It was 4 a.m., according to CHP investigators, when the three Del Campo High School students spotted the man standing near the pickup.

Continuing a night of pranks, one of the girls threw an egg at the target, then the girls - out celebrating a friend's birthday - drove off.

This time, authorities said, the target gave chase.

Minutes later, following a high-speed pursuit through the streets of Carmichael and Fair Oaks, the girls' car lay smashed against a tree and one of them was dead.

Four months after the Oct. 13 crash that killed 17-year-old Kailey McGagin, authorities announced Wednesday they had issued an arrest warrant for the man who they say chased the girls in a stolen pickup.

California Highway Patrol investigators said 39-year-old Tyrone Adam Palmer slammed into the 2003 Honda Civic the girls were riding in and cut them off three times. The third time Palmer cut off the Honda, the driver - 18-year-old Seychelle Curry - lost control and the car slammed into a pole before striking a tree on Winding Way at Dewey Oaks Court, authorities said.

McGagin died at the scene, and Curry, who investigators said had a blood-alcohol content above 0.05 percent at the time of the crash, remains in a coma. Valerie Schmidt, 17, suffered two broken legs.

In addition to charges of vehicular manslaughter, hit and run and reckless driving, Palmer will face a count of second-degree murder because he showed a "willful and wanton disregard for human life" while chasing the girls at high speeds, according to the Sacramento District Attorney's Office.

The arrest is Palmer's 10th in Sacramento County since 1990, including drug and assault charges, court records show.

Palmer was arrested less than two weeks after the crash in the same stolen white pickup truck involved in the chase, according to CHP Officer Lizz Dutton, but authorities did not realize at the time that he was involved in the fatal crash.

Palmer pleaded no contest to a stolen vehicle charge in November and was sentenced to 16 months in prison, court records show.

Authorities said they were led to Palmer about one month ago after an anonymous tipster said they had seen images of the white pickup truck captured on a home's surveillance video that were released to the media. Palmer also had discussed the incident with acquaintances, authorities said.

The Carmichael resident is being held at Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy and is expected to be arraigned on the new charges Feb. 29 in Sacramento, authorities said.

"I feel like this is . a gift for me to know he is in jail," said McGagin's tearful mother, Erin McGagin.

According to the CHP, the three friends had gone out to dinner, then spent some of the night driving around, throwing eggs out of Curry's car. Investigators believe the chase ensued after one of those eggs was thrown at Palmer.

During the fatal chase, Palmer rammed into the girls' car and at another point "roared past their vehicle" and cut them off, the District Attorney's Office said in a news release.

A witness told investigators of seeing the truck following the Honda with its headlights off while both vehicles "were traveling at a higher rate of speed," according to the District Attorney's Office.

Erin McGagin said her daughter and friends considered throwing eggs "silly and fun." Kailey McGagin had been hit with an egg shortly before the night of the crash and had "just washed it off," her mother said.

On Wednesday, Erin McGagin said she "wants justice."

"That's the most important thing," she said.

At Del Campo High School, the arrest rekindled the "roller coaster of emotions" the school has been on since the crash, said Vice Principal Bob Wegsteen. School administrators did not plan to announce the arrest to students, knowing the teens would find out on their own.

"This is difficult because their emotions are so real," Wegsteen said.

"Our job is to deal with education, but also the emotions of the kids and to hopefully teach them to make the right choices."