Faribault man taken off life support; defendant charges upgraded from assault to murder

A 79-year-old Faribault man has died after being taken off life support. Larry Lynn Myers passed away on July 6, he had been on life support since he was assaulted in an alleged “road rage” incident on June 27 in Dundas.

The man connected to Myers’s death, 52-year-old Leslie Sanders of Faribault, has been charged with second-degree murder on top of initial assault charges.

Sanders now faces second-degree murder charges with a maximum sentence of 40 years. His bail has been set to $1 million. Sanders is set to appear next at a 9 a.m. hearing on July 27.

According to court records, witnesses at the scene of the alleged assault told Dundas police that Sanders had exited his pickup truck while it was still rolling, approached Myers’s SUV and started punching Myers repeatedly in the face.

Myers was said to have corroborated the witnesses’ story. At the scene, Myers told Dundas Police Chief Todd Hanson that the two vehicles were on Cannon City Boulevard when Sanders went to pass Myers’s vehicle and hit Myers’s vehicle when returning to the lane.

It is unclear how events escalated, but records show the assault incident happened later on Highway 3.

Myers was observed to be bleeding from serious facial injuries and was taken to the hospital in Northfield. Health care providers diagnosed Myers with fractures below his eyes, a fractured nose, lacerations to the forehead and mouth and other wounds.

Court records show that Sanders was arrested for assault charges and posted bail.

Myers was then taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center, where it was determined he had a serious brain injury and could no longer tolerate dialysis or breathe on his own. He was taken off life support and died on the evening of July 6.

The obituary for Myers says he previously lived in Jackson, Missouri and was a U.S. Air Force Veteran who served in Vietnam.