27-year-old Olympic hopeful Khayla Dawson was on a late-night Uber ride in Colorado. But while she had once competed at the 2024 USA Olympic Trials in shot put, she now stands accused of brutally killing an Uber driver. She’s been insisting she acted in self-defense, but prosecutors say the evidence (and a large kitchen knife) tells a darker story.
Dawson pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the October 2025 killing of Jeremy Campbell. The latter was a partially paralyzed Uber driver who was stabbed around 60 times inside the car he used to drive passengers in. Now, a judge has ruled there is enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial. The trial is scheduled to begin on April 13, 2026.
US Weekly reviewed an arrest affidavit stating that Dawson ordered an Uber on October 26, 2025. She told investigators she felt “cooped up” and wanted to go for a “joy ride.” She says that she then fell asleep in the back seat of Campbell’s 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe and woke up to him trying to assault her, so she defended herself by stabbing Campbell with a knife.
She said the car then sped through a barbed wire fence and stopped in a field.
Former collegiate shot putter Khayla Dawson felt “cooped up” in her Colorado apartment, so she did what anyone would do; she ordered an Uber, grabbed a butcher knife, and savagely killed the Uber driver – a 38-year-old White dad with limited mobility from partial paralysis.
With… pic.twitter.com/WBv8S3UIjE
— Daniel Concannon (@TooWhiteToTweet) November 6, 2025
Her attorney argues that Dawson felt unsafe with a “strange man in the middle of the night,” and that Colorado law allows for self-defense under such circumstances. Prosecutors, on the other hand, say Dawson’s version of events doesn’t hold up, even if we start with Campbell’s physical condition. A detective testified that Campbell was partially paralyzed on his right side.
So how could he have reached back to assault Dawson?
Medical testimony established that there were 60 sharp-force injuries to his neck and head. Investigators said the wounds covered the Uber driver’s face, shoulders, hands, and neck, and some were defensive. Authorities stated that after the car stopped, Dawson pulled Campbell out and left his body in a field near Eastonville and Hodgen Roads, and drove away in his car.
Campbell’s father reported him missing after that. Using ride data, investigators identified Dawson as his last passenger. Campbell’s car was later found outside Dawson’s apartment. Inside the car, blood was across the passenger window, dashboard, center console, driver’s seat, steering wheel, and behind the driver’s seat. Campbell’s phone was found in a stairwell nearby.
Get this. The perp is a recent former track star who was in the Olympic tryouts in Eugene, WA, last year.
She’s accused of ordering an Uber and then brutally murdering the half-paralyzed drive with a butcher knife. She gave police an absurd fake self-defense story. https://t.co/0Gv7xFVuGg pic.twitter.com/nwNlJkxHvN
— National Conservative (@NatCon2022) November 2, 2025
In Dawson’s apartment, police found Campbell’s key fob, wallet and driver’s license. Investigators also determined that the knife used in the attack was a large chef’s knife taken from the Olympic hopeful’s own kitchen.
Before her arrest, Dawson had been competing in the 2024 USA Olympic Trials in Oregon. She is now held without bond and faces counts of first-degree murder, aggravated robbery, and motor vehicle theft. At a recent hearing, more than a dozen people attended wearing shirts reading “Justice for Jeremy.”
The jury will decide whether this was an act of self-defense or a calculated killing. Which version will they believe?
NEXT UP: Teen Waiting for an Uber on Thanksgiving Shot to Death – Grieving Mother is “Planning a Funeral”
