A North Branch man is facing two felony criminal charges in connection with the death of a St. Paul woman on I-35 in Forest Lake on Dec. 14 , 2003.Lucas Karl Lundeen, 26, of North Branch, has been charged with two counts of leaving the scene of accident that resulted in death, according to Washington County Attorney Doug Johnson and First Assistant County Attorney Susan Harris.
Lundeen is free and awaits a first appearance in Washington County District Court in June, Harris said.
The charges stem from an early-morning accident on northbound I-35 just north of CR-2 in Forest Lake that claimed the life of Rita Lynn Gorz, 18. Gorz, a passenger in a Chevrolet Tahoe that had stopped along the road at 2 a.m., was killed when she exited the vehicle and was struck by a northbound vehicle.
Gorz was one of three passengers in the vehicle driven by Nicholas Rex Erickson, 18. Erickson had stopped the Tahoe on the right shoulder of northbound I-35 near the US-8 overpass and activated the vehicleís flashing lights.
According to the county attorneyís office, Gorz exited the rear passenger side and went to the rear of the Tahoe where she was hit by the northbound vehicle.
She was found lying on the fog line of northbound I-35 and was dead at the scene. Her body was thrown 51 feet in front of the Tahoe, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.
Erickson, the two other passengers in his vehicle and two others who stopped at the scene told police the pickup that struck Gorz continued north for a short distance before turning through the median and traveled southbound on I-35 without stopping.
On Dec. 15, 2003, Lundeen and his attorney surrendered a 1995 black Ford F150 pickup to the Minnesota State Patrol investigators at the Forest Lake Police Department. The pickup had a broken passenger side mirror, right front-end damage and a crease on the side of the box, Johnson and Harris said in a release.
Investigators from the Minnesota State Patrol observed the paint transfer and damage to the pickup was consistent with the evidence collected at the scene of the collision.
ìWe believe with the blood and other evidence on his truck and from the folks we interviewed he was out that evening,î Harris said.
Biological evidence samples found on the Ford pickup were submitted to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for testing and were later determined to match the DNA profile obtained from the known blood sample of Ms. Gorz, Harris said.
According to the complaint filed June 2, the State Patrol investigation of Lundeenís whereabouts on the night of Dec. 13-14 found that Lundeen had attended a holiday work party at the Mermaid Bar in Mounds View where he had consumed alcoholic drinks before leaving the bar.
Lundeen family members interviewed by the State Patrol told investigators that Lundeen was driving the vehicle and ìhe doesnít know what happened,î according to the criminal complaint.
Harris said the county attorneyís office received the case on May 19 and completed the formal charging process last month. No court dates have been set, she said.
If convicted, Lundeen could receive a maximum sentence of three years in prison and/or a $5000 fine for both felony counts under current sentence guidelines, Harris said.
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