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Woman pleads guilty, gets 4 years for death of Abigail Anderson
Four members of the Anderson family were in court Friday to confront Dotray with emotional victim impact statements about the loss of Abigail.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Editor’s note: The video above first aired on KARE 11 in August of 2021.
The southern Minnesota woman accused of striking and killing a 29-year-old nurse while driving impaired struck a deal with prosecutors Thursday, pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide. She went on to face a judge for sentencing Friday morning.
According to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, Melinda Dotray was sentenced to 48 months in prison with 13 days credit for time already served. Dotray was charged with multiple crimes following the death of Abigail Anderson, but with her guilty plea prosecutors agreed to drop four of five original charges.
Anderson was the little sister of All-American runner Gabe Grunewald, who died in 2019 following a battle with cancer.
Four members of the Anderson family were in court Friday to confront Dotray with emotional victim impact statements about the loss of Abigail.
In the original criminal complaint, prosecutors said Dotray was traveling between 62 and 64 mph in a 40 mph zone when she struck Anderson near the intersection of Cleveland and Larpenteur Avenues in Falcon Heights back on Aug. 14, 2021.
Early results from the investigation also indicted Dotray’s pick-up truck struck a parked vehicle on the side of the road before Anderson was hit as she walked in the grass nearby. Investigators also said they did not see evidence of braking before the crash, and that later lab results showed Dotray had amphetamine, methamphetamine and fentanyl in her blood at the time.
After Abigail’s death and Dotray’s initial arrest, Anderson family attorney Phillip Seiff released a statement saying the family was looking to bring “justice and accountability” to the case.
“Abby’s family seeks justice and accountability so that no other family ever has to endure the pain and suffering they have experienced and will experience forever,” the statement read.
Anderson worked as a nurse at Children’s Minnesota and was also a prominent runner in the track & field/cross country community. Like her sister Gabe, Abigail was one of Minnesota’s top high school runners and walked on at the University of Minnesota.
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Gary Peterson and his friends are collecting donations to help people in their community.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — A St. Louis Park pumpkin display is raising money for their local food shelf.
Gary Peterson started carving and painting three pumpkins over a decade ago. It’s now grown to over 100.
“I’ve heard people say they’ve come from Hutchinson,” he said.
Peterson along with two of his neighbors have spent the last 14 years growing their display, turning it into a neighborhood event.
“It’s been incredible, I just can’t believe how much this has expanded,” he said. “We did it just because we like to and then people were asking to give us money to cover the cost.”
The trio refused to take people’s money, but then one of them had an idea.
“My neighbor, Steve Leensvaart, just mentioned how about we just do it for the STEP program and the STEP program is our local food shelf in St. Louis Park,” he said.
So, they started to collect donations to help families in need. They’ve raised hundreds of dollars and donated hundreds of pounds of food over the last few years, carving for a cause.
“It is more gratifying every year,” Peterson said.
He estimated they have over 100 unique pumpkins in their yard. They’ve created the displays and come up with new family-friendly concepts for people to enjoy. Peterson said about 30 of their neighbors carved their own pumpkins to be put on display, and it’s been a big hit.
“It’s great. In the last couple of years, it’s turned into more of a neighborhood event,” said Sarah Durch.
“We love this Halloween display, we come every year to see it. We love that the whole community gets involved to craft and carve the pumpkins,” said Jami Gordon-Smith.
“The shading and the details are unbelievable,” said Elizabeth Hanson.
Hanson hopes to take her 2-year-old son trick or treating for the first time but is worried the cold temperatures might keep them indoors.
“We’re going trick or treating hopefully,” she said. “He’s going to be a firefighter, but we’re probably going to have sweatshirts maybe like two pairs of sweatpants underneath. We’re going to be bundled up.”
Gordon-Smith said her family will be out Halloween night no matter the weather.
“Halloween only comes once a year, so you really have to take advantage and enjoy the evening no matter what the weather brings,” she said. “Guess it’s not totally unheard of in Minnesota to have a cold Halloween, but we are going to try and modify and do a lot of layers underneath our costumes and then we might add some hats and maybe some warmer socks.”
Durch also isn’t surprised they’re in for another chilly night.
“Well, what would Halloween be without Minnesota cold? I feel like every time you plan a costume you have to plan for how you can make this work if it’s snowing,” she said.
Peterson said they will have a bonfire and some hot chocolate and cider on Halloween to keep trick-or-treaters warm while they look at their pumpkins.
Click here to learn where you can see the pumpkins and how you can donate.
