A $10,000 reward is being offered for information on who was driving the vehicle that hit and killed Dr. Cathy Donovan last month while she was walking her dogs along U.S. 169 in Mille Lacs County.

Dr. Cathy Donovan

Donovan was a mother of two and a doctor for the past 27 years with Mille Lacs Health System in Onamia. On Nov. 13, she was walking her dogs along the highway in Kathio Township near her home when a northbound vehicle struck and killed her, then left the area. One of the dogs was also killed in the crash shortly before 5 p.m.

Law enforcement officials have been asking for the public’s help to identify the vehicle ever since.

At a Wednesday news conference in St. Paul announcing the reward, Col. Matt Langer, chief of the Minnesota State Patrol, said law enforcement has been investigating numerous tips in the case but they are still looking for crucial information.

“Someone out there knows something and, for us, all we need is one phone call, one email, one anonymous text that gets to the right place because our goal today is to find the vehicle that was involved. That then leads us to the driver of that vehicle,” Langer said. “If it was you who was driving and you were involved, the right thing to do is to get this off your chest and to come forward. That’s the right thing to do.”

Also speaking at the news conference were Cathy Donovan’s father, George Donovan; her twin sister Dr. Robin Councilman; her son, Shan Donovan; and Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton.

George Donovan was overcome with emotion as he spoke about his daughter.

“I’m having a hard time accepting the fact that Cathy is dead. She’ll never be on the other end of the telephone,” he said tearfully before trailing off.

Councilman stepped up to read the rest of her father’s prepared statement, which noted Cathy Donovan’s family will never again get to see her or talk to her on weekly Zoom events or at family get-togethers or take family trips with each other.

George also said he couldn’t understand how someone could drive away and leave another person in the road to die.

“And I’ll never hear Cathy say, ‘Hello, dear dad,’” he said.

Councilman said she was speaking not only for herself but on behalf of all her family members who could not be at Wednesday’s news conference, including Cathy Donovan’s daughter, Joy.

“Someone took the life of our mother, daughter, sister, niece…,” Councilman said. “That person, who we have chosen to believe did this accidentally as a result of poor choices from behind the wheel of a car, changed our lives irrevocably. From that moment on, there will be a hole in our family.”

Councilman said her sister will never get to hold her first grandchild, watch her children build their own lives and career, cheer on the accomplishments of her extended family or celebrate her birthday again with her twin sister.

“We had already picked out our 60th birthday cake that we wanted our children to make for us and that day will never come for her,” Councilman said.

Like Langer, Councilman said someone knows something, and the family is hoping they will find the courage to come forward.

“Knowing who took Cathy from us will not fill that hole in our family. However, it will keep us from wondering how and why this happened. What choices led to her death,” Councilman said. “This won’t make us whole but it will help us to find some peace in a horrible situation.”

Councilman also read a statement from Cathy Donovan’s daughter, Joy, who wrote about all the things her mother will miss with her family, including the little things like laughing together, asking her for medical advice and watching “The Gilmore Girls” together.

“I’m not angry at whoever killed my mother, just incredibly heartbroken,” Councilman read from Joy’s statement. “I want the nightmares of how my mom died to end. I want the sudden uncontrollable sobbing fits to end. I want my family to find closure.”

Cathy Donovan’s son, Shan Donovan, said his mom was his hero. He recalled his struggles in being born with one arm and being raised in an orphanage in China.

“And then along came my mom. She adopted me, she showed me what it was like to be loved and accepted and what a family was,” Shan Donovan said.

He said he grew up being a three-sport athlete, a valedictorian and role model for others. He said any adversity he faced his mother was there to help him through it. He had been working as an emergency medical technician in Fargo, N.D., but since his mother’s death he decided to quit his job.

“I can tell you it’s one of the worst feelings not only having to quit that job, but also having to say goodbye to your mom,” Shan Donovan said. “Everybody knows you go to your mom or you go to your dad when you’re struggling. … Now that’s gone. So yeah, I’m hurting a lot.”

Burton said Cathy Donovan was very well known and her death has had a tremendous impact on the community.

“Almost every single first responder that came to the scene personally knew her so that was very difficult for them,” Burton said, adding she’d been his doctor on several occasions.

He said it took a lot of courage for Cathy Donovan’s family to speak at the news conference, and he hoped whoever has information about what happened to think about her and her family, who now have to spend Christmas without her.

“My heart breaks for them,” Burton said. “Somebody knows something and our hope is that somebody just does the right thing. And now there’s more motivation on the table to do that. But these folks back here are hurting. I hope folks, if you take nothing else away from today, you see that and consider that if you’re on the fence about whether or not to share something.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. Jason Brown with the State Patrol by calling 218-316-3026 or by email at jason.brown@state.mn.us. The Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office can be contacted by calling 320-983-8250 and the sheriff’s office tip line can be reached at 320-983-8346.

Another option is to report this case anonymously to Crime Stoppers of Minnesota at crimestoppersMN.org, by calling the toll free number 800-233-TIPS (8477) from anywhere in Minnesota or by installing a Submit a Tip app on any smartphone, or by sending a text message beginning with TIP674 to CRIMES (274637).

All contact with Crime Stoppers is anonymous and may qualify for a reward from them if the information leads to an arrest.

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