PHOENIX — An Arizona woman has been arrested on suspicion of killing a man she met through a dating app after allegedly striking him with his own SUV and fleeing the scene, according to police and court documents.
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Thirty-year-old Mikela Bahe faces felony charges, including second-degree murder, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, and theft of a motor vehicle in connection with the death of 52-year-old Norris L. Taft in Phoenix.
According to court documents, Taft and Bahe connected through the MokoSpace dating app before meeting in person on Sunday afternoon. Investigators say Taft picked Bahe up at a Dunkin’ Donuts location before the pair visited a dispensary and a Shell gas station and later returned to Taft’s apartment complex in Phoenix.
Text messages included in the probable cause statement indicate Taft later told family members he believed he had been “catfished,” saying the woman he met did not resemble the person from the dating app profile. Documents say Taft also told relatives he was trying to return Bahe to her residence or otherwise end the date.
Surveillance footage from the apartment complex reportedly showed a woman identified as Bahe leaving the building and entering a black SUV that had previously been registered to Taft.
Investigators say Taft entered the parking lot and stepped in front of the SUV while holding his arms out as if signaling for the vehicle to stop. The SUV allegedly continued forward, striking Taft and dragging him underneath the vehicle.
Taft was transported to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries.
Taft’s daughter, Brianna Fallon, said she only recently learned details surrounding her father’s death.
“I still don’t know who it is. I don’t know how they met. I don’t know their relationship at all,” Fallon said.
“It’s just honestly hard to even fathom. It sounds like this is just like a story that you read that never actually happens to anybody you know, and then it happens to you, and it just doesn’t feel real.”
Fallon also said she believes Bahe was attempting to steal her father’s vehicle.
“With talking with the person who owns the apartment complex, he was at, it was really clear that she was trying to steal his car, and he ran after her, and she hit him, and then just left,” Fallon said.
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Police said the SUV remains missing.
According to investigators, surveillance footage later showed Bahe being dropped off at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport the following day, where she boarded a Groome Transportation shuttle headed to Flagstaff.
With assistance from the Flagstaff Police Department, authorities located and arrested Bahe on Wednesday afternoon.
Court records show Bahe is being held on a $1 million cash-only bond. Her next court appearance is scheduled for May 13.
Taft’s family has established a fundraiser to help cover funeral expenses.
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