Missouri Couple Wanted In Alabama Are In Georgia, Allegedly Pulled Off Another Robbery, Kidnapping
Missouri couple Blake Fitzgerald and Brittany Harper, wanted in Alabama for a string of robberies and attempted abductions, are now reportedly in Georgia, pulling off similar crimes.
Fox News reports that that the Joplin, Missouri, couple, both 31, wanted in connection with crimes in Alabama, have made their way into Georgia, where authorities believe they pulled off an armed robbery in Perry, just south of Warner Robbins and close to 30 miles south of Macon. According to the Perry police, the couple allegedly carried out the robbery at a Murphy Express gas station in Perry at around 11 p.m.
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A surveillance video shows the couple in a 2010 silver Ford Edge, the same vehicle they allegedly stole from a couple in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. After they got out of the car and walked into the gas station, Fitzgerald pulled out a gun and forced the Murphy Express clerk into a stolen car. According to Perry police Chief Steve Lynn, the couple dropped her off miles away with no physical harm.
“Fortunately she wasn’t physically harmed. I don’t want to downplay the fact that I’m sure she was very much traumatized.”
The couple was last seen driving southbound on Interstate 75 in the stolen Ford Edge. Alabama authorities released the Alabama license plate number of the stolen vehicle as 2720AG7.
Alabama Robberies
On early Sunday morning, Fitzgerald and Harper reportedly robbed the Microtel Inn and Suites in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and forced a 26-year-old male hotel clerk into his girlfriend’s car at gunpoint. The couple drove to Jefferson County, Alabama, with the hotel clerk in the back of the car, hidden under a blanket, where they attempted to rob a McDonald’s employee. However, the attempt was thwarted when some of the other restaurant employees came to her rescue.
The couple ended up in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, after dropping the hotel clerk off, unharmed, close to the Montreat condominiums. Only 15 minutes after they attempted the McDonald’s robbery, they arrived at a home in Vestavia Hills off of Monte Vista Drive, where Fitzgerald allegedly entered the home through an open garage and forced a wife into her silver Ford Edge at gunpoint. They later dropped the wife off, unharmed, at a local hospital.
Authorities indicate that according to the couple’s Facebook pages, they listed themselves as a couple on January 25 and that the robberies may have been planned in advance. On the same day she listed herself in a relationship with Fitzgerald, Harper posted an anti-police photo on her Facebook page, insinuating if she saw authorities, she would run.
https://www.facebook.com/brittany.reeves.1840/posts/10208215458012493?pnref=story
At 5:33 a.m. on January 25, Harper shared a photo on Facebook, indicating that she doesn’t talk to police.
https://www.facebook.com/brittany.reeves.1840/posts/10208215457452479?pnref=story
Tuscaloosa police Lt. Kip Hart said that the couple should be considered armed and dangerous, and they should not be approached.
“They’re considered armed and dangerous. We have no idea why they’re running or where they’re running from or running to.”
Vestavia Hills police Lt. Kevin York stated that he’s uncertain what the motive is for the couple, although according to Fitzgerald’s previous charges in Missouri, he’s been in trouble on numerous occasions in the past for alcohol abuse, burglary, and assault.
“We want to know what the motivation is. “I mean, what’s the whole point in all of this?”
Aside from a traffic citation, Harper’s record seems to be clean, according to Missouri court documents. Regardless, police reiterate that the couple should be considered armed and dangerous. If you see them or the vehicle, do not approach them, but call the police instead.
U.S. Marshals Services is offering $10,000 ($5,000 for each person) for the capture of the Missouri robbers. Anyone with any information should call 911 immediately.
[Photo by the Vestavia Hills Police Department]
