SOPA Photographs by way of Getty
A Lyft driver was murdered by a passenger who then used the still-bloodstained automobile to journey to a household operate, police in Indiana say.
Devin Powell, 24, was nonetheless in possession of the white 2013 GMC Acadia when officers tracked him down in Merrillville, about 142 miles from the place they are saying he shot 34-year-old Anthony Garland useless in Indianapolis, the Indianapolis Starexperiences.
Garland’s physique was present in a grassy space close to an Indianapolis roadside on June 30, with a gunshot wound to his head and several other others on his physique, police mentioned.
Investigators have been in a position to establish him after his spouse reported him lacking that very same day, saying the final time she’d spoken to him was when he was working for Lyft round midnight, in response to the Star.
The path then led to Powell after Lyft information listed him because the final passenger picked up that evening, police mentioned.
Powell was subsequently taken into custody by police in Merrillville, nonetheless driving Garland’s Acadia. A probable-cause affidavit cited by the Indianapolis Star famous that bloodstains have been nonetheless seen on the middle console of the automobile. Powell had reportedly bought new seat covers in a bid to cover among the stains, nevertheless.
Courtroom paperwork say he initially claimed to have discovered the automobile deserted, earlier than ultimately telling investigators Garland was his Lyft driver and the taking pictures was in “self-defense,” claiming Garland had tried to “screw him over and take his cash.”
He allegedly admitted to pulling Garland’s physique out of the automobile after taking pictures him, and dumping him alongside the street earlier than making off with the automobile.
A passenger who was with Powell within the automobile when police lastly caught up with him in Merrillville recognized himself as a cousin, saying he believed the automobile was Powell’s and that he’d pushed up for a household gathering.
Powell now faces preliminary prices of homicide and theft. It was not instantly clear if he had retained a lawyer as of Wednesday morning.