Rockford Woman Arrested and Charged After Fatal Crash in August

(KNSI) — A 45-year-old Rockford woman has been charged after allegedly twice running over another woman, killing her, in August.

Melinda Jean Dotray is charged in Ramsey County District Court with one count of second-degree manslaughter, two counts of criminal vehicular homicide, and one count of fifth-degree drug possession. Prosecutors say police were called to a crash the evening of August 17th at Les Boland Golf Course after a pickup truck hit a Honda Civic, crashed through a fence, and continued onto the golf course. Twenty-nine-year-old Abigail Anderson was run down in the first crash, and after the pickup truck did a U-turn, Anderson was run over again. Anderson was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital. Witnesses say there was “no way” Dotray didn’t see Anderson and that she was “definitely” trying to leave the scene. They told investigators “it looked intentional,” calling the scene “unbelieveable.”

After she was detained, police say she fell asleep in the back of the squad car and allegedly said she was tired and wasn’t trying to leave the scene, just get off the golf course. The Minnesota State Patrol reconstruction team says when the truck hit the Civic is was going over 60 miles an hour, and there was no evidence Dotray applied the brakes.

Dotray also allegedly bought the truck with a bad check, never had insurance on the truck, and police say they found just over a gram of methamphetamine in the glove box. The criminal complaint says Dotray’s blood contained meth, amphetamines, fentanyl, and norfentanyl.

Bail is set at $1 million.

Anderson, who grew up in Perham, is the sister of marathoner Gabe Grunewald, who died from cancer in 2019.

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