The sentence follows a guilty plea in the 2023 shooting death of Amare Geda, a 52-year-old father of two who was working an overnight shift.

SEATTLE, Wash. — A 20-year-old woman was sentenced March 27 to 20 years in prison for fatally shooting Seattle rideshare driver Amare Geda during an overnight shift in 2023, then stealing his Toyota Prius and using it for personal trips before police arrested her.

Ne’iana Allen-Bailey’s sentencing closed the criminal case at the trial court level after she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement in King County Superior Court. The hearing brought the focus back to Geda, a 52-year-old Uber and Lyft driver and father of two, and to the way prosecutors said the killing unfolded in Seattle’s SODO area before Allen-Bailey drove away in his car. The sentence also resolved a major charging decision in the case, which had begun as a first-degree murder prosecution and ended with an amended plea.

The shooting happened in the early morning hours of Aug. 8, 2023, near First Avenue South and South Walker Street, where Geda had stopped his light blue 2014 Toyota Prius after finishing a trip while working overnight. Prosecutors said Allen-Bailey walked up to the driver’s side, opened the door and shot him shortly after 3:20 a.m. Geda got out of the car and collapsed in the street. At sentencing, the timing of those final moments remained central to how the case was remembered. Family members described a man who was close to heading home when he was killed. Local reporting on the investigation said Geda was left in the roadway only minutes from the end of his work night, and one account presented in court said his wife had expected him home about 30 minutes later.

Investigators said the killing was followed by a blunt and traceable series of moves. Court records cited by local news outlets said Allen-Bailey drove away in Geda’s Prius and kept it for about two days. During that time, prosecutors said, she used the car to visit family in Skyway, go to a hair appointment in Kent, and buy about $20 in gas in Renton. She also discarded some of Geda’s belongings, including his phone, according to local coverage of the arrest documents. Surveillance video became a major part of the timeline. One report said Allen-Bailey later told investigators the encounter lasted about two minutes, but video showed Geda was outside the vehicle for only about seven seconds before he fell. Police eventually found the Prius in Seattle and arrested her in South Lake Union.

The courtroom record also placed Geda’s life at the center of the sentencing. The Seattle Rideshare Drivers Association had earlier described him as a man who worked two jobs for years to support his family, driving at night and working at the airport during the day. In court, relatives said his death ripped through both family life and a wider immigrant and driver community that knew him as dependable and generous. A note written by Geda’s wife and read aloud at the hearing described the shock of being told he was gone and the loss felt by their children. Another relative said the killing left children without a father and a wife without her husband. Those statements gave the hearing a shape that went beyond the mechanics of charging and sentencing and underscored why the case drew lasting attention in Seattle.

The legal path shifted over time. Allen-Bailey was originally charged with first-degree murder, a count that carried a more severe exposure if the case had gone to trial. By March 2026, she entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder with a firearm enhancement. Local reporting said that plea placed the standard sentencing range at roughly 15 to 23 years. Prosecutors argued for more than 23 years, while the defense asked for a shorter term and pointed to her background, including trauma, mental health struggles and substance abuse. Judge Haydee Vargas imposed 240 months, structured as 180 months on the murder conviction plus a 60-month firearm enhancement. Because the case ended in a guilty plea and sentencing, the next likely steps would be any post-sentencing motions or a direct appeal if filed.

The hearing also included Allen-Bailey’s own statement. She told the court that her apology would not make things better and that life would never be the same for Geda’s family. Her relatives, who were also in court, urged the judge to consider her age at the time of the killing and the instability in her upbringing. But the emotional center of the hearing stayed with Geda and the people who knew him. A fellow driver described him as someone who cared about others and showed love. Those comments gave the proceeding a more personal tone than the cold sequence described in police records: a driver parked after a trip, a shot fired at close range, a body in the street and a stolen Prius moving through the region for errands that prosecutors later recited in court.

Allen-Bailey’s case now stands as closed in superior court with a 20-year sentence in place. The next public milestone would come if appellate filings or later prison records bring the matter back into court.

Author note: Last updated April 20, 2026.