Star Tribune
Woman charged following discovery of car she crashed on I-90 with Minneapolis murder victim in back
A 32-year-old woman was charged Tuesday with a felony following the discovery of a Minneapolis murder victim’s body being found in a car the woman was driving when she crashed on a southern Minnesota interstate over the weekend.
Margot G. Lewis, of New Liberty, Iowa, was charged in Olmsted County District Court with interference with a dead body in connection with the death of 35-year-old Liara Tsai.
The criminal complaint makes no mention of whether Lewis or someone else killed Tsai, who worked as a techno/electronic DJ at various events and also was active on behalf of the trans community.
Lewis, who was arrested about 7 a.m. Saturday at the scene of the crash on eastbound Interstate 90 south of Eyota, appeared in court Tuesday morning and remains jailed. Court records do not yet list an attorney for her.
The Southern Minnesota Medical Examiner’s Office identified Tsai on Tuesday as the victim but has yet to disclose how she was killed. A Minneapolis police officer’s report filed Saturday night classified Tsai’s death as a case of murder, noting that the weapon involved was a knife or other “cutting instrument.” The complaint noted that a deputy at the scene saw large wound to her neck around the carotid artery.
Minneapolis police became involved in the case Saturday afternoon when the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension requested that officers do a welfare check at Tsai’s home in the 700 block of E. 16th Street. Officers searched the residence and saw “a scene indicating violence,” a statement from police read.
According to the complaint:
A deputy sent to the crash scene saw the subcompact car — owned by Tsai — in the center median and Lewis sitting in a folding chair that was provided by a bystander. The deputy determined that Lewis was speeding when she hit a guardrail that surrounded the pillars of an overpass.
The deputy opened the car’s passenger-side back door and saw Tsai’s body on the folded-down seat. It was wrapped in a bed sheet, blanket, futon-style mattress and a tarp. She was cold to the touch.
“It was apparent [to the deputy] that the death … was not a result of the traffic crash,” the complaint read.
Upon her being booked into the jail, Lewis “did not respond audibly to detention staff or investigators,” the complaint continued.
Steven Seuling, who stages events and would hire Tsai as a DJ, said the two of them spoke on Friday ahead of her being scheduled to work an event Sunday at the Pourhouse in downtown Minneapolis.
“She said a friend was coming to stay with her,” Seuling said of his friend for the past six years or so and added that she moved to Minneapolis from Iowa last winter. “I checked in with her by text on Saturday, but she didn’t answer, which was very unusual for her.”
When the time came for her to play [Sunday] and she didn’t show up, “we were really freaking out. It was very unlike her not to be there,” he said.
Seuling described Tsai as “community and trans activist. She was very, very much more than just a DJ.”
Police are asking anyone with information about the death to call CrimeStoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477). Tips can also be submitted at CrimeStoppersMN.org. All tips are anonymous, and information leading to an arrest and conviction could result in a reward.
Kristen O’Brien not only signed the petition, she and her children went out to gather signatures as well.
In odd-numbered years, she said, St. Paul elections have been dominated “by a very small pod of folks” motivated by specific issues, like rent control or the sales tax. She said she doubts the local election will be dwarfed by national and state politics.
“I think most people go into federal elections knowing who they’re going to vote for,” she said, adding the same is true for local issues and races.
In the months since the petitions were accepted, the issue has garnered little public debate. In fact, Butler said he did not plan to campaign for the proposal once it’s on the ballot. Regarding Jalali’s concerns, he said a number of other cities, including San Francisco and Portland, Ore., have ranked choice voting and even-year elections.
This November, Portland residents will receive two ballot pages, said Leah Benson, an official with Multnomah County Elections. One will contain the City of Portland ranked choice candidate contests for mayor, auditor, and city councilors. The other page will contain ballot measures and all other non-ranked choice contests.
“A second ballot page was necessary because there was already a full ballot worth of non-RCV contests; there would not have been room for the three RCV contests,” Benson said Friday in an email.
The contents of a suspicious package that caused an evacuation of the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office has been deemed non-hazardous.
The office was evacuated Friday after a package arrived there with the return address of “United States Traitor Elimination Army.”
The white powder inside the package was tested by the Minnesota Department of Health and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and both concluded it was not hazardous, Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office said Saturday.
In a statement, Simon said: “We are thankful for the quick response by our law enforcement partners to ensure the staff members working in our office were safe. We are also grateful to the Minnesota Department of Health, which completed the initial analysis late into the evening on September 27.”
The Health Department is continuing to run tests, Simon’s office said, and the incident is being investigated by the FBI, postal inspectors and the State Patrol.
Last week, offices in 15 other states received similar packages that also contained a mysterious white powder. Those incidents remain under investigation.
The Secretary of State’s Office has not released details about the size or appearance of the suspect package.
Four Twin Cities residents traveling with a church group, including one who was pregnant, are dead after a four-vehicle crash in central Utah.
A Utah resident riding an all-terrain vehicle was also killed in the chain-reaction accident, which occurred Thursday near the city of Price, according to the Utah Highway Patrol.
The incident began when an SUV pulled into the path of a truck pulling two trailers. The truck driver swerved to avoid the SUV but lost control, crossed the median and hit a Nissan Rogue driving in the opposite lane.
The people in the Nissan were two couples from the Twin Cities, and all four were killed on impact, said Sgt. Chris Pugliese with the Utah Highway Patrol.
“It was a very violent crash,” he said.
The victims were Sang Her, 56, and Lee Thao, 38, both of Brooklyn Center, and Bee Moua, 26, and Mai Lor, 25, both of St. Paul. One of the two women killed was pregnant, Pugliese said.
KSL-TV in Salt Lake City reported that Lor was pregnant and that she and Moua were married earlier this year.
The four Minnesotans were traveling with a church group, which was in another car and escaped the accident. Members of the church group told authorities that the four victims were traveling from Moab to Salt Lake City. Pugliese said they were planning to fly back to the Twin Cities that night.
