Woman charged with killing 70-year-old man claims man picked her up from side of highway, offered to pay her for sex

Apr. 17—A 27-year-old woman charged with hitting and killing a 70-year-old man with his own truck last week in Spokane told police the man picked her up from the side of a highway and offered to pay her for sex.

"I didn't have to run him over, he was only trying to help me, but I seen that he wanted more of me and it gave me a gross feeling and I'm running around in my underwear," Alyssa K. Bray told police in court documents.

Bray was charged with first-degree murder in the April 9 death of Gerald R. Fox near the Spokane International Airport. She made her first appearance Wednesday in Spokane County District Court where Judge Jeffrey Smith kept her bond at $1 million.

Bray told police she was walking on the side of the highway heading toward Airway Heights the night of April 9 when she was picked up by a man who she did not know. The man offered her money in exchange for sex, she said.

Bray said she got in the truck, later identified as Fox's blue Chevrolet Colorado, and they drove around for a short time before parking on a road, which police believe was Grove Road. She said they were there for about 30 to 45 minutes and he offered her $40, she told police.

She said there was no physical contact between them, but when he got out of the truck to come around to the passenger side, she locked the doors of the truck and got into the driver's seat. Police said they believe Fox got out of the truck to "initiate sexual contact" with Bray.

When asked where Fox was located at the time of the crash and if Fox was running away or running toward her, Bray said, "No, I just drove him off the road."

She said she "didn't have to kill him," according to court records.

Police believe Bray accelerated the truck at Fox, crossed onto the opposite shoulder of the roadway and struck him with the vehicle before fleeing the scene west on Highway 2 into Lincoln County, where she was pulled over and arrested for unrelated charges.

Police believe Bray was driving well over 25 mph and closer to highway speeds when she hit Fox, documents say. Investigators believe he was thrown from Sunset Frontage Road, through fencing before striking a tree.

A person called 911 after finding Fox's body at about 7:15 p.m. alongside Sunset Frontage Road, near Grove Road, according to documents. Police and fire personnel responded, and Fox was declared dead at 7:26 p.m.

Police say Fox's clothing was nearly off his body, documents say.

The Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office informed police Fox died from blunt-force trauma and that Fox had been struck from behind, according to the office's preliminary findings.

Police said there was no significant change of direction in the tire marks through the gravel or any evidence of braking. Police also found vehicle parts in the roadway and gravel. Several fragments of bright blue paint, consistent with automotive paint, were at the scene.

Spokane police dispatch received two "reckless driver" reports involving a speeding blue Chevrolet truck with front-end damage on U.S. Highway 2 within a few minutes after Fox was found dead.

A Lincoln County Sheriff's Office deputy responded at about 8:30 p.m. to a report of a possibly impaired driver on State Route 25. The deputy found Bray in a blue Chevrolet Colorado, of which Fox is the registered owner, stopped in the roadway, documents say.

The driver of the truck then drove away, and the deputy tried to stop it. The pursuit reached speeds of 93 mph before the deputy stopped and arrested Bray, the only person in the truck, according to court records.

She was initially booked into the Lincoln County Jail on suspicion of DUI and attempting to elude a police vehicle, Spokane police said. She was transferred Tuesday to the Spokane County Jail, where she remained Wednesday night.

Fox has two unrelated convictions for possessing child pornography in the last two years in Spokane County.