ONAMIA, Minn. (KFGO) – An NDSU graduate and recent Fargo resident is among family members offering a $10,000 reward for information that leads to the person responsible for a hit-and-run crash that killed his mother in central Minnesota.
Shan Donovan’s mother, Cathy, was killed while she was walking her dogs and crossing Highway 169 near Onamia in Mille Lacs County on the afternoon of Nov. 13. Cathy Donovan, 56, was a doctor with the Mille Lacs Health System for 27 years.
Donovan said they are offering the reward because, so far, there have been leads, but nothing that has led to any real information.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to spread the news,” Donovan said. “We, as a family, don’t have much information. The police are doing everything they can too. We just have to report everything we see, whether it’s not significant or very significant.”
Donovan said they are also looking for closure.
Until last month, Donovan – who was adopted by Cathy from China when he was five years old – spent the last four and a half years living and working in Fargo. At 23-years-old, he recently graduated from NDSU, was working at Cass Public Health and Sanford Ambulance, and volunteering at a church. He said he was starting to find a family in Fargo – a second home. One that he was able to share the values from his mother with.
“I was volunteering (at church) as a Sunday School leader,” Donovan said. “I had to leave that family. I had to leave those kids.”
After the crash, Donovan moved back into his mother’s house to take care of things there.
“Having to leave that life just really stinks,” Donovan said. “It’s kind of like I have to figure out everything I just learned this summer living alone all over again. Now, having to go back and adjust to that with something even more emotional in my heart.”
Investigators said they are looking for a dark-colored vehicle with full-width tail lights that was traveling northbound near Grand Casino Mille Lacs.
“Somebody needs to come forward, really,” Donovan said. “It tears us apart that we have to do something like this where money brings somebody potentially forward. I think the best thing, right now, is if somebody comes forward and helps us out with that. I think it will settle a lot of things.”
