Man Charged with Killing ‘American Idol’ Hopeful, Alexis Cohen

By Germain Lussier on July 27th, 2009

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Early Saturday morning, one of those colorful characters from the early rounds of “American Idol” was struck by a car and killed. By Sunday, police had the person who drove that car in custody.

Alexis Cohen, 24, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, who competed on “American Idol” in both season 7 and 8 of “Idol,” was pronounced dead Saturday in Seaside Heights, NJ when her body was found badly injured near a parking lot. Sunday, police arrested Daniel Bark, a 23-year-old from Toms River, and changed him with “causing Cohen’s death by reckless driving and then leaving the scene of the collision,” according to the Ashbery Park Press. He’s being held on $35,000 bail and could serve between 10-15 years if convicted.

Cohen auditioned twice for “American Idol,” never getting past the first audition in front of the judges. In 2007, she sang “Somebody to Love” by Jefferson Airplane. Simon Cowell called her a “green goblin” and on her way out, Cohen proudly proclaimed that she marched “to the beat of a different drummer.” Outside the room, though, Cohen lashed out at the evil judge calling him “egotistical” and then throwing up two middle fingers screaming for Cowell to “Take it, take it, take it!” (Thanks to MTV News for the reminder of these antics.)

It’s a sad ending to a story that many “American Idol” fans were glad to have been a part of.