Trial set for Credit River hit-and-run suspect

Prior Lake American

A St. Paul resident is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 14 in Scott County District Court for an April hit-and-run in Credit River Township.

Timothy Lee Biby, 45, was arrested in May and charged with first-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault for a hit-and-run incident which left the victim, Prior Lake resident Grant Skluzacek, 18, with a fractured wrist, large gouges on his arms and road rash on his torso, calves, shoulder and kneecaps.

Investigators say Biby was attempting to kill his ex-wife’s boyfriend, who is not Skluzacek. Biby has not yet entered a plea on the charges.

Police say Skluzacek told them he left a friend’s house in Lakeville around 11 p.m. on his motorcycle and noticed a car following him. When he no longer saw the headlights, Skluzacek assumed the car had turned onto a different road. He then heard an engine revving and was struck from behind, according to the statement of probable cause.

A piece of plastic lodged in Skluzacek’s motorcycle was tracked to a 1999 Honda Accord that had recently been sold to Biby. Scott County Sheriff’s Office investigator Michael Schultz testified during a pretrial hearing Tuesday that he and investigator Kayla Puncochar talked to Biby at his apartment in St. Paul regarding the hit-and-run.

Schultz said Biby told him that he was not involved in the incident and that he had only driven to work and home. Once he questioned how a piece of the vehicle could end up in a hit-and-run in Scott County if Biby were in St. Paul the entire night, Schultz said that Biby asked to end the conversation.

Schultz said he then took Biby’s cell phone and told him it would be used for evidence and that he did not have a search warrant. Schultz said no police officers looked at the phone until a search warrant was signed later in the week.

Biby’s vehicle was also taken as evidence, Schultz said. Puncochar testified on Tuesday that Biby seemed “nervous” during the course of the conversation and that Biby said he didn’t want the detectives to take his cell phone.

Later, detectives received a call from a woman who said she was Biby’s ex-wife. The woman said she had received a letter from Biby indicating his involvement in the incident, according to the statement of probable cause.

“I tried to kill your boyfriend,” Biby allegedly wrote in the letter. “I was going to the casino and decided to drive by the condo. It’s the first time I’ve ever done that. I was hoping you would be outside with Jax. I saw a guy leave on a bike and I lost it...Anyway, I hit him with my car. Turns out he has a high school kid. I hurt an innocent kid. I can’t live like this. Hey, at least I finally quit smoking...”

According to the statement of probable cause, Jax is the ex-wife’s dog. Biby is under a domestic abuse no-contact order to prohibit him from contacting his ex-wife.

Biby was arrested on May 10 and admitted to investigators that he wrote the letter, according to court documents. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the attempted murder charge and 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine for the second-degree assault charge.