Cliff Buchan
News EditorAn 18-year-old St. Paul woman was killed early Sunday on I-35 when she was struck by a pickup truck that failed to stop and fled the scene. According to the Minnesota State Patrol, Rita Lynn Gorz of 1388 Ames Ave., St. Paul, was killed at 2 a.m. after she stepped from the backseat of the vehicle she was riding. Gorz was dead at the scene.
Police on Monday said they were continuing their search for the driver of the northbound vehicle that hit Gorz and left the scene.
According to police reports, Gorz was one of four people in a Chevrolet Tahoe that pulled off northbound I-35 and stopped on the right shoulder under the US-8 bridge.
Gorz, a back seat passenger riding behind the driver, had stepped from the vehicle when she was struck and killed, said Kevin Smith, spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Smith said witnesses told the Minnesota State Patrol the pickup that struck Gorz continued north, swerved, crossed the median and left the area driving south on I-35.
The vehicle was described as a three-quarters to one-ton Ford pickup that was gray or silver in color. The truck reportedly had a yellow snowplow on the front.
Forest Lake Police Department officers were the first on the scene at 2:05 a.m.
Troopers were in Forest Lake on Monday to question a possible suspect but had made no arrests. The State Patrol seized a Ford pickup truck that matches witness descriptions of the vehicle involved in the hit-and-run. The pickup has right front headlight and turn signal damage consistent with what the vehicle involved in the crash likely sustained, the patrol said.
Evidence from the vehicle will by analyzed by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The process is expected to take several weeks. Anybody with information about the incident is asked to call the State Patrol at 651-582-1500.
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