STEARNS COUNTY, Minn. (FOX 9) - A crash involving a car driving through a wooded area at the end of a dead-end avenue in Stearns County left one person dead Monday.
At around 3:58 p.m., the Stearns County Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call from a cell phone. Operators were able to hear someone on the call at the time but were unable to understand what was being said.
Authorities were able to map the call using GPS and found the location to be near 355th Avenue and the Wobegon Trail in Melrose Township, just west of the City of Melrose.
Responding police found the source of the call, locating a crash scene and an adult female who had sustained serious injuries – later identified as Katie Llewellyn, 38, of Melrose. She died at the scene.
An investigation later revealed that Llewellyn was operating a 2004 Chevrolet Malibu and had been traveling southbound on County Road 185, when she crossed County Road 65 and continued to travel southbound on 355th Avenue – at which point her car drove into a wooded area at the dead-end of 355th Avenue, and struck a tree.
Llewellyn was not wearing her seatbelt at the time of the crash, according to authorities.
The crash remains under investigation.