A Minnesota woman will spend the next four decades behind bars for a killing so grisly and surreal that even seasoned investigators were left stunned. This week, 33-year-old Margot Lewis was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the stabbing murder of her ex-girlfriend, 35-year-old Minneapolis DJ Liara Tsai.
Lewis had already been convicted in September of second-degree murder with intent and second-degree murder without intent while using a dangerous weapon.
According to investigators, the nightmare began on June 22, 2024, inside Tsai’s Minneapolis home. Lewis stabbed her former partner in the neck, wrapped the body in bedding, a futon-style mattress, and a tarp, then loaded the remains into Tsai’s own car. From there, Lewis drove east into rural Minnesota with the corpse in the back seat.
The crime might have gone undiscovered if Lewis hadn’t crashed the vehicle on Interstate 90 near Highway 42 in Eyota. Two good Samaritans pulled over to help and immediately saw something was wrong. When they opened a rear door, they discovered Tsai’s body.
As they made the horrifying find, Lewis calmly set up a lawn chair on the shoulder of the highway and sat down to wait.
Deputies arrived within minutes. The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office later said the condition of the body made it “immediately apparent” that the death had nothing to do with the crash. A deeper look inside the vehicle revealed dried blood on the bedding and mattress used to conceal the body. Tsai was found positioned with her head toward the passenger seat and her feet toward the driver’s side.
A search of Tsai’s home turned up what investigators described as a bloody, violent scene. Blood covered a bed. A plastic and metal object lay nearby. Antifreeze and a small shovel were in the residence, and a kitchen knife was missing from a butcher block. Prosecutors alleged Lewis used the items in the attack or in the attempt to conceal it.
At sentencing, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Erin Lutz called the killing a profound betrayal. She said Tsai had been writing love poems to Lewis while Lewis had been journaling about killing her. Tsai, she said, “was a bright, vibrant, creative woman whose death has left a hole in the hearts of so many.”
Lewis told the court, “I loved her even when things got bad, and I never would have killed her.” When Judge Paul Scoggin began explaining the sentence, Lewis repeatedly interrupted him. He finally snapped: “Ma’am, this is not a discussion. Do you understand me? Nothing more!”
Lewis received an aggravated sentence at the state’s request, though she was credited with 517 days of pretrial detention. She still faces additional charges for hiding Tsai’s body.
The case, prosecutors said, will be remembered for both its brutality and its haunting final act on the side of a Minnesota highway.
