A mother was murdered in the United States while trying to stop two men from stealing the car in which her six-year-old son was sleeping.
Speech therapist Alexa Stakely, 29, suffered a head injury after being hit by the vehicle as it drove away and was later pronounced dead in hospital.
The robbers abandoned the car a short distance away and ran past Ms. Stakely lying in the road as they fled the scene in Columbus. Ohio.
Her son was unharmed, police said.
Stakely, a single mother who worked two jobs, had just finished her shift as a waitress and was picking up her son from his babysitter’s house around 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
After carrying the sleeping child to his Honda SUV, which he had left running, he returned to the babysitter’s house to collect the child’s belongings.
As he returned to his vehicle, Stakely saw someone begin to reverse onto the road and ran toward the car, yelling for his son and telling the driver to stop.
She was knocked down while accelerating.
The two suspects were among a group of men caught earlier on a security camera looking at nearby apartments.
On Friday they remained at large.
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Mrs. Stakely also worked as a speech therapist at an elementary school.
The Canal Winchester Local School District said in a statement that she was “a great mother who was incredibly dedicated to her son.”
He added: “Alexa was passionate about children and speech and language therapy.
“She was intelligent and compassionate, and she cared deeply about helping children develop their ability to communicate.
“Ms. Stakely made a difference in the lives of the students and families she worked with and will be missed by many in our community and beyond.”
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