Murder charges were filed Wednesday afternoon against an Iowa woman accused of killing another woman in her Minneapolis apartment and hours later crashing the victim’s car on a southern Minnesota highway with her body inside .
Margot G. Lewis, 32, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with two counts of manslaughter, intentional and unintentional, in connection with an attack late last week in the stabbing death of 35-year-old Liara Tsai in Tsai’s Minneapolis apartment .
Lewis, of North Liberty in east-central Iowa, was also arraigned Tuesday in Olmsted County, where the crash occurred Saturday morning, on misdemeanor assault with a corpse and remains jailed there in lieu of $1 million bail.
None of the charges mention a motive for the killing. Tsai’s former wife told police that Lewis flew from Boston on June 21 for an eight-day stay with Tsai, according to the murder indictment. The former husband added that the Lewis and Tsai had a “sordid and emotionally challenging” relationship, Wednesday’s allegations added without elaborating.
Steven Seuling, a friend of Tsai, told the Star Tribune on Tuesday that she occasionally worked for him as a DJ at various events, adding that she was a “community and trans activist.” She was much, much more than just a DJ. .”
According to charges in both counties and a related lawsuit:
A deputy dispatched to the crash scene along Interstate 90 saw Tsai’s subcompact car in the median and Lewis sitting in a folding chair provided by a bystander. The deputy determined Lewis was speeding when she struck a guardrail surrounding the pillars of an overpass.
In a search warrant affidavit filed by the state patrol seeking permission to inspect the car’s various data-logging devices, a patrol sergeant wrote that evidence at the crash scene indicated that Lewis “had been traveling for quite some time [in the median] before hitting the pillar barrier. The vehicle did not appear to perform any maneuver to avoid the crash.”
The officer opened the rear passenger side door of the car and saw Tsai’s body on the folded seat. It was wrapped in a sheet, blanket, futon mattress and a tarp. She felt cold.
There was also a dog wandering around the scene of the accident. The microchip listed Tsai’s address in the 700 block of E. 16th Street.
Minneapolis investigators searched Tsai’s apartment and found blood in several places. There was a bloody plastic and metal object on the bed. On a table were a container of antifreeze and a small shovel, items typically kept in the trunk of a vehicle. A knife was missing from a butcher block in the kitchen and was not found in the home.
After the crash, about 7 a.m. south of Eyota, Lewis was taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment. She spoke neither to hospital staff nor to police. Investigators learned that “she has taken a vow of silence and prefers to communicate using sign language,” according to the murder complaint.
When Lewis was taken to the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office, he curled up on the ground and cried.
When told that officers planned to ‘collect evidence’ [her] person,” Lewis stood with her eyes closed and began feeling the floor, walls and furniture, the accusations continued. She then pushed and kicked at officers who tried to lead her to a chair. She clenched her hands after being told that the officers planned to collect fingernail clippings from her, apparently for DNA testing.
Surveillance video from outside Tsai’s apartment showed her car leaving around 4:35 a.m. Saturday, with Lewis driving and a dog in the front passenger seat.
Court records for both cases have yet to list an attorney for Lewis. Her next court appearance is scheduled for July 5 in Olmsted County.
