A man has been charged in the weekend hit-and-run death of two-time American Idol contestant Alexis Cohen.
Daniel Bark, 23, was arrested around 6 p.m. Sunday and charged with causing Cohen's death by reckless driving and leaving the scene of a collision, The Star-Ledger reports.
In a hearing today, Superior Court Judge Wendell E. Daniels said Bark will be also be charged with aggravated manslaughter, death by auto and eluding. Bark is currently being held in Ocean County Jail in Toms River, N.J. on $185,000. His lawyer said: "He's having an extremely difficult time mentally coming to terms with the fact that there's an allegation that he caused a death. My client is in a state of mind where he is going to be under suicide watch."
Cohen, 25, was struck early Saturday morning in Seaside Heights. She was found around 4 a.m. by two passerby who called 911, Deputy Chief Michael Mohel of the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office tells the Morning Call newspaper of her hometown, Allentown, Penn. She was pronounced dead at 6:35 a.m. at the Community Medical Center in Toms River, N.J. Autopsy results show she suffered chest, head and abdominal injuries, Mohel says.
Look back at Idol's most memorable contestants.
Cohen auditioned for the seventh season in Philadelphia in 2007, but the show didn't air until January 2008. Idol cameras followed her to to her Allentown, Penn. studio apartment, which she shared with her mother, two cats and her dog.
VIDEO: Watch Alexis Cohen audition for the show.
"I march to the beat of a different drummer," admitted the memorable contestant. After Simon Cowell didn't vote her through to Hollywood, Cohen ranted he was "egotistical" and declared she was going into acting.
See photos of Idol contestants who wed or had babies.
She later appeared on The View, Live With Regis and Kelly and Howard Stern's radio show. Cohen unsuccessfully tried out again during Idol's eighth season. Her mother, Mindy Dallow, told The Star-Ledger Cohen auditioned a third time in June, and was preparing for a call-back.
