OAN Staff Abril Elfi
2:07 PM – Saturday, July 27, 2024
Three teenagers were charged in connection to the death of Alexa Stakely, the Ohio mother who was struck while trying to prevent the theft of her vehicle with her 6-year-old son inside.
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All three suspects which include, 19-year-old Gerald Dowling, and two 16-year-olds whose identities have not been publicly released because they have not been charged as adults, have all been charged with murder.
One of the 16-year-olds, who was accompanied by his parents, turned himself in at Columbus police headquarters on Wednesday and consented to speak with detectives, according to police.
Later, he told detectives, he and the other two acquaintances were searching around 1:30 a.m. on July 11th for a car to steal when they spotted Stakely’s Honda.
According to Columbus police, the other 16-year-old was apprehended on Wednesday afternoon and told investigators that he was there when Stakely’s car was being attempted to be stolen. 19-year-old Dowling surrendered on Wednesday evening.
On Tuesday, Magistrate Woodrow Hudson said that the teenagers will be held at Juvenile Intervention Center pending another hearing that is scheduled for Monday.
Dowling, the only adult among the suspects, had his first appearance Thursday morning in Franklin County Municipal Court where Judge Bill Hedrick set his bond at $10 million.
Attorneys for the two 16-year-olds have stated that neither of them had any prior criminal history or speeding tickets on their record.
According to the Columbus police, one of the 16-year-old had told detectives he was the one behind the wheel when Stakely got struck by the vehicle.
On Thursday July 11th, Stakely had reportedly loaded her sleeping child into her Honda CR-V before rushing back to his babysitter’s residence to grab something that she had forgotten.
“That’s when the carjacker jumped into her car, which was turned on, and drove away. Stakely chased after the suspect and tried to stop him before throwing herself onto the car,” Daily Mail reported.
However, an unnamed witness who spoke with officers said that she eventually fell off the car’s hood while it was driving around.
At nearly 1:30 a.m. on July 11th, authorities of the Columbus Division rushed to the White Oak Park Condominiums in southeast Columbus, which is located north of Canal Winchester. Officers then discovered Stakely’s body on the ground, which had suffered gruesome injuries.
Police also found the vehicle in question and miraculously discovered that the 6-year-old boy was still asleep inside of the car. The suspects had reportedly parked the vehicle and abandoned it, in order to flee the area.
Stakely was then quickly taken to Mount Carmel East Hospital, where the medical staff declared that she had died.
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