Woman accused of murder in SUV death bound over for Aug. 10 trial

A Wichita woman accused of striking and killing a friend with her SUV this spring will be tried on counts of first-degree premeditated murder and child endangerment.

At a preliminary hearing Thursday, Sedgwick County District Judge David Dahl decided there was enough evidence to set an Aug. 10 jury trial for 30-year-old Tiplance Walker in connection with death of Lydia Treto, 31. She has denied the charges.

Patrick Daniels, the man who called 911 on May 17, told Dahl that Walker rammed into a chain-link fence at Treto’s home with her Ford Expedition after the women argued about whose boyfriend behaved worse. The women – friends, according to Daniels – had spent the evening chatting and drinking alcohol with him and his wife before the conversation turned to the boyfriends and a fistfight ensued.

Daniels testified he shepherded Walker out of the house at 2401 S. Pattie and into her SUV. Treto followed, shaking a shoe and yelling profanity at Walker. Treto walked into her backyard moments before the SUV backed up slightly and then sped forward and struck the fence around 9 p.m.

Treto, according to testimony, was behind the fence in her backyard when she was hit and killed. She had three children at home at the time, including a 5-year-old who was sitting on her bicycle on a sidewalk near the driveway, according to a police affidavit.

One of Treto’s children fetched the phone used to call 911, Daniels said.

Walker, who had her 10-year-old and 4-month-old sons in the SUV with her, fled after the impact. In a police interview, the older boy described Walker as angry when she drove forward, according to the affidavit. He said Walker told him “don’t have a friend mistreat you like that, she is just jealous” and that he should not “tell the police anything,” the affidavit said.

Authorities arrested Walker within two hours in southeast Wichita’s Planeview neighborhood.

In binding Walker over for trial on the murder count and three counts of misdemeanor child endangerment, Dahl said her actions after she got into her vehicle that night were crucial.

“The car was moving so fast it was bouncing” when it struck the fence, Dahl said, restating Daniels’ testimony.

“Miss Walker then puts the car in reverse – doesn’t stay, doesn’t apologize, doesn’t try to find out if Lydia is OK. And then she backs out into the street and takes part of the fence with her” before leaving the area, he said.

Walker, through her defense attorney Val Wachtel, pleaded not guilty following Thursday’s hearing. She has told police she and Treto didn’t fight on May 17 and that she didn’t run over Treto, according to the police affidavit.

Walker remained in Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bond Thursday. It’s likely her trial date will be postponed.

This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Woman accused of murder in SUV death bound over for Aug. 10 trial."