Tire mark on girl's thigh ties Hastings man to hit-and-run death

A Hastings man was charged Wednesday in the hit-and-run death of a 10-year-old girl who was struck along a highway near Lake Mille Lacs.

Steven L. Meier, 44, was charged in Aitkin County District Court with two counts of criminal vehicular homicide, one for leaving the scene on June 10 and another for failing to notify law enforcement of the collision about 10 miles from Garrison that killed Caylin Donovan, of Lake Park, Minn.

A woman who lives with Meier was arrested along with him and was released from jail Wednesday without being charged. Authorities believe she was driving a Chevy Tahoe behind Meier as he pulled a boat trailer while in a Jeep Cherokee. They suspect she saw Caylin on the pavement along Hwy. 18 near the lake but did not stop.

Caylin's home is west of Detroit Lakes, and she was on a trip to see extended family about 135 miles to the east at the time she was run over. Several people told authorities they saw the girl sitting on the shoulder of the highway picking up rocks and passing the time. While her body was at the Ramsey County medical examiner's office, investigators found some of those rocks in one of her pockets.

The charges against Meier note that a fresh tire mark detected on Caylin's thigh "closely resembled" a tire on a boat trailer that Meier was towing at the time. Also, the court document continued, DNA retrieved from the trailer by investigators was a match with Caylin.

Meier appeared in court Wednesday and was released from custody on bail. A telephone message was left with his attorney.

According to the charges:

Acting on tips from the public, the State Patrol located the woman's Tahoe and Meier's Jeep with the boat and trailer three days later at a marina along Lake Mille Lacs, roughly 8 miles to the west of the crash scene.

A trooper approached Meier, and he "appeared to be anxious and sweating," the charging document read. Both denied any involvement in the crash.

On June 16, investigators spoke with the woman at the couple's home in Hastings. She said she saw what she thought was a dead deer by the road but then realized "it was a lady." She said she swerved to the left to avoid hitting the body and chose not to call 911.

The woman said Meier was just ahead of her and took no evasive action at that spot on the highway.

Evidence at the couple's home by investigators included fabric on the right side of the boat trailer, near where it was damaged. "There was also obvious wiping/scrubbing visible" on that same side of the trailer and inside the wheel well.

Authorities are also still seeking the public's help in finding a vehicle involved in a separate hit-and-run in Aitkin County the same day. Margaret Ann Johnson, 85, was hit and killed near her mailbox on the shoulder of Hwy. 47, about 3½ miles east of Aitkin.

Anyone who saw Johnson near her mailbox between noon and 1 p.m. that day is asked to call the State Patrol at 218-316-3026 or the sheriff at 218-927-7435.