Investigation Continues in Death of Fort Ripley Woman Found Lying in the Road

The Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the death of a woman whose body was found lying in the road early Sunday morning south of Brainerd.

49-year-old Angela Marie McClelland of Fort Ripley is believed to have died after being struck by a vehicle. Her body was located lying in the roadway off Highway 371 near the intersection of Legend Lane and Killian Road. A passerby reported seeing a body lying in the road around 5:40 Sunday morning.

Law enforcement continues to follow up on leads and anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at (218) 829-4749 to help in this investigation.

“It’s one of of the toughest part of the jobs, you know, when we have a death and we don’t know what happened or how it happened or who did it,” said Crow Wing County Sheriff Eric Klang. “And that’s one of the things that we’re working right now is trying to identify what happened that night.”

Authorities are also not certain yet if the incident was an accident or not.

“I don’t like to use the word ‘accident’ because we don’t know that, so that’d be just guessing, but at this point it looks like somebody may or may not have known what – if they hit that person,” added Klang. “I believe that they did, most likely, and then drove away.”

Klang says the Sheriff’s Office did find some evidence at the scene that he thinks will be helpful in finding out what happened.

The Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office continues to ask witnesses or anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in the area of Legend Lane and Killian Road in the early morning hours of Sunday to come forward with any information they may have.