INDIANAPOLIS — In the moments before her death, a bicyclist gave police a key piece of information about the suspect who hit her and then drove away. Police now say that information has led to an arrest.
Kayla Bowling, 29, died Wednesday after being hit by a car on the southeast side of Indianapolis.
Police said they were called to a report of a bicyclist hit by a car around 11 a.m. in the 3000 block of South Rural Street, near East Troy and South Keystone avenues.
Officers found Bowling lying near a bicycle in the driveway at that address. Medics took her to the hospital, where she died shortly after arriving. The Marion County coroner conducted an autopsy and listed her official cause of death as a pedestrian struck and killed.
Investigators said that before her death, Bowling gave them the license plate number of the vehicle that hit her. IMPD hit-and-run detectives were able to use that information to identify the suspect as Kyle Rigdon, 27.
According to court documents, Rigdon and Bowling had dated for a time and had broken up about a month before her death, according to her father. Bowling's father also told police that Rigdon had been stalking his daughter and even showed up at the house with a knife and slashed her tires.
In court documents, Bowling's mother told police that her daughter had told her several times that Rigdon "was going to kill her..."
The court documents allege Rigdon visited his son the day after Bowling's death, didn't say much and gave his son $100 before he left. The mother of the boy was able to provide police with pictures of Rigdon's damaged car.
Investigators also alleged Rigdon had asked an employer to lie about him being at work at the time of Bowling's death.
Rigdon was arrested June 3 by IMPD officers and members of the department's SWAT team.
He's accused of leaving the scene of an accident causing death. The Marion County Prosecutor's Office will make final charging decisions in his case. As of Sunday afternoon, charges had not yet been filed against Rigdon.
Police are asking anyone with information about this hit-and-run to contact Det. Eric Amos at 317-327-3475 or e-mail him at Eric.Amos@indy.gov.
To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-8477 or (TIPS).