Murder Charge Filed in Fatal Fish Lake Township Fire
A Wright County man has been charged with 2nd-degree murder and 1st-degree assault after allegedly setting a fire at a Chisago County home early Sunday that left a man dead and woman injured.
According to the criminal complaint, officers were called to a residence on the 400 block of Cambridge Drive in Chisago County in response to a fire in progress around 3:30 a.m. Sunday. A female with visible burns reported that the fire had been intentionally set by another person who had entered the home.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the home to see flames and heavy, dark smoke billowing from the home. They made contact with the male victim who was on the ground, rolling in a blanket and screaming in pain, with severe burns on his entire body.
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The male victim reported that he had been sleeping in bed with the female victim when the suspect—Dallas Raymond Evenstad, 34—came into his bedroom. The male victim reported that Evenstad threw gas on him and set him on fire. After being transported to a hospital, the male victim was pronounced dead that afternoon, with burns to over 80 percent of his body and soot in his airway.
An investigator with the Chisago County Sheriff’s Office spoke with the female victim in the hospital on June 4. She had extensive wounds to her legs, hands and feet consistent with 2nd- and 3rd-degree burns. She told the investigator that she was asleep in bed when she woke up to the smell of gasoline and the sound of a man in the bedroom.
The victim said she saw Evenstad flick a lighter and then saw the male victim run out of the room. She immediately identified the man in her bedroom as Dallas Evenstad. The female victim was familiar with Evenstad because he had previously threatened the adult daughter of the male victim, the documents said. She did not have a phone to call for help so she drove to a neighbor’s house.
The adult daughter of the deceased male arrived on scene and confirmed that the man identified by her father as the perpetrator of the fire is a long-time acquaintance. The adult daughter reported that Evenstad had threatened her in the past and was familiar with the layout of the home.
Evenstad is being charged by the Chisago County Attorney’s Office with murder in the 2nd-degree and assault in the 1st-degree, both felonies.
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PREVIOUSLY: Chisago County Fire Death Being Investigated As Homicide