CONROE, Texas – The 12-year-old girl who took her grandmother's car for a joyride last month in Montgomery County will be released into the care of her aunt and uncle after a meeting in court on Tuesday.
It's been almost a month since she stole her grandmother's car and led police on a wild chase through Conroe with her little sister in tow.
Since then, a battle has played out in court over where she will live after she's released from custody.
On July 14, a judge decided to keep the girl in juvenile detention until there was a suitable home for her. In a hearing Tuesday, a judge finally decided the girl's fate.
"The recommendation today was to release this young girl to, I believe it's an uncle, and the uncle's fiance. A number of other orders are put in place as to who can and can't be around her," Montgomery County Attorney JD Lambright said.
[WATCH THE DASH CAM VIDEO HERE]
The little girl is in serious trouble with the law. The chase reached speeds of more than 100 miles per hour, resulting in a laundry list of criminal charges.
Even though she's being released, her legal troubles are far from over.
"Hopefully she will be on her best behavior, no issues at the home she is going to be staying in and so forth, and she will periodically come back to court," Lambright said.
The girl has been charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, two counts of evading arrest and two counts of deadly conduct for crashing into cars while she was speeding away from police.
Her 5-year-old sister was removed from the care of her mother and grandmother immediately after the incident, according to authorities. The sisters have both been removed from the house now, due to the mother and grandmother's substance abuse issues, according to authorities.
Police said when a Conroe Police Department officer spotted the car June 30 in the 12000 block of West Davis around 5:30 p.m., the 12-year-old did not pull over, starting a 35-to-40-mile chase, with her 5-year-old sister in the front passenger seat.
Police said she took her grandmother's car for this joyride.
Channel 2 Investigates learned through a police source that the girl was trying to visit her boyfriend.
"The younger girl was terrified. Went right into the arms of our officer when it was over," Montgomery Police Chief Jim Napolitano said Friday.
KPRC 2 obtained the dash cam video of the police pursuit. In the video, the girl drives on the wrong side of the road, the shoulder on the wrong side of the road and barely squeezes between two vehicles stopped in a lane of traffic on the other side.
During the chase, police said the kids hit two or three vehicles before finally pulling over at Montgomery High School. There were no injuries.
"The vehicle being pursued hit multiple vehicles along 105 resulting in minor damage and no injuries, thank goodness. The two juveniles were involved and no injuries at that point either," Jim Napolitano, Montgomery Police Department, said.
According to a witness who was driving on Highway 105 with three kids in the car, their vehicle was almost hit by the kids, knocking a mirror off the car. The witness then saw the granddaughter driving on the shoulder in the wrong direction of the highway. Police said the chase speeds reached close to 100 mph.
"The fastest that I saw was 126," J.D. Lambright, Montgomery County attorney, said after reviewing dashcam video.
The chase ended when police notified General Motor Co.'s OnStar call center and asked that the car a 2014 Chevy Cruz, be remotely shut down.
The car rolled to a stop near Montgomery High School.