Suspected Killer Of Pregnant Lyft Driver Arrested

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

One subject has been arrested for being the alleged perpetrator of the fatal stabbing attack against a Lyft driver who was pregnant. The suspect was detained this Sunday near the state line that divides Arizona from California.

Fabian Durazo, 20, is now being held in a cell in La Paz County, Arizona, on suspicion of being the author of the kidnapping and murder of Kristina Howato.

Ron Elcock, a Tempe police spokesman, told the Associated Press that early on Sunday the 39-year-old woman received a request to pick up a passenger.

The woman answered the call and picked up the suspect, taking him to an apartment complex half a mile from the starting point. Upon reaching his destination, the subject stabbed the woman repeatedly and then fled, stealing his car.

Howato was transferred to a hospital where she passed away. The waiting creature also lost its life. According to the AP, the woman had two more children who survive her.

Authorities from the Arizona Department of Public Safety used the car's GPS location system to track it, and at noon they found it on Interstate 10, near the town of Quartzsite, near the state limits with California. Durazo was arrested and taken to the police station.

"Throughout our careers as [law] officers, stories are presented that truly touch our hearts and that keep one for the rest of the career," Elcock exclaimed at a press conference on Monday. "This is definitely one of those incidents that is going to really affect the police department for a long time."

For their part, spokesmen for the Lyft company in California issued a statement assuring that they are "in shock" over the death of their driver, assuring that they are assisting the authorities in the corresponding investigations.

The suspect would face two counts of first-degree murder, one count of kidnapping and armed robbery, authorities confirm. It is unknown if he has a legal defense.