Officers respond to accident and find dead woman wrapped in tarp

EYOTA, Minn. – An Iowa woman has been charged after police responded to reports of a crash near Rochester and found a dead person in her car.

Prosecutors in Olmstead County have charged 32-year-old Margot Lewis of North Liberty, Iowa, with assault or disturbing the scene of a crime in connection with the incident, which occurred near the town of Eyota on June 22. A criminal complaint filed in the case says it all started when Olmstead County officers responded to reports of a car crash near the intersection of Interstate 90 and State Highway 42 and found a woman lying on a folding chair near the median.

A passerby said the woman – soon identified as Lewis – was the driver of the crashed Chevy Sonic and told them another Samaritan had given her a chair to sit on.

The witnesses told an officer they believed there was a dead person inside the vehicle. One went to the Sonic, looked inside and discovered a person wrapped in a bedsheet, blanket, futon mattress and tarp. The report said the body was cold and there was no pulse. The officer also allegedly saw dried blood soaked into the sheet.

This official said it was obvious that the dead person – now identified as 35-year-old Liara Tsai of Minneapolis – did not die as a result of the accident.

Prosecutors stated that when an Olmstead County coroner’s officer removed Tsai’s body from the vehicle, he discovered a large wound on the right side of the victim’s neck in the carotid artery area.

Lewis was examined at Mayo Clinic Hospital and then taken to the Olmsted County Detention Center. She was unresponsive and did not answer questions from jail staff or investigators.

The complaint does not state what Lewis’ relationship was with the victim, whether she was involved in the woman’s death and, if so, what role she played.

The Minneapolis Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) are assisting in the investigation.

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