Cops nab Fla. sex offender traveling with missing teen in La.

NEW ORLEANS - The weeklong odyssey of a registered Florida sex offender traveling with a missing teenage girl ended in Louisiana after a truck stop cashier spotted them and police gave chase, authorities say.

Officers said they chased 41-year-old Steven Myers, of Hillsborough County, Fla., for miles before stopping the pickup truck carrying him and the 16-year-old. Myers allegedly stabbed the Valrico, Fla., teen and himself before surrendering. Officials say both were hospitalized in serious but stable condition with knife wounds.

The cashier at a truck stop near Baton Rouge said she recognized the two from video on social media.

"[The girl] was very quiet; she never said a word, but whenever I looked up and we looked each other dead in the face, I just... it stood out to me after watching [a Nancy Grace] video and that video being fresh in my mind," Fawn Dominique told CBS affiliate WTSP.

Dominique said that she was able to recognize the girl even though she had dyed her hair.

"One of Nancy Grace's videos that she had of a missing teen from Florida that was with a convicted sex offender and when I saw him.... She's a 16-year-old girl," the cashier said. "I couldn't let them leave here not knowing."

The station reports Dominique flagged down a sheriff's car that was pulling into the struck stop, triggering a 40-miles chase down Interstate 10 in Louisiana that ended when deputies laid out stop sticks and forced Myers to halt the stolen vehicle.

Myers will face charges including attempted murder and unlawful sexual activity, officials in the two states say.

"The Lord had something to do with it," Scott Holbrook, Dominique's boss and the truck stop manager, told WTSP. "Fawn was not scheduled to work that day and someone called and asked her to work for her."

The girl is not being identified because of allegations she was sexually assaulted.