Woman arrested after dead body 'wrapped' in mattress found on car's back seat, police say

A 32-year-old woman was arrested in Minnesota after police said a dead body was found in the back seat of a 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 hit the guard rails and crashed, the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office said in a court complaint.

Dead body found folded in mattress

A passerby helped Lewis out her car and was tending to her when the police arrived. As the police inspected the vehicle to see if anyone else was in the vehicle, officers said they located a 35-year-old female in the back. The body of the deceased, identified as Liara Tsai, 35, from Minneapolis, was "wrapped in a bed sheet, a blanket, a futon-style mattress, and a tarp," court documents said. The body was "cold to the touch," and no pulse was detected, officers said. A "large wound on the right side of the neck around the carotid artery," was also observed by the police while the bed sheet had dried blood stains.

"The condition of the deceased was suspicious, and it was immediately apparent that the death was not a result of the motor vehicle accident," the sheriff's department said in a news release.

Preliminary information, based on an autopsy conducted on Sunday, provided by the Medical Examiner's Office suggested that the "fatal injuries suffered by victim were not caused by, and preceded, the car crash," the affidavit said.

In an update on Wednesday, the sheriff's office said that the Southern Minnesota Regional Medical Examiner’s Office listed the initial cause of death as "multiple sharp force injuries." Multiple agencies, including the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, also searched a residence in Minneapolis, purportedly belonging to the victim, and "a scene indicating violence was located inside the residence," the sheriff's office said in their update.

Driver accused of interference with dead body

Lewis, meanwhile, was medically cleared and transferred to the Adult Detention Center and placed under arrest on suspicion of interference with dead body or scene of death, the sheriff's office said. She continues to be in detention as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the center's custody list.

Lewis appeared at the Olmsted County Court Tuesday morning and again in the afternoon and is scheduled to appear in court next on July 5. There is no attorney yet listed for Lewis in this matter.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X @saman_shafiq7.