Man charged with vehicular murder in death of teacher

A man accused of running over and killing a teacher while driving under the influence of drugs appeared in court on vehicular murder charges.

The victim, 28-year-old Stacy Ankerfelt, died last week after being hospitalized for more than a month.

A few of Ankerfelt's family members appeared in court Monday when suspect Samuel Cruz pleaded not guilty. He had initially been charged with vehicular assault.

Police said Cruz was driving under the influence of a strong prescription drug when the crash happened last month.

A spokeswoman from Mothers Against Drunken Driving expressed her sadness about Ankerfelt's death and said her daughter was killed in a DUI crash a few years ago.

"We feel so very saddened by this because it's not just Stacy's family and friends.  It's also her students, which is just a very horrible thing for those children to have to go through.  There's really no easy way to go through this.  The family will take a very long time (to heal)," said MADD spokeswoman Joan Davis.

Police said Ankerfelt was standing near her car on July 19 when she was run over.

She was a teacher at Scenic Hill Elementary in Kent.

While in the hospital, her family had hoped that she would recover and possibly even go back to teaching, but she died last week not long after her sixth wedding anniversary.

Cruz's bail was raised to $ 250,000 after his charge was switched from vehicular assault to vehicular murder.

Cruz is expected to appear in court again in two weeks.

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