SALISBURY — Rowan County authorities are looking for a hitchhiking couple who they say beat up and robbed a man who tried to help them.

The victim was driving his pickup about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the 600 block of Hurley School Road when he spotted a woman walking down the road. He turned around and asked her if she needed a ride, and she accepted the offer.

She yelled at a man who emerged from a wooded area. She then told the driver she didn’t need a ride, but as he turned around in a driveway, the man jumped into the truck through the unlocked passenger door.

The man grabbed the keys from the ignition and threw them into the woods, then started punching the driver in the face. The driver got out of the vehicle and was chased by the man. The man continued to punch the driver and demanded to know if he had any money.

The driver told the man he had only $8. The driver got away and called authorities. He gave a description of what the woman was wearing and said the man was shirtless.

The driver said the woman called the man Jeremy and yelled for him to stop punching the victim. Officers had reports about a man named Jeremy Eugene Motley earlier in the day who was drunk and disruptive.

Officials said they have issued arrests warrants for robbery for Jeremy Eugene Motley, 28, who is described as 5 foot 7 inches tall and weighing 168 pounds. He has brown hair and brown eyes. His wife, Trista Fawn Donaldson, 32, is also being sought for common law robbery. She is described as 5 foot 8 inches tall, weighing 160 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Motley’s last known address is 126 Paige Drive. Donaldson’s last known address is 8395 Bringle Ferry Road.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Motley and Donaldson are asked to contact the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office at 704-216-8668 or Salisbury-Rowan CrimeStoppers at 866-639-5245.