Teen steals car with sleeping 6-year-old, then fatally hits the mother, Ohio cops say
A 16-year-old confessed to fatally hitting a 29-year-old single mother with her own car as she ran to save her 6-year-old son in the backseat, Ohio police said.
Alexa Stakely had just finished a waitressing shift, her second job on top of being a speech language pathologist for a local school district, in the early hours of July 11 when she went to pick up her 6-year-old son from a babysitter, the Columbus Division of Police said in a July 24 report.
She carried her sleeping son to her car and started it, ready to leave. Then, she realized she forgot something and ran back to the babysitter’s Columbus apartment to retrieve it, police said.
At that time, a 16-year-old boy and two friends were walking around the apartment complex’s parking lot looking for a car to steal, police said.
The teen saw Stakely’s running car, so he hopped in the driver’s seat, police said.
Police said Stakely returned to the car and saw the 16-year-old. The teen said he “panicked” and started to drive away, according to police.
With her sleeping 6-year-old in the back seat, police said the single mother ran after the car while “screaming for her child.” Police said the teen driving the car struck Stakely, and she fell to the ground.
Her head struck the ground, causing a serious injury, police said. The 16-year-old abandoned the car and ran off with two friends, according to police, leaving the child in the backseat.
When police arrived at about 1:30 a.m., Stakely needed to be rushed to the hospital. Her child was found in the car unharmed, police said.
Stakely died at about 8:45 a.m. that morning, police said.
“(Stakely) was passionate about children and speech-language therapy,” the Canal Winchester Schools said in the July 11 release. “She was smart and compassionate, and she cared so much about helping children develop their ability to communicate. She was a great mom who was incredibly dedicated to her son. Ms. Stakely made a difference in the lives of the students and families she worked with and will be missed by so many in our community and beyond.”
On July 24, two weeks since Stakely’s death, the 16-year-old went to Columbus Police Headquarters and “admitted to stealing Stakely’s Honda and causing her death,” police said.
The teen was charged with murder.
Later that day, one of the teen’s acquaintances came forward and told police they were present when Stakely was killed. That juvenile was also charged with murder, according to a July 24 Facebook post by police.
A third suspect, whose age was not listed, arrived at police headquarters, WHIO reported. Both accomplices were charged in connection to the killing, according to police and WHIO.
This story was originally published July 25, 2024 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Teen steals car with sleeping 6-year-old, then fatally hits the mother, Ohio cops say."
