Woman sent to prison for being high when her speeding pickup fatally hit former U track athlete

A woman received a four-year prison term after admitting that she was high on opioids when her speeding pickup truck veered from the street near the University of Minnesota soccer facility and fatally struck a 29-year-old former Gophers track athlete.

Melinda J. Dotray, 48, of Rockford was sentenced on Friday in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the crash in Falcon Heights on Aug. 14, 2021, that killed Abigail “Abby” Anderson.

In exchange for her plea in October, the County Attorney’s Office dismissed all other counts including a more serious third-degree murder charge.

With credit for time served since her arrest, Dotray is expected to serve the first 2 ⅔ years of her term in prison and the balance on supervised release.

Prosecutors argued before Judge Andrew Gordon for Dotray to receive a 4 ¾-year term, while the defense pushed for no prison time and probation.

Anderson was the sister of Gabriele “Gabe” Grunewald, an elite middle-distance runner from Perham, Minn., who died in 2019 from adenoid cystic carcinoma, which was diagnosed in 2009 while she was running for the University of Minnesota. Anderson also ran for the Gophers after starring in track at Perham High School in Minnesota.

Like her sister, Anderson was an avid runner right up until her death. She ran the 2019 New York City Marathon in honor of her sister.

The sisters’ father, Kim Anderson, said a couple of days after the crash that Abby was hit while heading to the soccer field to see her boyfriend coach a match.

According to the criminal complaint:

Sheriff’s deputies at the scene learned that Dotray’s pickup hit and seriously damaged a parked car on Cleveland Avenue. Dotray also hit Abby Anderson, who was walking on the grass nearby, then drove through a fence onto the Les Bolstad Golf Course and hit her again while returning to the road.

Data retrieved from the truck revealed that Dotray was going more than 60 miles per hour when she hit the car. The speed limit on Cleveland is 40 mph.

Investigators searched Dotray’s pickup and recovered drugs in the glove compartment. Tests on them revealed the presence of methamphetamine.

Dotray also has two other felony cases filed in southern Minnesota that await sentencing after pleading guilty to felony charges in both.

She wrote a bad check in January 2023 for $1,444 for a tools purchase at Kingsley Mercantile in Harmony. In May 2023, a law enforcement search in Fountain for stolen property led police to find methamphetamines, hypodermic needles and drug paraphernalia in a home where she had been staying along with her three children. Fillmore County Social Services went to their school to pick up the children while the search was underway.