An 85-year-old woman was run over and killed in east-central Minnesota while getting her mail in one of two unsolved suspected hit-and-run cases in Aitkin County on the same day.
Margaret "Marge" Johnson was struck early Friday afternoon just east of Aitkin in front of her home along the shoulder of Hwy. 47.
"We have a lot of unanswered questions," her son, Scott Johnson, said in a statement released Wednesday evening. "We know it could have just been an accident, but we as a family need to find some answers. The smallest bit of information could be very helpful while we try to put the pieces together from that day."
The mailbox is on the same side of the highway in front of Johnson's home. There have been a few instances in recent years in Minnesota involving residents in rural areas crossing the highway to get to their mailbox and being run over.
Marge Johnson grew up in the Aitkin area and operated a Holstein farm with her now-deceased husband until 1978. For the past 33 years, she worked for son Scott and his wife at the Office Shop in Aitkin. She also was a volunteer at the Riverwood Healthcare Center and at her church at the time of her death.
The same day Johnson was struck, a 10-year-old girl was killed in the same county in what could also be a hit-and-run.
Caylin Donovan of Lake Park, Minn., was run over and killed just before 8 p.m. as she walked along a road on Hwy. 18 about 10 miles from Garrison in the Lake Mille Lacs area.
The patrol did say it's possible that the driver did not know there was a collision.
