US teens in cross-country crime spree

An 18-year-old man and his 13-year-old girlfriend are on the run from police in the US after stealing cars and guns.

Dalton Hayes and Cheyenne Phillips

An 18-year-old man and his 13-year-old girlfriend are on the run from US police after stealing cars. (AAP)

In what sounds more like the plot of a Hollywood thriller like Badlands or Natural Born Killers, two US teens are on the run after they allegedly blazed a trail of crime across several states.

Police in the southern state of Kentucky said on Friday they are looking for 18-year-old Dalton Hayes and his 13-year-old girlfriend Cheyenne Phillips after they stole as many as three cars, some with firearms in them.

Phillips was reported missing on January 3 by her father in Grayson, Kentucky, and was spotted with Hayes nine days later in a Walmart in Manning, South Carolina, about 470 miles (750km) away.

The duo drove off in a stolen red 2006 Toyota Tacoma, which had a gun inside it when it was taken.

Police said they were next seen some 250 miles away in Henry County, Georgia, where they ditched the Tacoma and stole another car, which contained two handguns.

It is not clear when they might have picked up a third car, but police officials said they were suspects in three separate car thefts.

Police warned the couple could be dangerous and said they were becoming more daring as they made their way across the country.

"It is imperative that these two be located and apprehended as their behaviour is becoming increasingly brazen and dangerous," the Grayson County Sheriff's office said in a statement.

"Both have managed to flee police on at least two occasions and are certainly considered flight risks if stopped by anyone."

Grayson County Sheriff Norman Chaffins said a credible tip indicated they were last spotted in Florida, and that people across the US had called in to help.


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Source: AAP



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