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North Liberty woman convicted of Minnesota murder
The victim had moved from Iowa City to the Twin Cities shortly before the murder
Sep. 24, 2025 10:53 am, Updated: Sep. 24, 2025 2:59 pm
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A North Liberty woman arrested last year in Minnesota after crashing a car with the dead body of her ex-girlfriend inside has been convicted of murder by a Hennepin County jury.
Margot Lewis was found guilty Monday on two charges: second-degree murder with intent - not premeditated, and second-degree murder with intent - while committing a felony.
Lewis was arrested in Olmsted County, Minnesota in June 2024, after the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office responded to a crash in which Lewis had been driving 105 mph and had driven off the roadway near the intersection of Interstate 90 and Highway 42 in Eyota, east of Rochester.
The body of Liara Tsai — a 35-year-old DJ who had recently moved to the Minneapolis from Iowa City, and with whom Lewis had previously had a romantic relationship — was found in the backseat of the car, wrapped in bedding and a mattress and covered with a tarp. She had a stab wound in her neck, and it was clear she hadn’t been killed in the crash, according to court documents.
Lewis was charged in Olmsted County with interference with a dead body or scene of death, and that case still is in the process of being adjudicated. The second-degree murder charges were filed in Hennepin County, where Minneapolis Police performed a search warrant on Tsai’s residence and found her bed and bedding saturated with blood. A bloody plastic and metal object was in the bed, and there was also blood in the apartment’s bathroom, according to court documents.
A sentencing on the murder charges is scheduled for Nov. 18 at 1 p.m.
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
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