A Minnesota resident has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term following the murder of her former girlfriend, whose lifeless body she transported in her vehicle.

In September, Margot Lewis, 33, was convicted of both second-degree murder with intent and second-degree murder without intent while wielding a dangerous weapon, according to a report by Law&Crime.

This week, Lewis received a 40-year prison sentence for the horrific stabbing of 35-year-old Liara Tsai, who was well-known in Minneapolis as a DJ.

The tragic event took place on June 22, 2024, when Lewis fatally stabbed Tsai in the neck. She then swathed the body in bedding, a futon-like mattress, and a tarp.

The body was discovered under unexpected circumstances. Lewis had hidden Tsai’s body in her car and was driving along Interstate 90 near Highway 42 in Eyota when she was involved in an accident. Two passersby stopped to assist and stumbled upon the deceased woman.

Adding to the strangeness, Lewis calmly unfolded a lawn chair and sat by the roadside, seemingly waiting for the inevitable discovery.

Quickly, authorities arrived on the scene.

“In checking to see if anyone else was in the vehicle, a deceased individual, a 35-year-old female, was located in the back seat,” the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release. “The condition of the deceased was suspicious, and it was immediately apparent that the death was not a result of the motor vehicle accident.”

Lewis was charged with murder days later.

Tire tracks indicated to law enforcement that Lewis was moving at a high rate of speed before the accident, according to a charging document obtained by Law&Crime. When investigators searched the vehicle, officers found dried blood on the blanket and mattress the victim was wrapped in. The slain woman was positioned in the back seat with her head aimed toward the passenger seat and her feet facing the driver’s seat.

Later, the Minneapolis Police Department executed a search warrant at Tsai’s residence and found a bloody state of affairs suggesting “significant violence,” according to Rochester, Minnesota-based radio station KROC. Some kind of a plastic and metal object was found on a bed covered in blood, antifreeze and a small shovel were present, and a knife was missing from a butcher’s block in the kitchen, authorities noted.

In court, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Erin Lutz described the murder as a profound “betrayal” of the heart and more — explaining that Tsai had been writing love poems to Lewis while Lewis was journaling her urge to kill Tsai, according to a courtroom report by Minneapolis-based NBC affiliate KARE.

“There is no doubt Ms. Tsai was a bright, vibrant, creative woman whose death has left a hole in the hearts of so many who knew and loved her,” the prosecutor said. “While the court sentence today can’t bring Ms. Tsai back, it can capture the gruesome and horrific nature of the actions of Margot Lewis, which resulted in her death and the pain that so many are experiencing today.”

Lewis, for her part, was unrepentant and combative.

“I loved her even when things got bad, and I never would have killed her,” the since-condemned woman said during the abortive allocution.

Then, when 4th Judicial District Judge Paul Scoggin tried to explain the rationale behind the sentence, Lewis began to interrupt.

“Ma’am, this is not a discussion,” the judge chided. “Do you understand me? Nothing more!”

The murderess received an upward sentencing departure requested by the state; she was, however, given 517 days of credit spent in pretrial detention. Notably, Lewis still faces charges for hiding Tsai’s body.