State investigators have seized an SUV and questioned the owner of the vehicle they suspect was involved in a hit-and-run crash that killed a longtime family doctor as she walked her dogs near Lake Mille Lacs last fall.
The seizure of the gray 2022 Tesla X is among several pieces of evidence detailed in a court document filed Tuesday afternoon that point to an Edina man as the person who hit 56-year-old Cathy Ann Donovan around sunset on Nov. 13 along northbound Hwy. 169 near the southern shore of Lake Mille Lacs.
Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton said Wednesday that “the facts … are significant” as they are spelled out in a search warrant affidavit filed in court by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).
“I think for sure we’ve established probable cause” pointing to the 42-year-old man as the driver of the Tesla X, Burton told the Star Tribune. Probable cause is the legal term for what justifies charges being filed.
Charges against the man have yet to be filed. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before they are charged.
Messages were left with the man Wednesday by the Star Tribune seeking his reaction to the findings in the affidavit. The BCA also has not replied to inquiries about how the investigation is progressing.
Among the evidence noted in the affidavit: The man’s cellphone was in the area about the time Donovan was hit, a windshield wiper was on the pavement near Donovan’s body, and the vehicle appears to be similar to one captured on separate surveillance video footage along that stretch of the highway around the time of the crash.
The affidavit cleared the way last week for the BCA to seize the SUV, the man’s phone and the Tesla’s card-shaped key.