An Ohio mom was killed early Thursday morning when she tried to stop thieves from stealing her car.

Alexa Stakely, a 29-year-old school district speech and language pathologist, had just worked her second job as awaitress and was picking her 6-year-old child up from the babysitter’s home, the Columbus Division of Police said.

She placed the sleeping child in her 2022 Honda SUV and ran back to the house to retrieve an item from the babysitter. As she returned to the SUV, it began to back out onto the road. Stakely was seen running toward the vehicle, but she was hit by the SUV and thrown onto the pavement while the Honda continued away.

Arriving officers found Stakely with traumatic injuries. She died at a hospital about seven hours later.

Her vehicle was found abandoned a short distance away, and officers recovered the sleeping child unharmed.

Two males were seen running past Stakely as she lay on the pavement after the incident. They ran north and were seen jumping a fence and disappearing into another apartment complex. Police said a group of males were seen on surveillance video looking into apartments nearby earlier in the morning. They disappeared into an apartment complex.

Investigators said two of that group matched the description of the two males seen at the car theft incident.

Investigators are asking for anyone with surveillance video from the area to send it to https://bit.ly/4eZ0Ojm. Anyone else with information should contact Detective Lemmon at (614) 645-2558 or RALemmon@ColumbusPolice.org or to call Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-TIPS (8477).

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[Featured image: Alexa Stakely/Columbus Division of Police]