Car Thief Suspect Drives Himself To Jail After Victim Tracks Him Down: 'Welcome Home!'

SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. (CBS Local) -- A man accused of stealing a car drove himself to jail after the victim helped track him down, according to police in Kentucky.

Krystal Thompson said her gold sedan was stolen early Wednesday morning while she shopped for groceries at a Walmart in Shepherdsville.

"I went to go put my groceries in my car, and it wasn't there," Thompson told CBS affiliate WLKY.

The mother of three alerted store employees and filed a police report. Her husband then picked her up from the store and the couple began driving down Kentucky Route 44, headed home.

"And as we're coming down 44, we pass another car and I'm not thinking anything of it, but my husband is, like, 'Oh my gosh!' and I'm, like, 'What?' and he's, like, 'I think that was your car!'" Thompson said.

She and her husband turned around and began following Joshua Altizer, 22, who police later said was driving her car. She called 911 again.

"I am telling them minute for minute, where we are, where he's turning," Thompson said.

Officers caught up to them and told Thompson and her husband to stand down. According to police, Altizer sped up and led officers on a high-speed chase.

The chase ended in the most unlikely of places when Altizer drove himself to the Bullitt County Detention Center.

"The fact that he drove it to the jail, I was just like, 'Wow!'" Thompson said, laughing.

Police say Altizer ran from officers but was eventually arrested. Thompson's car was returned to her with only minor damage.

"I didn't expect to see it ever again, and the fact that we did was a miracle," she said.

As they stood in the parking lot of the jail, Thompson had just one thing to say to Altizer.

"Absolutely, I told him, 'Welcome home,'" she said.

Altizer was charged with theft by unlawful taking of a vehicle, fleeing from police and receiving stolen property.

In:
• Kentucky