[chris]

South Daytona police say a man kidnapped his ex-girlfriend from her job at a Lakeland mall and led officers on a high-speed chase down Interstate 95 before killing himself as she got free.

Brett Lee Curtis, 28, of Lakeland, is accused of abducting Elizabeth Hamilton, 26, from Lakeland Square Mall on a Monday evening in late October 2013, according to police. The two had dated for roughly three and a half years before splitting up, authorities said.

A South Daytona police officer spotted Curtis driving a white Nissan Altima on Beville Road early the next morning and tried to stop him, police said. Curtis instead sped onto Interstate 95 headed south, setting off a pursuit that reached speeds of 100 mph and stretched roughly 30 miles into Brevard County, according to authorities.

During the 45-minute chase, Curtis called 911 several times, warning dispatchers he would shoot Hamilton and the officers following him if the pursuit did not stop, according to recordings of the calls. He told a dispatcher he had enough ammunition to kill her and himself, the recordings indicate. Hamilton also got on the phone at one point, telling dispatchers she had been kidnapped and feared for her life.

The chase ended when officers deployed tire deflation devices near Mims in Brevard County, flattening the Altima's tires, according to police. Hamilton got out of the car unharmed. Curtis then shot himself and was found dead inside the vehicle, authorities said. No officers were hurt, though police said Curtis fired shots during the pursuit.

Hamilton had obtained a restraining order against Curtis about three months earlier, citing stalking, and was scheduled to appear in court to make it permanent, according to police. She said afterward that Curtis had never been violent before the abduction and that he seemed to want her with him in his final moments rather than trying to win her back. She recalled him telling her during the chase that three hours earlier, the plan had seemed like a good idea.