Corbitt is accused of shooting at a vehicle Saturday while on U.S. 35 West in Dayton, striking and killing 26-year-old Jermea Lyle.
Around 7:10 a.m., Lyle was in the back seat with her 4-year-old daughter while her boyfriend was giving a ride to an employee of a business near the Dayton International Airport, according to Dayton police. They were going south on Interstate 75 and took the off-ramp to U.S. 35 West when Lyle’s boyfriend heard a pop.
“After the gunshot went off, he began to hear his girlfriend screaming that she had been shot,” Dayton police Maj. Brian Johns said previously.
Lyle’s boyfriend immediately drove her to Miami Valley Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Johns said Thursday that Lyle was not the intended target of the shooting.
“It does appear this homicide occurred as the result of an ongoing dispute our front seat passenger in that motor vehicle had with a co-worker that had been going on for a little bit of time,” he said.
The men reportedly were involved in a dispute over money.
“This is a dispute over some money that in the grand scheme of things isn’t very much money to take somebody’s life over,” Johns said. “Now this guy will have to live with that and be held accountable for his actions.”
Credit: Marshall Gorby
Credit: Marshall Gorby
Investigators identified Corbitt as the suspect using Flock traffic cameras and the National Integrated Ballistic Identification Network. Flock cameras showed a blue Chevrolet Impala traveling about 10 seconds behind the vehicle Lyle was in, Johns said.
There were no signs road rage contributed to the shooting.
Corbitt reportedly fired two shots from behind the victim’s vehicle, with one round traveling through the trunk and striking Lyle, according to police.
Investigators recovered the Impala and suspect weapon while serving a search warrant. Data from NIBIN connected the firearm and a shell casing found at the scene to the shooting, Johns said.
Corbitt remains held on $1 million bail in the Montgomery County Jail.
About the Authors
