Slain South Dakota woman was on phone during time of shooting

HARTFORD, S.D. (AP) — The sister of a South Dakota woman who was fatally shot while driving on a Missouri interstate with her two children says she was on the phone with her at the time of the shooting.

In an interview with NBC’s “Dateline,” Kara Renken says her sister, Melissa Penskey, was talking about a vehicle that was swerving all over the road and a semi that had gone into the ditch before she went silent two or three minutes later.

Authorities say Peskey was killed by a bullet fired from outside the car along a rural stretch of I-70 near Boonville last December causing the vehicle to crash. Her children, ages 5 and 11, were not seriously hurt.

The Hartford real estate agent was on her way to visit a friend in South Carolina when she was shot.