12-year-old girl steals dad's car, picks up friend, drives hundreds of miles before crossing Florida-Alabama border to meet someone they encountered online

A 12-year-old north central Florida girl stole her dad's car Thursday morning, picked up a friend — a 14-year-old girl — and drove across the border into Alabama on their way to meet someone in Louisiana the girls encountered online.

But the pair never got that far and turned themselves in to authorities after crossing into Alabama and seeing their images broadcasted in a store Thursday evening, WJXT-TV reported.

Given they started out in their Florida hometown of Lake Butler — which is about 40 minutes north of Gainesville — and got all the way past the Alabama border means the pair traveled over 300 miles at the very least.

Say what?

An initial report from the Union County Sheriff's Office indicated that Jade Gregory, 12, and Khloe Larsen, 14, were possibly traveling west on Interstate 10 in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area. They were believed to be using a 2016 black Ford Taurus belonging to Gregory's father.

The sheriff's office said there was no known adult with them, and no foul play was expected.

While the girls are now safe and the dad's vehicle was recovered in good condition, Union County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Lyn Williams told WJXT in a separate story that the FBI is investigating an "unknown person" the girls were looking to meet in Louisiana.

"Whether or not they were trying to lure them out there ... either way they were going out there to meet this person," Williams told the station, adding that the act of the girls "crossing state lines ... is serious."

Wait, there's more!

One thing that may not be too surprising about this wild tale is what happened to the girls after they turned themselves in.

They were being held in an Alabama Juvenile Detention Facility and weren't slated to be released until a Monday hearing, WJXT said.

What's more, Union County deputies said Gregory and Larson weren't cooperating with law enforcement and — as a WJXT reporter put it during a station broadcast — their parents were "frantic."

The Union County sheriff's office added to WJXT that once the girls are released from Alabama custody, they will be interviewed and the investigation will continue with the help of the FBI.

The station said the sheriff's office hasn't confirmed if an arrest has been made in this case.

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