A man has been charged with killing his girlfriend in Gastonia.
Police were looking for a driver in connection with a hit-and-run accident until they said a video surfaced showing the moment when Ashley Young was hit by a car that her boyfriend was driving.
Tyler Lewis appeared in court to face charges of driving his pickup truck into his girlfriend and blaming her injuries on a hit-and-run driver.
The judge asked if he understood that he was charged with murder.
"No, sir, I really don't," Lewis said.
He asked later to tell his side of the story.
"I would just like to be able to speak some toward the media," Lewis said.
The judge declined his request.
The judge told Lewis that his bond hearing was not a trial and anything he said could be used against him.
Police said Lewis told them last week that he and his girlfriend got into an argument when she got out of his truck and started walking in a lot on Highway 321.
Lewis said he drove away, came back, found her on the ground, picked her up and took her to the hospital.
Hospital staff called police, and he told officers that she was the victim of a hit-and-run.
Lewis pleaded on his Facebook page for help to find the person responsible.
The investigation led to the video that put him behind bars.
Her closest friends were stunned.
"I can't believe this is happening,” Sherry Pope said. “It blows my mind."
Pope said Young moved from Daytona, Florida, and they lived together for a few months.
"She loved him to death," Pope said of Young’s feelings toward Lewis. "She loved him. They went everywhere together. They (did) everything together."
The couple planned to get married.
Friends said they never suspected that Lewis would be accused of killing her.
Prosecutors plan to present the case to the grand jury. Lewis was given a court-appointed attorney and is in jail without bond.
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