A 32-year-old woman got into what initially was thought to be a standard single-vehicle accident early on Saturday morning. But when cops showed up to the crash sit, on Interstate 90 in Olmsted County, Minnesota, things took an incredibly dark turn…
Deputies from the Minnesota State Patrol were called out at about 7:00 a.m. local time on Saturday morning to render aid to an accident victim. A woman later identified as Margot Lewis crashed her car in the eastbound lanes of I-90 close to Highway 42 a few miles southeast of the city of Rochester and about 50 miles southeast of Minneapolis. Other drivers stopped to help, too. Per a release from the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office, when MSP deputies showed up, Lewis was “being tended to” by one of these Good Samaritans.
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The officers rushed to Margot’s car to see if there were any other people inside who needed to be extricated, and that’s when they saw it: a dead body lying in the back seat. But here’s the thing — the deceased person did not perish in the car crash!
Deputies immediately noticed the corpse was wrapped up, and did NOT have injuries consistent with what one would expect of a fatal car crash victim. In their release, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office noted:
“The condition of the deceased was suspicious, and it was immediately apparent that the death was not a result of the motor vehicle accident.”
WTF?!?!
Cops were quickly able to identify the deceased person was an adult woman. They held back on releasing her name pending the notification of next of kin. But by Tuesday morning, they had notified family members, and could finally release the name of the woman found dead in Lewis’ backseat: 35-year-old Liara Tsai of Minneapolis.
As far as why deputies were so certain that Tsai had died prior to the crash, well, the details are grisly. The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office did not initially reveal any information as to why it was “immediately apparent that the death was not a result of the motor vehicle accident.” But they did make one major legal move: they charged Lewis with one count of interference with a dead body.
Days later, the real bombshell dropped. On Tuesday morning, KSTP News cited charging documents for Lewis which claimed Tsai’s body in the back seat had been wrapped in a bed sheet, a blanket, a futon-style mattress, AND a tarp at the time of the crash! So yeah, clearly she wasn’t just a passenger who got injured. Even more unsettling, Tsai was cold to the touch already, and there was dried blood all over the blanket. Investigators also noted in the court docs that they discovered a large wound on the right side of Tsai’s neck.
Whoa!!!
It still remains to be seen what led up to the crash and what other charges Lewis may face. As for Tsai’s remains, they are with the Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office now, per the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff concluded with a message of lament:
“Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office extends sincere condolences to the friends and family of the deceased.”
Lewis — who local news reports claim is from Iowa and was visiting Minnesota at the time of the crash — was first transferred to a local hospital and medically cleared. Then, she was taken into custody. Per KSTP on Tuesday morning, Lewis’ bond information, mugshot, and any potential additional charges are not yet available. Local news outlet the Post Bulletin reports that Lewis is scheduled to appear in court for arraignment at some point on Tuesday. We guess we’ll have to pay attention in case this case gets any stranger…
[Image via Movieclips/YouTube]
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