Updated

Authorities in the Florida Panhandle say a Missouri couple suspected in a series of robberies and abductions in Alabama and Georgia have been found and the man is dead and the woman taken into custody early Friday.

A statement from the Escambia County Sheriff's Office says Blake Fitzgerald died and Brittany Nicole Harper was wounded and taken to a local hospital.

No other details were immediately released, but local news outlets report that shots were fired after a chase.

Authorities have linked the couple to a series of crimes in Alabama and Georgia, saying the offenses fit a similar pattern: People are robbed, kidnapped and let go unharmed, usually after a vehicle is stolen.

U.S. Marshals spokesman Martin Keely says the couple is also suspected in two Florida robberies in Walnut Hills and Destin on Wednesday.