INDIANAPOLIS — There's a growing memorial to Kayla Bowling near the spot where the 29-year-old mother was hit and killed last week on South Rural Street while riding her bicycle.
Kayla's ex-boyfriend, 27-year-old Kyle Rigdon, has been arrested in connection with the case, for allegedly leaving the scene of the crash where Kayla was killed.
Her family said Rigdon had continued to stalk her even after their breakup last month and that Kayla recently told her mom she believed Rigdon would kill her.
"I felt like I failed her," said Kayla's dad, Robert Bowling. "No parent should be burying their children. The children should be burying their parents."
Instead, he's preparing to bury his child, who was killed last Wednesday in what police are still calling a hit-and-run crash.
"This was more than a hit-and-run. I knew it. I knew it when I pulled on the scene," said Bowling, who is haunted by Kayla's recent warning to them about Rigdon.
"She was afraid he was going to kill her. She says, 'If I ever die, look at my phone. I got the evidence,'" said Bowling, who added that just last week, he called 911 after Rigdon came to the family's home with a knife.
"He slashed her tires. I went back in the house to get my gun. I came back out and he was gone. I called 911, nobody ever showed up, nobody," he said, explaining that Rigdon stalked his daughter after their recent breakup.
"There's nowhere she could go where he didn't end up," said Bowling.
Court records show Rigdon pleaded guilty to domestic battery in 2018. Records also show several no-contact orders were filed against Rigdon since 2015, the most recent in 2019.
None of these cases involved Kayla Bowling, who her family said only started dating Rigdon six months ago.
"I want him where he can't get out and do nothing else to nobody else," Bowling said.
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According to the probable cause affidavit, police found a Facebook post by Rigdon written less than 24 hours before Kayla was hit and killed. In the entry, police say Rigdon wrote that someone had broken his heart and they were going to pay.
Robert Bowling said that someone ended up being his daughter, who paid with her life.
"I knew as long as he was on the street, there was a chance something bad was going to happen to her," said Bowling.
Prosecutors asked for a 72-hour extension to file charges against Rigdon. He'll be back in court June 9 to be formally charged.