A serial offender in Tennessee is accused of stealing a pickup truck and leading police on a chase that ended with him smashing into a car and killing its driver, identified as a 23-year-old woman.
Ray Eugene Padgett, 52, has been charged with criminally negligent homicide and vehicular homicide by recklessness in connection with the death of Oluwalayomi Fadero, 23, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department North Nashville, police said. Authorities say that the owner of the lot followed Padgett and spotted the stolen F-250.
Padgett allegedly put the truck in reverse and rammed the vehicle the owner was in before fleeing. Charges related to those occurrences are anticipated, police noted.
Padgett kept driving in the stolen vehicle and, according to unmarked police car in the median and rammed it before leading authorities on an approximately 5-minute car chase.
The chase ended around 2:30 p.m. when Padgett crossed into oncoming traffic and Oluwalayomi Fadero's white Hyundai Elantra, pushing them about 100 yards into a ditch, police said.
Fadero was pronounced dead at the scene.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's College of Nursing remembered Fadero as "a valued member of the August 2026 cohort" who was in the college's accelerated nursing school.
"She brought light to those around her through her kindness, generosity, beautiful smile, and genuine passion for helping others," they said.
A GoFundMe for Fadero says she was turning onto the road where she lived when she was killed.
"She was simply on her way home, and her dog Nala was with her in the car," the fundraiser said, adding that "miraculously, Nala survived the crash and was reunited with Oluwalayomi's loved ones."
"The loss of Oluwalayomi has left a deep void in the hearts of everyone who knew her," it said.
Fadero was set to complete a nursing degree at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in August.