A 17-year-old from Menomonie has officially been charged in connection with a fatal hit-and-run Saturday morning.

Addison Sophia Bowell faces one count of homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle and one count of a hit-and-run resulting in death.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Dunn County, someone called 911 to report a woman lying in the ditch on County Road Y in Dunn Township. The caller said the woman appeared to have been hit by a car and believed her to be deceased.

Despite first aid, the woman, later identified as 54-year-old Ann Seidl, was pronounced deceased. First responders noted that she was wearing a high-visibility vest on her right arm.

The 911 caller stayed on the scene and told police she believed her daughter, Bowell, was the one who hit Seidl. She said her daughter came home drunk around 6:15 a.m. and said she thought she had hit another vehicle.

Bowell’s mother said she saw damage to her daughter’s car. The mother was on her way to work and was driving on County Road Y when she saw a damaged mailbox and Seidl.

During an interview with investigators, Bowell’s mother said, “She will not quit drinking and smoking weed. She just refuses.”

Investigators went to the mother’s home and found a 2014 Chevy Malibu with front-end damage. The car was also missing a mirror and headlight — a shattered mirror and headlight were found at the scene, court documents state.

Bowell admitted to authorities that the Chevy Malibu was hers. When authorities asked how the car got damaged, she said she probably hit something but that she didn’t know what she hit. She also admitted that she “had drank a lot.”

Investigators later asked Bowell what she hit, and she “said she didn’t know what she had hit and didn’t really care,” court documents state.

A deputy conducted field sobriety tests on Bowell and noted several signs of impairment. Bowell initially refused a breath test, stating she had “like 16 underages and couldn’t get another one.” She then decided to blow into the testing unit and the result was a .114 BAC, court documents state.

Several empty cases of “Twisted Tea” and an empty 1.75 liter bottle of “Badger Claw” were found in the trunk of Bowell’s car.

In an interview while she was in jail, Bowell said she was drinking with her friends, was dropped off at her cousin’s house where her car was and started driving back to the party. She added that she hit somebody on her way there, continued driving to town and then turned around and went home.

Bowell told investigators that she and her friend finished a bottle of vodka and that she had around six other drinks. She also admitted to smoking marijuana.

When asked about her car, Bowell said it had a lot of damage before the crash. “I’ve hit a lot of things, I’m a really bad driver,” she told police.

When investigators told her that a pedestrian was killed in the crash, Bowell reportedly responded, “Who walks on the road at three in the morning? like.. bro..” She later added, “So, am I going to get out or not?”

When a deputy asked Bowell if she saw anyone walking, Bowell replied,”No, nobody was
walking, it was dark outside in the middle of the night. What are you even doing? That pisses
me off.”

Bowell said she knew she hit something because she heard a thud but didn’t stop to look. According to court documents, she added that she was on her phone, not paying attention and was completely in the other lane.

After getting home from the crash, phone records show that Bowell texted someone that she needed her vape from him or she was going to “tweak.” She then texted a group chat a video of her car, saying she hit another car head-on and fled the scene.

A witness said that Seidl went for runs every morning and left for a run around 5:32 a.m. on Saturday. Seidl’s son woke up around 7:10 a.m. and asked why she wasn’t home from her run yet. The witness told police he saw an ambulance drive by, so he followed it and saw authorities at the crash scene.