Mom dies trying to stop person stealing her car while her son was inside
A mother has now died on Thursday after trying to stop a thief from stealing her car, while her young son was still inside.
www.abc6onyourside.com
by WSYX Staff
Thu, July 11th 2024 at 5:35 AM
Updated Thu, July 11th 2024 at 11:18 PM
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Photo of Alexa Stakely provided by Columbus police.
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MOTHER CAR SON CRITICALLY THIEF POLICE INJURED SUSPECT
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — A mother died after trying to stop a thief from stealing her car while her young son was still inside.
Police were called to the intersection of Annual Drive and Blue Knoll Drive on the far Southeast side at 1:27 a.m. on Thursday.
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29-year-old Alexa Stakely was picking up her 6-year-old son from a babysitter, police said. At one point, she placed the sleeping child in the car while it was running and went back to the home to grab something she forgot from the babysitter.Police said she returned to her car and saw it beginning to back out into the roadway. People heard her screaming for her child.
Path of the stolen Honda and suspects provided by Columbus police.
Stakely got on the hood of the car, trying to get it to stop, and was thrown off when the suspect started driving erratically, police said.
She suffered a serious head injury after falling off the car and was rushed to Mount Carmel East in critical condition, where she later died.
When police got to the scene, officers discovered the car in the same parking lot, with the child still asleep inside. The suspect had left the scene.
WSYX learned that Stakely was incredibly dedicated to her son, and she worked two jobs to provide for him.
She was leaving one of those jobs to pick him up when she died.
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Stakely was known as "Ms. Alexa" to so many.
The 29-year-old graduated from OSU. She was a speech pathologist for Canal Winchester Schools.
The district's Facebook page remembering her has hundreds of shares. Many commenting how Stakely helped their kids. Most in disbelief she’s gone.
She had been at Winchester Trail Elementary for five years.
District leaders say Stakely was smart and compassionate. She cared a lot about helping other kids thrive in academics and was very dedicated to her 6-year-old.
That dedication reached a whole new level when she jumped in front of a car to save her son.
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According to detectives, two males were seen running past Stakely, who was lying in the roadway. They then ran north towards the abandoned Honda and continued running northbound. They jumped a fence and disappeared into a neighboring apartment complex.
Earlier that morning, surveillance video caught a group of males looking into apartments in the area of Castenea Way. When confronted, they proceeded eastbound further into the complex and out of view. Two of these males matched the description of the males who were seen running past Stakely after she had been struck, police said in a media release.
Detectives are asking anyone with video of the incident itself or persons loitering in the area to send it here.
