Columbia woman charged with manslaughter in death of man found on I-70 in March

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia woman is facing a manslaughter charge after she was accused of running over and killing a man on Interstate 70 in March.

Tyia Alisa Bush, 38, was charged on Thursday with second-degree involuntary manslaughter and two misdemeanors: Reckless driving and speeding.

She is not listed on the Boone County Jail roster and a court date has not been scheduled. A warrant was requested on Thursday. A motion to set a $40,000 bond was filed.

Previous reporting indicates that Ezekiel Rachow, 30, of Columbia, was found dead in the median of Interstate 70 on March 20 at mile marker 131.5. Police said in March that Rachow’s body had likely been in the media for about 12 hours.

According to the probable cause statement, Bush allegedly called Boone County Joint Communications before 1 a.m. on March 20 and claimed that “she thought she had struck a deer or something.”

Officers were called about the body around 1 p.m. that same day, the statement says. Police went to Economy Towing and found Bush’s Ford Fusion, which allegedly had “significant front end damage to the passenger side front, hood and the windshield of the vehicle,” the statement says. Police say they also saw blood on the vehicle.

Bush allegedly told police that she was going home from work and did not see what she hit, court documents say. Bush allegedly allowed police to search the vehicle and obtain the event data recorder, according to court documents. The data allegedly showed that she was traveling 104 miles per hour in a 60 mph zone, the statement says.  

The probable cause statement claims Rachow was trying to cross Interstate 70 when he was hit by Bush’s vehicle.