Body Found In Rural MN Car Crash Linked To Minneapolis Murder

MINNEAPOLIS — An Iowa woman is accused of killing her former lover in Minneapolis before concealing the body in the back of a vehicle that later crashed on a rural Minnesota highway.

Margot Lewis, 32, of Northern Liberty, Iowa was charged with second-degree murder out of Hennepin County.

Lewis also faces a charge of interference with a dead body or scene of death (concealed body) in Olmsted County.

If convicted, Lewis faces up to 40 years in prison.

On June 22 at about 7 a.m., Olmsted County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a crash on Interstate 90 in Eyota.

Deputies at the scene found a sedan in the grassy area between the east and west roadways for I-90, smashed into the guardrails near the overpass structure.

The driver of the vehicle was identified as Lewis, who was seated on a lawn chair in the median of the interstate, authorities said.

In the vehicle, deputies could see that there was a woman's body wrapped in bedding, a mattress, and covered with a tarp with the head of the individual visible, according to the criminal complaint.

The body was cold to the touch and without a pulse, and there was dried blood soaked on the bedding wrapped around the body, prosecutors said.

Deputies and the medical examiner examined the body underneath the coverings and saw a gaping puncture wound to the neck, according to authorities.

"It was apparent" that ther woman did not die as a result of the recent motor vehicle crash, the criminal complaint states.

The body was identified Tsai.

Investigators obtained a search warrant for Tsai's studio apartment in Minneapolis. Authorities found a bed and bedding that was saturated with blood. The butcher block in the kitchen was missing a single steak knife from the block's slots, the criminal complaint states.

Lewis was transported to the hospital for medical treatment and then to the sheriff’s office. She did not respond verbally to any providers or officers, and investigators then learned that "she has taken a vow of silence and would prefer to communicate with sign language," according to the criminal complaint.

Once at the sheriff’s office, Lewis sat down on the floor, pulled her knees into her chest, lowered her head, and began to cry, authorities said.