Police say a woman was struck with her own SUV after an argument, and the suspect was captured a day later in Fort Worth.

ABILENE, Texas — A man accused of killing a 31-year-old woman by hitting her with her own Ford Expedition in south Abilene is facing a first-degree murder charge after police said the case moved quickly from a hit-and-run report to a homicide investigation and a regional manhunt.

Authorities identified the woman as Corrisa Trowbridge and the suspect as Cristopher Covington-Smith. The case drew added attention because investigators said court records described prior domestic disputes between the two, surveillance video captured key moments before the impact, and officers later found the damaged SUV at a nearby home with what appeared to be blood inside. Within a day, police said, Covington-Smith had fled, a murder warrant had been issued, and U.S. Marshals arrested him in Fort Worth.

The sequence began just after 4 a.m. on March 12, when Abilene police were called to the 1800 block of Corsicana Avenue in south Abilene on a report of a hit-and-run involving a pedestrian. Officers arrived and found Trowbridge unresponsive in the street with severe injuries. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Police later said the case was being investigated as a homicide. By later that day, detectives had publicly named Covington-Smith as the suspect and announced that a murder warrant had been issued. In a release asking for help finding him, police said he was wanted in connection with the hit-and-run homicide that morning. That progression, from an early crash call to a murder warrant in a matter of hours, marked the first sharp turn in the case.

Court records reviewed by local media added the details that turned the investigation from a fatal crash into an intentional killing allegation. According to those records, Trowbridge and Covington-Smith had been arguing shortly before the collision. Investigators said surveillance video showed the driver reversing, accelerating and striking Trowbridge with her white 2016 Ford Expedition before leaving the area. Police also said officers later located the SUV at a nearby residence. The vehicle was described as damaged, with a missing side mirror and what investigators believed was blood evidence inside. Court documents, as summarized by local reports, said the physical description of the person seen in the footage matched Covington-Smith. Police have not publicly released the video itself, and charging papers available through news reports did not answer every question, including exactly how the argument began or what happened in the minutes before the vehicle was driven away.

The investigation then spread beyond the roadway where Trowbridge was found. On March 13, police said detectives arrested two of Covington-Smith’s relatives on allegations that they helped conceal him after the killing. Anton Demarcus Covington, identified by police as the suspect’s brother, and Shannon Dwayne Covington, identified as his father, were each charged with third-degree felony hindering apprehension or prosecution of a known felon. The department said both men were accused of helping hide a homicide suspect related to them. Police did not publicly detail, in the initial release, what specific actions formed the basis of those allegations. Later that same day, authorities said the United States Marshals Office out of Abilene located and arrested Covington-Smith in Fort Worth on the Taylor County murder warrant. Abilene police thanked partner agencies and said he would be extradited back to Abilene.

The case stands out in part because of the way several forms of evidence appear to overlap. Police have cited the roadside scene, the damaged SUV, the missing mirror, suspected blood evidence and surveillance footage. Court records, as described in local coverage, also place the suspect and victim in a personal conflict shortly before the fatal impact and refer to earlier domestic disputes between them. That context does not establish guilt by itself, but it helps explain why investigators treated the death as more than a traffic case. It also raises questions that had not been answered publicly in the initial wave of reporting, including whether anyone else was present during the argument, who had control of the vehicle moments before the impact and whether prosecutors will later add or narrow factual allegations as the case moves through court. For now, the known record remains centered on police releases and the court descriptions cited by local outlets.

What happens next is more procedural than dramatic, but it will determine how the public record grows. Covington-Smith is expected to face the murder charge in Taylor County after extradition from Fort Worth, according to police. Prosecutors would then decide how to present the case, what evidence to emphasize and whether to release additional charging details in open court. The hindering cases against his father and brother are separate and carry their own legal path, even though they arose from the same manhunt. No trial date, hearing schedule or public timeline for future filings was listed in the police releases reviewed for this story. The investigation also remained ongoing in those statements, leaving room for detectives or prosecutors to produce additional records, interview summaries or forensic findings later.

The public face of the case has been unusually stark from the beginning: a woman found dead on a quiet south Abilene street before dawn, a murder warrant issued the same day, and a suspect located in another Texas city by the next afternoon. Police statements were brief and factual, while outside coverage filled in a few details from court records. That left a story told in fragments: a roadside body, a white SUV left nearby, a missing mirror, a video clip, then the sudden expansion of the case to include two relatives accused of helping a wanted man. Those pieces have shaped the early understanding of Trowbridge’s death even as many details remain outside the public file.

The case remained an active homicide investigation as of the latest public updates, with Covington-Smith arrested on the murder warrant and the next milestone expected to be court action in Taylor County once extradition and initial proceedings are completed.

Author note: Last updated April 13, 2026.