Dr. Cathy Donovan killed in hit-and-run crash near Lake Mille Lacs, sheriff says
KATHIO TOWNSHIP, Minn. — Authorities are searching for the driver they say hit and killed a doctor and one of her dogs Monday afternoon near Lake Mille Lacs.
The Mille Lacs County Sheriff's Office says first responders were called to the 40000 block of Highway 169 in Kathio Township just before 5 p.m. on a report of a pedestrian that had been struck.
The victim was soon identified as 56-year-old Dr. Cathy Donovan of Onamia. The sheriff's office says Donovan had been a long time provider at Mille Lacs Health System in Onamia.
She had been walking her two dogs — Flash and Sunny — at the time of the crash, one of whom also didn't survive.
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"We are just in complete shock," Dr. Thomas Bracken said.
On Tuesday afternoon, officers were seen canvassing the area for evidence.
The victim was a family practice physician at Mille Lacs Health System.
"This was so sudden and tragic and unexpected and leaves such a big hole in our hearts and health system," Bracken said.
Bracken was the man who gave Donovan her job 27 years ago.
"If I had to pick one person I didn't want to lose here, it would be her," he said. "She was probably the most important as far as the future goes here."
Donovan was on call at the hospital when she went home to walk and run with her dogs, something she did regularly.
"Any day she had off or time she would be down there with her dogs," Bracken said.
No matter who you ask, Donovan was known as a selfless woman devoted to her patients, and an incredible mother to her children Joy and Shan, who she adopted from China.
"Caring about somebody other than herself ... is the way she was," Bracken said.
Bracken says Donovan's future was bright, and her importance to a community that relied on her in and outside of the doctor's office can't be measured.
Authorities say they don't have a description of the vehicle that struck Donovan, and are asking the public to be on the lookout for ones with "heavy front-end damage."
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call the county sheriff's tip line at 320-983-8346. Tips can also be submitted anonymously online to Crime Stoppers, or by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).