing a black, long-sleeve shirt and black sweatpants with brown and pink cowboy boots when she was caught on camera in South Carolina.

Hayes was wearing blue jeans, a University of Kentucky Wildcats t-shirt and black tennis shoes.

If you see the teenagers, police ask for you call 911.