ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – A warning for parents after an unexpected twist following an online encounter between teens.

A St. Charles County mom and dad say they learned their daughter was being lured by someone older than the age of 14 – that he’d claimed. The suspect reportedly rammed the parents’ car when confronted.

It reportedly went down on the corner of Northwood Drive and Barberry Lane in O’Fallon, where two parents were trying to see who their 13-year-old daughter was trying to meet through Snapchat.

Ian Kreitler and Andrea Dickherber’s daughter said she was going to walk to her aunt’s house nearby.

“My youngest daughter came up to me and said, right after she left, she said she’s not going to her aunt’s,” Ian said. “She’s going to meet up with a 14-year-old boy.”

Andrea said they got in their car and followed after their daughter.

After catching up with her, they convinced their daughter to let them come along. So she got in their car.

Ian explained that his daughter, “…said it’s a 14-year-old boy, his mom’s driving him. Then whenever he pulled up, not even seconds later, he had facial hair. He clearly wasn’t 14, and he was driving himself.”

Andrea said at first, it looked like the man was going to stop his car. Instead, he sped up and slammed into them.

The crash was caught on a nearby ring cam, which shows the man ramming the car where Andrea was sitting.

“It was terrifying,” she said. “I felt like I was going to die trying to save my daughter.”

A witness, Julie Hoag, said the suspect “drove into my yard and he just sped off.”

Hoag remembered the suspect waiting in his truck.

“He was sitting up here for like 45 minutes and I had thought, well, maybe he’s lost or maybe he’s Ubering. Something like that,” she said. “I didn’t realize he was down here to meet up with this little girl.”

The suspect was reportedly sending Snapchat messages to the girl for weeks.

“Telling her, ‘Don’t tell your mom and dad,’” Ian said, adding, “…and all these red flags, but as a 13-year-old, you don’t realize that.”

The messages show the suspect learned when mom and dad were home.

“He knew our life, before we even knew who he was,” Andrea said. “And he got into our house through Snapchat.”

The St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Jake Paluczak, 19, five criminal counts, including attempted child molestation, sexual misconduct, and age misrepresentation with intent to solicit a minor.

Police may have only found the suspect because the 13-year-old remembered his plate.

“My wife tried to take a few pictures and they were too blurry,” Ian said.

Andrea added that her daughter, “…grabbed the whole six numbers, and if she hadn’t, he could have got away.”

The couple says their daughter is traumatized, but grateful for her parents’ intervention.