Couple wanted in multi-state crime spree eyes Florida next

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (FOX News) - The Missouri couple accused of antics akin to Bonnie and Clyde, robbing businesses and kidnapping workers in two other states, said they're hoping to get married and start a new life together if they can make it to Florida, an abducted hotel clerk revealed Wednesday.

Police have linked Blake Fitzgerald and Brittany Nicole Harper of Joplin, Missouri to crimes in Alabama and Georgia, saying the offenses fit a similar pattern: People are robbed, kidnapped and let go unharmed, usually after a car is stolen.

Kyle Dease is the night clerk at Microtel Inn and Suites in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He tells the news site Al.com that during nearly two hours he was held captive in a stolen car, Fitzgerald told him he had no plans of returning to prison. Dease says he's afraid that if police corner the couple, they're "going to go out shooting."

The couple entered the hotel around 6 a.m. Sunday, saying they'd run out of gas and were trying to get to Panama City, Florida, according to Dease. Moments later, Dease said, the man pulled a semiautomatic pistol and said he needed money and a car.

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