Police say the victim had texted family that he believed he had been catfished before the fatal crash.

PHOENIX, Ariz. — A Phoenix woman is accused of running over and killing a man she met through a dating app after he tried to end the date, police said, turning a Sunday afternoon meeting into a homicide case.

Mikela Antresa Bahe, 30, faces charges of second-degree murder, theft of means of transportation and failure to remain at the scene of a fatal accident in the death of 52-year-old Norris L. Taft. Police said Taft was struck May 3 in the parking lot of an apartment complex near 16th Street and Maryland Avenue and later died at a hospital.

The case began as a report of a crash involving a pedestrian. Officers were called to the area around 4:08 p.m. and found Taft critically injured in the parking lot, Phoenix police said. Phoenix Fire Department crews took him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Investigators later said the collision was not a routine traffic case but an intentional act tied to a date that had started earlier that day.

Police said Taft had arranged to meet a woman through MocoSpace, a social networking and dating platform. According to court documents described by local outlets, Taft spoke with his nephew before meeting her and said he was on his way to pick her up. The nephew later told investigators he received a message from Taft saying the woman did not look like the person from the app and that he believed he had been catfished. Taft indicated he wanted to take her home or otherwise end the outing.

Investigators traced the movements of Taft’s black Cadillac Escalade through phone records, location data and surveillance video. Police said Taft picked up Bahe near 23rd Avenue and Thomas Road. The pair then went to a Curaleaf dispensary on Camelback Road and a Shell gas station on Seventh Street before returning to the apartment complex near 16th Street and Maryland Avenue. Security video from those businesses showed a woman matching Bahe’s appearance getting out of the SUV and making purchases, investigators said. Records from the dispensary identified the customer as Bahe.

At the apartment complex, surveillance video became the central evidence in the case. Police said the footage showed a woman later identified as Bahe walking down stairs and getting into the Escalade. Taft then entered the parking lot and stepped in front of the SUV with his arms extended, appearing to signal the driver to stop. The SUV moved forward, accelerated and struck him, investigators said. Taft fell to the ground and was dragged under the vehicle before the SUV drove over him and left the lot.

Sgt. Lorraine Fernandez, a Phoenix police spokesperson, said homicide detectives believe the driver intentionally struck Taft before leaving the scene. The SUV had been registered to Taft and was being used mainly by him, according to court documents reported by local media. The registered owner later told police no one besides Taft had permission to take it. Police said the vehicle was still missing in the days after Bahe’s arrest. The path from the parking lot to Bahe’s arrest ran through Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, police said. Detectives reviewed airport security video and identified Bahe boarding a shuttle bound for Flagstaff after the crash. Flagstaff police found her on May 6, three days after Taft was struck, and took her into custody. She was booked into the Maricopa County Jail on a $1 million cash bond.

Bahe later spoke with investigators, according to court documents described by local outlets. She acknowledged being with Taft and being in Phoenix around the time of the incident, but said she could not remember what happened after the pair left the dispensary. Police said that after she was shown surveillance footage from the apartment complex, she still said she did not recall the fatal collision. Investigators also said Bahe called a relative after the incident and said she had “messed up” and was going to prison.

The charges place the case in Maricopa County Superior Court, where prosecutors must prove more than a bad argument or a failed date. The second-degree murder count accuses Bahe of causing Taft’s death under circumstances that show intentional or knowing conduct, or conduct showing extreme indifference to human life. The vehicle theft count centers on the Escalade, while the failure-to-remain charge focuses on the driver leaving after a crash that caused death.

Police have not said whether Bahe and Taft knew each other before the online contact. They also have not released the full dating-app messages or the complete surveillance footage. The public record described so far comes from the police advisory, court filings and accounts of evidence reviewed by investigators. Authorities have not announced any additional suspects. Bahe is presumed innocent unless convicted in court.

The apartment complex near 16th Street and Maryland Avenue sits in a busy central Phoenix corridor, close to major roads, small businesses and residential buildings. On May 3, police said, the parking lot became a crime scene after the SUV fled and first responders arrived. Officers searched for the vehicle while detectives began pulling video from the apartment complex, the dispensary, the gas station and the airport.

The dating-app detail drew wide attention, but the prosecution is expected to turn on physical evidence: the movement of the SUV, the position of Taft in the parking lot, the timing of Bahe’s travel after the crash and what she told police. Investigators said Taft’s final messages to family helped explain why he may have been trying to stop the vehicle. The precise words exchanged between Taft and Bahe at the apartment complex remain unknown.

Police said the investigation remained active, including efforts tied to the missing SUV and the full reconstruction of the fatal parking-lot collision. Bahe remained in custody after her arrest, and the case was moving through its first court steps in May.

Author note: Last updated May 28, 2026.