Alexis Cohen, 25, was killed in a hit-and-run accident early Saturday morning in New Jersey

Police have local man in custody

By Matthew B. Zeidman

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. (Hollywood Today) 7/27/09 – The man accused of fatally striking perennial “American Idol” contestant Alexis Cohen with his vehicle was arrested Sunday.

Daniel Bark, 23, appeared in court earlier today to face charges of reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident. According to the presiding judge, Wendell E. Daniels, the Toms River, N.J. resident will likely be charged with aggravated manslaughter, among other pending charges. He is currently being held on $35,000 bail.

Officials believe Bark hit Cohen, 25, early Saturday morning while she was walking on Bay Boulevard near Dupont Avenue in Seaside Heights, N.J., where her body was found at approximately 4:00 a.m. by passersby. She was taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River, where she was pronounced dead. Bark’s vehicle was later found parked nearby.

Though Cohen never made it past the initial audition phase on previous seasons of popular Fox singing competition “American Idol,” she was known to fans of the program for her intense style and terse and vulgar rejections of the judges’ criticisms. Cohen’s mother told The Express Times that her daughter had attended a Boston audition for the upcoming season and had been invited to return for another audition session.