A Deer River woman is charged with murder and arson after a gruesome attack this past weekend.
Forty-two-year-old Crystal Wilson admitted to investigators that she had used methamphetamine and alcohol Sunday in Ball Club.
She reportedly arrived at the victim’s camper in Ball Club and used more substances before the attack began.
Itasca County law enforcement arrived on the scene Monday to find a camper fully engulfed in flames and a man lying outside it with severe burns.
A pulse was not detected and he had puncture wounds on his back and arms. A passerby pulled the victim out of the burning camper.
During Wilson’s Mirandized statement to law enforcement, she recounted the attack and thought at one point she was “burning a witch.”
The victim’s cause of death was ruled a homicide by the Midwest Medical Examiner, for his injuries unrelated to the fire.
\Unconditional bail for Wilson was set to $1,000,000, and she will make her next court appearance on Aug. 3.
