Woman sentenced to 10 years in fatal hit-and-run of Leavenworth 16-year-old
A 28-year-old woman will spend nearly 10 years in a Kansas prison after she was convicted in December of second-degree murder in the fatal hit-and run of a Leavenworth teenager.
Amber Alexander, of Parkville, Missouri, was sentenced to 117 months in the Kansas Department of Corrections during a hearing Wednesday in Leavenworth County District Court, prosecutors said. She was found guilty of the murder charge — along with leaving the scene of an accident, destruction of evidence and interfering with a law enforcement investigation — following a two-day trial that concluded Dec. 30.
Prosecutors have said Alexander left a bar in Lansing in the early hours of Aug. 7 after having several drinks. Surveillance video showed her then getting behind the wheel of her Subaru Outback before heading north on Main Street into Leavenworth, prosecutors said.
That morning around 2 a.m. two teenage girls, 16 and 17, were walking north on 4th Street. Alexander allegedly struck the 16-year-old near Kiowa Street before speeding off and heading over the Leavenworth Centennial Bridge into Missouri.
A witness testified that the victim was on the hood of the vehicle for approximately 60 feet before the driver swerved and threw her off. The victim died in a hospital after being taken there with critical injuries.
In the days after the fatal crash, police reached out to the community asking for tips that might lead to an arrest of the driver by sharing photographs of the vehicle seen near the scene. Tips received included information provided by a fellow bar patron who placed Alexander in the area around the time of the crash, prosecutors have said.
Investigators later found that Alexander had filed insurance claims for damage to her vehicle shortly after the crash. Prosecutors said she intentionally crashed her car in a wooded area in an attempt to hide the damage done from the fatal crash, and claimed to her insurance provider that the front-end damage occurred in a parking lot. Physical evidence presented at trial included broken glass from a headlight and a missing passenger side mirror.
In a statement Wednesday, County Attorney Todd Thompson praised Leavenworth police for their work on the case.
“Further, we must thank the public for stepping up and helping in the investigation,” Thompson said. “We would be nothing without the help of our citizens in keeping our community safe.”
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 7:09 PM.
