DA files murder, theft charges in traffic fatality reported Friday in west Wichita
A Hutchinson woman is facing murder, theft and other charges in connection with a traffic fatality reported last week in the 3000 block of West Ninth Street in Wichita, according to court records and the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
The man she’s accused of killing is her spouse, she wrote on a financial affidavit filed Tuesday with the court.
Ashley J. Corley, 36, was arrested Friday around 9 p.m., Wichita police and Sedgwick County Jail booking records show. She made a first appearance in court Tuesday afternoon on four counts: first-degree felony murder, felony theft of a Chevrolet Malibu, failure to stop at an accident resulting in death and driving while suspended. Her next court hearing is scheduled for Oct. 31.
Wichita police say Corley’s arrest and charges stem from the death of 41-year-old Rigoberto Rivas, who was found lying in the street with a critical head injury at Ninth and St. Paul around 7:40 a.m. Oct. 14. Officer Trevor Macy said Wednesday that Corley and Rivas know one another and that police think she stole a vehicle from him before he was fatally injured.
On her application for a court-appointed attorney, Corley identified Rivas as her common-law husband.
“Investigators learned that Rivas and a female, later identified as Corley, were seen running toward a gray Chevrolet parked on the curb on 9th street,” Macy said by email. “The female entered the vehicle and drove away at high speed as the male was on the vehicle’s hood. The car was swerving and caused the male to fall off of the vehicle, which resulted in a head injury.
“A Follow-up investigation led officers to believe the vehicle was stolen from Rivas and the driver, Corley, had driven to Hutchinson,” Macy said in the email.
Officers with the Hutchinson Police Department found the vehicle and arrested Corley on local warrant before Wichita police investigators took custody of her and brought her to Wichita in connection with the traffic fatality.
Rivas was taken to a hospital in critical condition after he was found lying in the street. He later died, Macy said.
Corley was being held in the Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bond on Tuesday. A judge later increased her bond to $500,000 in response to the DA’s charges.
This story was originally published October 18, 2022 at 4:21 PM.
