Mystery Deepens As Police Find Dead Body In Backseat of Woman's Car After Crash: Sheriff

Minnesota police responding to a single-vehicle accident last Saturday morning were met with a shocking discovery -- a dead body wrapped in blankets and a mattress in the backseat.

32-year-old Iowa resident Margot Lewis has been charged with interference with a dead body or scene of death and is being held on $1 million bond after the incident, which unfolded around 7am over the weekend in Olmsted County.

Per the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office, deputies arrived on the scene to find Lewis being tended to by a Good Samaritan. It's when they looked inside Lewis' vehicle that they made a chilling discovery.

"In checking to see if anyone else was in the vehicle, a deceased individual, a 35-year-old female, was located in the back seat," said authorities in a press release. "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 victim was later identified as Liara Tsai.

According to a criminal complaint obtained by KROC, the victim was wrapped in a bed sheet, a blanket, a futon-style mattress, and a tarp -- and was "cold to the touch." The complaint adds, "There appeared to be dried blood soaked into the bed sheet," while a "large wound on the right side of the neck around the carotid artery" was observed.

The medical examiner later ruled the fatal injuries weren't caused by the crash, saying she died from "multiple sharp force injuries" before ruling the death a homicide.

After executing a warrant at Tsai's home, the Minneapolis Police Department said they found "a scene indicating violence."

A friend who hired Tsai as a DJ said they spoke on Friday, with Tsai allegedly telling him "a friend was coming to stay with her." She didn't respond to him via text on Saturday and failed to show up for a gig on Sunday.

"That accident was divine intervention, hands down," Tsai's sister, Kristen Sewell, told KTTC, calling her a ray of sunshine. "Someone just took another person who was that light away."

So far, the connection between Tsai and Lewis remains a mystery to the public. Lewis also has not been charged with murder, it should be noted.

In court on Tuesday, KAAL reported Lewis "communicated with defense only via writing or sign language, having taken a spiritual vow of silence according to the attorneys present."

A press conference is expected at some point today. Lewis is due back in court on July 5.