Charges: Car thief fleeing deputies crashes in St. Paul, kills girlfriend day before her birthday

A car thief fleeing law enforcement from a Twin Cities shopping mall crashed into a tree and killed his girlfriend, who was in the vehicle with him, according to charges filed Monday.

Dylan John Smith, 32, of St. Paul was charged in Ramsey County District Court with fleeing an officer resulting in death, criminal vehicular homicide and auto theft in connection with the wreck Friday in St. Paul that left 28-year-old Bianca Roxanne Coelho Schultz dead.

Smith remains jailed in lieu of $2.5 million bail ahead of a court appearance Tuesday. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

At the time of the crash, Smith was driving after having had his license revoked.

Court records in Minnesota show he has been convicted 15 times for theft, four times for drug-related offenses, twice for fleeing police and once each for receiving stolen property, burglary, violation of a restraining order and driving without a license.

According to the criminal complaint:

Law enforcement received an alert that a stolen car was parked outside Cub Foods on Snelling Avenue in Roseville and staked out the location. Smith exited the store, put groceries in the vehicle and sped off with deputies in pursuit and Schultz beside him on southbound Snelling into St. Paul.

A sheriff’s sergeant ended his pursuit when he saw Smith, whose speeds topped 90 miles per hour at one point, driving the wrong way on Snelling.

Smith drove through a roundabout “dead center” at Griggs Street and Edmund Avenue, then slammed into a tree between Edmund and Charles avenues.

A sheriff’s sergeant saw Smith walking near the crash scene and arrested him. He told the sergeant that the woman with him was not driving.

Medics took Schultz from the car to Regions Hospital, where she was declared dead about 9:50 p.m., a little more than two hours before her birthday.

While at Regions Hospital, Smith said he had ingested fentanyl that morning and claimed he was in the back seat at the time of the crash. He said that his girlfriend of five years was in the car along with “someone else” he knew as “Smiles,” the complaint quoted him as saying.

Smith added that Smiles sat in the driver’s seat while he and Schultz went into the grocery store. He said he didn’t know where Smiles went after the crash.

When an investigator told Smith that he and Schultz were the only people in the car, “Smith did not verbally respond, but he dropped his head and closed his eyes,” the complaint noted.