A pregnant Lyft driver and her unborn child were killed by her passenger in Tempe, Arizona. The passenger stole her vehicle and drove about 150 miles before being arrested near the California border, authorities said Monday.
According to Tempe Police Department, the Lyft driver, Kristina Howato, 39, was in her third trimester of pregnancy and is has two other living children that are currently with family.
Police officers responded to the apartment complex near University Dr and McClintock Dr about 1:30 a.m. after calls came in about a woman screaming in the parking lot.
They discovered, Howato, suffering from life-threatening stab wounds. Howato was transported to a nearby hospital where both she and her unborn child later died.
Authorities said that Fabian Durazo, 20, was booked into a La Paz County jail on suspicion of two counts of first-degree murder and additional charges related to the incident.
Durazo made his first court appearance in La Paz County and later was extradited to Maricopa County.
Sgt. Ron Elcock, a police spokesman, said that Howato was working early Sunday when she received a pickup request in west Tempe.
The attack happened about a half-mile away from where Howato picked up Durazo and where he fled in her 2005, silver, Mercury SUV.
Arizona Department of Public Safety officials assisted Tempe police in a search by using GPS tracking to locate the stolen SUV on Interstate 10 near Quartzsite, about 25 miles from the Arizona-California border and Durazo was arrested Sunday afternoon.
Police said the motive for this brutal stabbing is unknown and they don’t believe the pair knew each other.
“We were shocked and deeply saddened to learn of this tragedy, and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims,” said official’s from Lyft.
Lyft says it is assisting police with their investigation, and have permanently closed Durazo’s account.
