Woman from Iowa allegedly drove with corpse in car after accident

A 32-year-old woman was arrested in Minnesota after police said a body was found in the back seat of the vehicle she was driving.

Margot Lewis of North Liberty, Iowa, was driving a Chevrolet Sonic in the eastbound lane of Interstate 90 in Olmsted County – about 100 miles southeast of Minneapolis – around 7 a.m. Saturday when her car struck the guardrail and crashed, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office said in a lawsuit.

Body found folded in mattress

A passerby helped Lewis out of her car and tended to her when police arrived. When police checked the vehicle to see if anyone else was inside, officers found a 35-year-old woman in the back seat. The body of the deceased, identified as Liara Tsai, 35, of Minneapolis, was “wrapped in a bedsheet, blanket, futon-style mattress and a tarp,” court documents said. The body was “cold to the touch” and no pulse could be felt, officers said. Police also discovered a “large wound on the right side of the neck around the carotid artery,” while the bedsheet had dried blood stains.