Left inset: Dusty Ryder. Right inset: Keainna Cox. Background: Video allegedly shows Dusty Ryder being hit and killed by Keainna Cox in Spokane, Wash., on April 21, 2026 (KHQ).
A drunk Washington state woman blew through a stop sign and slammed into a dad on a motorcycle ride with his son and the teen”s friend, causing him to fly through the air to his death, according to police and family.
“His bike exploded,” said 18-year-old Harley Ryder — who was riding a motorcycle directly behind his father Dusty Ryder — in an interview with the The Spokesman-Review.
“He was just laying on the ground bleeding everywhere,” Harley Ryder recounted. “A silver car came flying through the intersection and hit him.”
Keainna Cox, 37, is charged with vehicular homicide, failure to remain at the scene of a fatal accident and driving with a suspended license in connection with the April 18 slaying, according to court records.
Police and prosecutors say Cox had alcohol in her system when she crashed into Dusty Ryder and killed him near West Indiana Avenue and North Atlantic Street in Spokane. The father of four, who just got married in October 2025, was on a ride with Harley and one of the teen’s friends when Cox allegedly struck and killed him in front of them.
A witness told the Spokesman-Review she was in a car behind the group when she saw Cox allegedly nail Dusty Ryder’s bike. “It immediately exploded and caught fire,” the witness said, noting how she and another person in the car called 911.
“She wrecked our world,” Dusty Ryder’s mother, Shelli Oliver, told the Spokesman-Review. “Family was everything to him.”
A GoFundMe launched for Dusty Ryder’s loved ones says Cox “carelessly stole Dusty from his family with her impaired driving.”
Cops allege that Cox was driving a Mitsubishi Outlander and speeding at the time of the crash. She tried to flee from the scene but was detained one block away, according to police. Cox allegedly claimed she came to a complete stop at the stop sign and that Dusty Ryder ran into her as she pulled past it.
A Washington State Patrol drug recognition expert evaluated Cox at a local hospital and reportedly determined that she was impaired by alcohol and central nervous system depressants, per police.
A Spokane County judge ordered Cox to be held on a $250,000 bond and set a trial date for June after she pleaded not guilty last week.
“We are in for the long haul,” the Ryder family’s GoFundMe says about the not guilty plea and possibility of Cox’s case going to trial. “We will not give up until justice is served!”
