Hennepin County warrants detail Tsai murder investigation; bloodstained shoes taken from garbage
(ABC 6 News) – New search warrants from Hennepin County detail the scene investigators found at Minneapolis woman Liara Tsai’s apartment June 22.
Tsai, 35, was found deceased in the back of her Chevrolet Sonic, after suspect Margot Lewis allegedly drove the car into a barrier at I-90 and Highway 42 in Olmsted County.
Lewis, 32, was charged Wednesday with Tsai’s 2nd-degree murder and transferred to the Hennepin County Jail.
RELATED: UPDATE: Margot Lewis moved to Hennepin County jail – ABC 6 News – kaaltv.com
Lewis also faces a charge of interference with a dead body in Olmsted County.
Trail to Tsai’s apartment
According to Lewis’ charging documents, after the Chevrolet Sonic hit the I-90 guardrail at about 100 mph, investigators determined that Liara Tsai was the registered owner of the vehicle.
The court documents also state that a small dog was found at the scene of the car crash Saturday morning, which had a microchip registered to Tsai.
According to Hennepin warrants, Tsai’s dog’s last vaccinations were done in April 2024, at an Iowa clinic, which provided law enforcement with Tsai’s Minneapolis forwarding address.
Police responded to the 16th Street apartment, where they knocked, confirmed that Tsai lived there alone, and found surveillance cameras pointed at the street.
Photos from Tsai’s Facebook showed some of the bedding Tsai was found wrapped in inside the apartment, as well as “cordage that she is believed to be tied with,” according to the Hennepin warrants.
Lewis’ charging documents filed Wednesday did not explicitly state that Tsai was tied up when she was found in the back of the crashed vehicle. The documents describe her being “wrapped in bedding, a mattress, and covered with a tarp with the head of the individual visible.”
Tsai’s last public Facebook post was written at 5:40 p.m. June 21, around 13 hours before Olmsted County law enforcement responded to the crash on I-90.
Minneapolis police did not know where Tsai had been killed, and requested permission to search her apartment for forensic evidence, weapons, electronics, any documents or writing preceding Tsai’s death, as well as video surveillance of the premises.
List of evidence seized from apartment
Minneapolis and Olmsted County investigators found a “bloody scene” at Tsai’s 16th Street apartment, according to Lewis’ murder charges.
According to Hennepin County warrants, investigators took 36 items from the apartment into evidence — mostly various bloodstained bedding and clothing found on the bed.
Minneapolis law enforcement also collected bloodstained inner and outer shower curtains from Tsai’s bathroom, as well as a pair of bloodstained sandals and swabs of blood found on the toilet.
Next steps in the murder case
Margot Lewis is currently held on $1,500,000 bail in the Hennepin County Jail.
An initial hearing on the two 2nd-degree murder charges had not been scheduled Friday evening, June 28.
Lewis is scheduled to appear in Olmsted County Court on a charge of interference with a dead body July 5.