A nephew’s account helped detectives piece together the hours before Norris Taft was fatally struck.
PHOENIX, Ariz. — A text message from a Phoenix man saying he believed a dating-app match had catfished him became part of a homicide investigation after he was run over and killed, police said.
Norris L. Taft, 52, died after being struck May 3 by a black Cadillac Escalade at an apartment complex near 16th Street and Maryland Avenue. Police arrested Mikela Antresa Bahe, 30, three days later in Flagstaff. She is charged with second-degree murder, theft of means of transportation and failure to remain at the scene of a fatal accident.
The case is built partly around what Taft told family before he died. According to court documents described by local media, Taft spoke with his nephew around midday and said he was going to meet a woman he had connected with on MocoSpace. The plan appeared to be simple: Taft would pick her up, spend time with her and return home. The meeting soon raised concern. The nephew told investigators Taft later texted that the woman did not resemble the person from the app and that he believed he had been catfished.
Taft’s message gave detectives a possible motive and a time marker. He indicated he was trying to return the woman home or end the date. Police said cellphone records and location data showed he picked up Bahe near 23rd Avenue and Thomas Road, then drove to a Curaleaf dispensary on Camelback Road and a Shell gas station on Seventh Street. Investigators said security video from both businesses showed a woman matching Bahe’s appearance outside the Escalade, and dispensary records identified the customer as Bahe.
By midafternoon, the Escalade had returned to Taft’s apartment complex. A 911 caller reported that a man had been run over by a dark-colored SUV that left the parking lot. Officers arrived around 4:08 p.m. and found Taft with critical injuries. Fire crews took him to a nearby hospital, where he later died. Phoenix police first described the call as a collision involving a pedestrian, but the investigation quickly shifted once detectives reviewed video from the complex.
The apartment surveillance video showed a sequence police said was deliberate. A woman investigators identified as Bahe came down from the building and got into the SUV. Taft walked into the parking lot and moved in front of it with his arms out. Court documents described him as appearing to signal the driver to stop. Instead, the SUV continued forward, accelerated, struck him, dragged him beneath the vehicle and drove away without stopping.
Sgt. Lorraine Fernandez, a Phoenix police spokesperson, said detectives believe the driver intentionally struck Taft before leaving the area. The registered owner of the Escalade later told police no one except Taft had permission to use the vehicle. That statement supported the theft-of-means-of-transportation charge against Bahe. The SUV became both the alleged murder weapon and a missing piece of evidence after police said it had not yet been recovered in the immediate aftermath. The route after the crash led investigators away from the apartment complex and toward transportation hubs. Police said surveillance video showed Bahe at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport boarding a shuttle that was scheduled to travel to Flagstaff. On May 6, Flagstaff officers located her and took her into custody. She was then booked into the Maricopa County Jail, where records cited by local outlets showed a $1 million cash bond.
Bahe’s statements to detectives left gaps. According to court documents described in local reports, she said she remembered being with Taft and remembered being in Phoenix, but she said she did not remember anything after leaving the dispensary. Investigators said they showed her surveillance footage from the apartment complex. Bahe still said she could not recall what happened. Police also said she called a relative after the incident and made a statement indicating she knew the situation was serious.
The evidence described so far includes family communications, business records, video from several locations and police interviews. Each part covers a different piece of the afternoon: Taft’s expectation before the meeting, his reaction after seeing the woman, the pair’s stops around Phoenix, the moment in the parking lot and Bahe’s travel after the SUV left. Prosecutors are expected to use those pieces to argue the collision was not accidental.
The defense has not been detailed in public reports. Bahe’s reported memory gap could become an issue as the case proceeds, but police have said the video and circumstances support an intentional-homicide allegation. The second-degree murder charge does not require prosecutors to prove advance planning in the same way as a first-degree murder count. It does require proof that the defendant caused the death knowingly, intentionally or through conduct showing extreme indifference to human life. Taft’s last known communications now sit at the center of the story. They do not answer every question. They do not show what was said inside the SUV, what happened inside the apartment complex before the video began or whether any argument turned physical. But they do show that Taft believed the meeting had gone wrong and that he was trying to end it shortly before he was fatally struck.
Police have not released the full text exchange, the full video or a full timeline of Bahe’s actions after arriving in Flagstaff. They also have not said whether the MocoSpace account used to arrange the meeting has been preserved for court. The investigation remained active as detectives continued searching for the Escalade and preparing evidence for prosecutors.
The next major steps were expected to focus on the recovery of evidence, formal filings and the court schedule tied to the murder, vehicle theft and hit-and-run charges. Bahe remained jailed as the case moved through Maricopa County courts.
Author note: Last updated May 28, 2026.