PORTLAND — The woman who police believe was killed by a hit-and-run driver early Sunday morning may have been lying in the road when she was hit.

The driver involved in the fatal crash, Corey Baker, 27, told police that his 2002 Jetta rolled over someone who was lying in the road, police confirmed Tuesday.

Police continue to investigate the circumstances around the death of Bonnie Bachelder, 61, of 757 Washington Ave., who was found dead in the roadway in front of her house at 1 a.m. immediately after the crash.

Police said it does not appear that Bachelder had been hit and killed by another car before the Jetta struck her.

“All the evidence we have so far points to the fact she was killed by that car,” said Sgt. Troy Bowden, head of the department’s traffic unit.

Baker told police he had checked out of work at the Cumberland County Civic Center just a few minutes before the crash and was driving home on Washington Avenue when he hit a body lying in the road, police confirmed.

“His version is that she was laying in the road,” Bowden said. He did not dispute that version, but said the cause of the crash and the circumstances surrounding it remain under investigation.

Baker told police he did not stop because he panicked. He went to the police station 90 minutes later to give a statement.

The crash was reported within a minute, Bowden said.

A family member said neither Baker nor his family wanted to comment on the crash for legal reasons and out of respect for Bachelder’s family.

Even if Baker was not at fault in the crash, he could face charges for leaving the scene of an accident where there was serious injury or death, which is a felony. Police have been working with the Cumberland County District Attorney’s office but have not brought any charges.

Friends stopped by the family home to offer support, and many relatives and friends changed their Facebook profile picture to one of Bachelder.

Bachelder and her husband, Robert, raised six children, first in Boston, then in Portland.

They lost a son, a corrections officer with a wife and daughter, in an accident a year ago.

Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:

dhench@pressherald.com

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