Devin Powell, Lyft passenger, killed Lyft drivers then used blood-stained car to visit family, police say

A Lyft driver was murdered by a passenger who then drove the still blood-stained vehicle to a family reunion, Indiana police say.

Devin Powell, 24, was still in possession of the white 2013 GMC Acadia when officers located him in Merrillville, about 142 miles from where he allegedly shot and killed 34-year-old Anthony Garland in Indianapolis Indianapolis Star reports.

Garland’s body was found June 30 in a lawn near a roadside in Indianapolis, with a gunshot wound to the head and several others to the body, police said.

Investigators were able to identify him after his wife reported him missing the same day and said the last time she spoke to him was when he was working for Lyft around midnight, the authorities said Star.

The trail then led to Powell after Lyft records listed him as the last passenger to be picked up that evening, police said.

Powell was subsequently taken into custody by Merrillville police and was still driving Garland’s Acadia. An affidavit of probable cause cited by the Indianapolis Star noted that bloodstains were still visible on the vehicle’s center console. However, Powell had reportedly bought new seat covers to hide some of the stains.

Court documents say he first claimed to have found the vehicle abandoned before finally telling investigators Garland was his Lyft driver and the shooting was “in self-defense,” claiming Garland was trying to “prank him and to take his money”.

He allegedly admitted to pulling Garland’s body from the vehicle after shooting him and dumping him along the road before driving away in the car.

A passenger who was in the vehicle with Powell when police finally caught up with him in Merrillville identified himself as a cousin and said he believed the car was Powell’s and that he had pulled up to a family reunion.

Powell now faces preliminary charges of murder and robbery. It was not immediately clear if he had hired an attorney Wednesday morning.