Inset: Cristopher Covington-Smith (Abilene Police Department). Background: A section of the 1800 block of Corsicana Avenue in Abilene, Tex. (Google Maps).Â
A man in Texas is accused of purposefully running over a woman with her own SUV, leaving her body on the side of the road and then dumping the bloody vehicle at a nearby house.
Cristopher Covington-Smith faces a charge of first-degree murder in the death of 31-year-old Corrisa Trowbridge, the Abilene Police Department announced. The two are said to have had previous domestic disputes before the underlying incident.
On March 12, Covington-Smith — whose age is unclear — and Trowbridge had been arguing, according to court records reviewed by local ABC affiliate KTXS. A short time later, surveillance video captured the suspect reversing, accelerating, and hitting Trowbridge in her 2016 white Ford Expedition, authorities claim.
The Abilene Police Department said officers were called to the 1800 block of Corsicana Avenue in the city around 4 a.m. due to reports of a hit-and-run. When police got there, they found Trowbridge dead on the side of the road.
There was debris from a crash at the site, and the victim”s injuries were consistent with being hit by a vehicle, investigators said. Police also reportedly found the damaged Ford SUV at a nearby home, with the vehicle containing suspected blood evidence and missing a side mirror.
Investigators identified Covington-Smith as their suspect and worked to hunt him down. The following day, Abilene police arrested the suspect’s father and brother — Shannon Dwayne Covington and Anton Demarcus Covington, respectively — charging them both with third-degree felony hindering apprehension or prosecution of a known felon.
Authorities alleged the defendant’s father and brother were “helping to conceal” their relative.
Covington-Smith was arrested later the same day in Fort Worth, Texas, with the help of the U.S. Marshals.
He will be extradited some 150 miles back west to Abilene, located in the central part of The Lone Star State.
