MANKATO (TEC News) -- Sheriff investigators are looking to see if the woman behind the wheel of a fatal crash earlier this month south of Mankato was using her cell phone at the time of the accident.
18-year-old Kelsie Seykora of rural Lake Crystal lost control of her car on County Road 33 near the Jones Ford Bridge and hit an oncoming pickup truck.
A passenger in her car, 20-year-old Daniel Stahl of Alden, died later at a Rochester hospital.
A Blue Earth County Sheriff's Department search warrant filed this week is seeking the records for Sekora's cell phone.
Seykora was ejected from the car with her cell phone, leading investigators to speculate she may have been using it.
The search warrant also provides additional insight into the crash that remains under investigation.
Witness Ted Staley told an officer at the scene that he was with a group of vehicles northbound on County Road 33 and had just met the occupants of Seykora's vehicle and were returning to Mankato after having no luck looking for a party in the Lake Crystal area.
Staley didn't see the crash but was first on the scene and was first to call 9-1-1. He told officers that he found Seykora lying on the side of the road.
The front seat passenger in the Sekora car, 19-year-old Derek Thostenson of Alden, was outside the car when he talked to a sheriff deputy. He told authorities Seykora was the driver and that two males were trapped in the back seat.
Seykora was taken to Mayo Hospital by a passerby before authorities reached the scene. Another deputy was dispatched to the hospital.
According to the search warrant, Blue Earth County Sheriff Lt. Jeff Wersal could smell marijuana inside the vehicle when he checked on the trapped backseat passengers.
He found Bradley Gibbs, 18, of St. Peter in the backseat. Trapped under him was 20-year-old Daniel Stahl of Alden. Lt. Wersal said Stahl was unresponsive with shallow breathing.
Gibbs was unable to tell Lt. Wersal how the crash happened.
According to the search warrant, Lt. Wersal then spoke with the driver of the pickup truck, 52-year-old Jill Krause of rural Good Thunder.
Krause was southbound on County Road 33 when she met Sekora's Monte Carlo coming down the hill, Krause says the car was sideways and she couldn't avoid it.
The road was snow covered and slick and investigators say Seykora's car's rear tires had less than 1/8 of an inch tred.
The road was snow covered and slick and investigators say Seykora's car's rear tires had less than 1/8 of an inch tred.
Trapped in the pickup, Krause told Lt. Wersal she could see a woman lying on the side of the road and though she might have been run over by passing traffic.
Deputy Carl Mulder informed Lt. Wersal that the vehicle that transported Sekora to Mayo Hospital in Mankato arrived. He arrested the 17-year-old driver of that car at the hospital because it had allegedly been involved in a pursuit with the State Patrol. The driver was also arrested on charges of underage drinking.
According to the search warrant, Deputy Tim Wendler recovered marijuana from Sekora's coat pocket. They also found a pair of smoking pipes with residue. Thostenson allegedly admitted to Deputy Wendler that all four has smoked marijuana just prior to the crash.
Stahl was taken to St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester where he later died from a severe brain injury.
Gibbs and Seykora were both taken to Mayo Hospital in Mankato. There conditions have not been available since the crash.
Thostenson and Krause were both treated and released.