Update: Suspect in fatal hit-and-run accused of trying to hide damage, flee Tri-Cities
A Kennewick woman is accused of trying to hide damage to her SUV and flee the Tri-Cities after a fatal hit-and-run.
Prosecutors said in court Friday that Alexandra Nichole Brinkley, 33, was asking about fixing her damaged car and making a plan to go to the Vancouver, Wash., area soon after she allegedly hit a pedestrian on Canal Drive and didn’t stop.
Brinkley allegedly struck Angelica Morfin-Barajas, 31, while she was walking across Canal Drive near North Lyle Street early Saturday morning.
A second driver also hit Morfin-Barajas in the roadway but pulled over and called police at 12:15 a.m.
Prosecutors said in court Friday that Brinkley admitted to police that she hit Morfin-Barajas, who died at the scene.
Brinkley is being held in the Benton County jail in lieu of $100,000 bail on suspicion of hit-and-run involving a death.
Her bail was set that high because Brinkley allegedly does not have a driver’s license and was wanted for more than six months for failing to appear in court related to an earlier arrest, said prosecutors. She was charged with driving under the influence/physical control.
Prosecutors said she could also face charges for allegedly posing as her sister when investigators asked for her name after another wreck earlier in October.
Friday, her court appointed defense attorney argued unsuccessfully for a lower bail. Benton County Superior Court Judge Norma Rodriguez said her warrant, alleged attempts to hide the damage and to try to flee the area justified the higher amount.
Fatal hit-and-run
A Kennewick police officer was nearby on West Bruneau Place heard a collision just after midnight on Saturday morning, according to court documents. When he went to check, he saw a red SUV or truck fleeing east on Canal Drive.
There were no witnesses to the actual collision, but the officer spoke with the driver of the second vehicle that hit Barajas-Morfin. That driver was heading west on Canal Drive when she tried to swerve to avoid an object in the roadway.
The woman cooperated with investigators and remained on the scene.
Based on the large amount of debris left by the collision, investigators believe Brinkley was driving significantly above the 35-mph speed limit, according to court documents. They found no evidence of the first vehicle braking before the crash.
The responding officer told investigators he believed the red vehicle he spotted was the suspect based on paint, chrome, a broken headlight and other debris left behind.
Barajas-Morfin suffered a skull fracture and multiple broken bones. She was already dead when officers arrived, according to the documents.
Security camera footage from a nearby home recorded the sound of the crash at 12:05 a.m. and a red SUV with chrome travelling eastbound, with what sounded like a wheel rubbing or grinding.
Investigators identified the vehicle as a maroon Jeep Grand Cherokee, with obvious front -end damage to the front driver-side bumper and headlight.
Tracking the vehicle back in time using traffic cameras, investigators found the vehicle did not have the same damage when seen on multiple cameras around 12:03 a.m. The driver, which appeared to be a woman, was the only visible occupant of the Jeep.
When another camera picked up the Jeep at the intersection of Fruitland and Kennewick Avenue at 12:06 a.m., officers were able to see the front was damaged. More sightings on Washington Street also showed this damage.
Investigators said that in the 10 minutes between when Morfin-Barajas was first hit and when police responded, multiple vehicles may have driven by not realizing the object in the road was a person.
Attempt to flee Tri-Cities
Brinkley was not the registered owner of the Jeep, but investigators had talked with her in September when she was a passenger in the Jeep. Its driver at the time was arrested for driving with a suspended license, and Brinkley was taken to jail on a warrant.
Brinkley was released, but the man driving the vehicle was still in jail on the night of the hit-and-run. The Jeep is registered to Brinkley’s mother.
Investigators found the Jeep was also involved in a wreck on Oct. 4.
Officers later learned that Brinkley had given them her sister’s information during that incident. When the investigators looked up her sister’s information, they realized the photo did not match the driver seen on an officer’s body camera footage from the Oct. 4 wreck.
The only damage to the Jeep at that time appeared to be on its hood, not the bumper or light.
Officers were later able to match Brinkley as the driver in the Oct. 4 wreck and the September arrest.
On Nov. 4, investigators received an anonymous tip that the tipster was talking to a friend who was a mobile mechanic about the fatal hit-and-run.
He said his ex-girlfriend, Alex Brinkley, called him about half an hour after the accident and allegedly asked for help fixing the headlight on the driver’s side of a maroon SUV. She also told him she was planning to move to Vancouver, according to court documents.
After speaking further with the tipster, investigators learned the damage was to the headlight, radiator and front end of the vehicle. The tipster’s friend thought the request was odd and seemed to write it off due to Brinkley’s past issues with substance abuse, said the documents.
On Nov. 5 the lead investigator contacted Brinkley’s sister after she learned that her name had been used in an insurance report. The investigator wrote that it was obvious her sister had no idea about the investigation.
A search warrant for Brinkley’s phone showed that she attempted to call someone around the time she allegedly tried to message the mechanic, said court documents.
Officers tracked her phone’s location and arrested Brinkley at a home on East 15th Avenue on Nov. 6. The Jeep was parked outside.
Brinkley at first told investigators that the vehicle wasn’t operable after the Oct. 4 wreck. She said no one else had driven the vehicle or used her phone, according to court documents.
Investigators wrote that when they told Brinkley they knew she wasn’t being honest, her voice cracked and she teared up, telling them, “I didn’t see her.”
She then told the detectives she had not been on her phone or impaired, she was just driving home from a friend’s house when “all of a sudden there was a person in front of her vehicle.”
She claimed that the woman appeared to be OK, and standing up so she kept driving, according to court documents.
She also admitted to sending the messages asking for help covering up the damage so she could leave the area, according to the documents.
Struggling mother killed
Morfin-Barajas of Richland was a young mother of five children.
Friends posted on social media that Morfin-Barajas was a “struggling mother,” but a “happy soul” who was working to improve her living circumstances.
Her mother posted in Spanish that her daughter had suffered, but was joyful and radiated energy. “If one door closed, she opened three,” her mother posted.
An online fundraiser said Morfin-Barajas’ family is devastated and unprepared for the unexpected funeral expenses. They’ve raised about $3,400 through GoFundMe as of Friday afternoon.
“Angelica was a loving mother, daughter, sister and friend,” it said.
The fundraiser is at bit.ly/AngelicaMorfin.
This story was originally published November 7, 2025 at 3:10 PM.
