Fighting back tears, Shan Donovan remembered his mother, Dr. Cathy Ann Donovan, as his hero.
Donovan, 56, was killed on the evening of November 13 after she was hit by a vehicle while walking her two dogs along Highway 169.
The person responsible for her death has not come forward and authorities are still piecing together the investigation.
"Mom was the best thing that ever happened to me," Shan Donovan said Wednesday morning in St. Paul. "I started off my life a little bit on a disadvantage. I was born with one arm, abandoned as a one year old, placed in an orphanage in China with thousands of other kids, and then along came my mom. She adopted me she showed me what it was like to be loved."
Shan joined other family members at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety headquarters in St. Paul Wednesday morning to announce a $10,000 reward for information on Donovan's death.
"Doctor Donovan was well known in our county," said Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton. "For over 20 years she practiced medicine. She's personally been my doctor on several occasions and so this has had a huge hit to our community. Almost every single first responder that came to the scene personally knew her so that was very difficult for them."
Authorities had previously released a description of a vehicle of interest in the fatal hit-and-run.
The vehicle, described by the Minnesota State Patrol, is a four door car or SUV, darker color, possibly blue or metallic gray, but not black. The vehicle also has full-width tail lights that could extend across the back. It may also may not have front-end damage, but there may be minor hood and windshield damage.
Shan Donovan said that his mother's death is having an impact on his career in the medical field.
"Hearing the voice of a Fargo PD scared me a lot, not because I knew what could have been on the other end of that call but because when he mentioned my mom that that hurt a lot. I knew what it was gonna be like. I had a quit my job that night knowing I wanted to help others. I wanted to continue, but I couldn't. Not only that, I had to quit my job entirely at healthcare."
Cathy Donovan was a family practice physician at Mille Lacs Health System and was on-call the night she was killed, walking her dogs as she normally did.
"This team behind me is super active serving search warrants, getting data, working with crime analysts. We're actively working on this and we have information," said Minnesota State Patrol Colonel Matt Langer. "We're coming after who was involved, but to get us there faster we'd like one piece of information to come. Oftentimes there are photographs of vehicles that we think may involve and that could be right, but it could be wrong. Our message today is sort of to refresh if you think that you were involved give us a call. If you think you know someone who might have been involved to give us a call."
Anyone with information is told to contact 218-316-3026 or message jason.brown@state.mn.us.