GRAND MARAIS, Minn. — The classic North Shore resort Lutsen Lodge burned to the ground in February 2024. Now the owner, Bryce Campbell, 41, has been arrested and charged with arson and fraud. The arrest was in a Detroit suburb, where Cambell was on a business trip. Extradition was expected back to Minnesota. The criminal complaint details an incriminating list of circumstantial evidence from 22 months of investigation:
> The lodge was $467,000 past due on bills to 80 vendors. Owed to the lodge’s previous owners was $521,000; owed to a townhome association whose rental properties Campbell managed was $247,000; and owed to Highmark Builders was $277,000 on a mechanic’s lien. One business checking account showed a negative balance of $3,000. Others had balances of just $28 and $544.
> The lodge’s manager repeatedly had warned Campbell that there wasn’t enough money for the next payroll.
> Campbell doubled insurance on the lodge, from $8.5 million to $11 million in 2022, and then to $13 million in 202.
> Residue from the fire included the gel Swissmar was which can be used as an accelerant. CamPbell’s phone showed seaches for Sterno-Fuel, Fondue Fuel BTU and Swissmar the month before the fire.
> Campbell admitted tO performing maintenance on boilers in the basement in the days leading up to the fire. Investigators found a wrench wedged under the basement door to block entrance.
> Campbell first told investigators THAT he had left the lodge the night of the fire, picked up a pizza, and drove HOME and went to bed. Later in a separate interview Campbell said had stopped at the lodge shortly before midnight, to pick up items from his desk.
>The lodge manager tried to call Campbell 30 times at home between 1 and 2 a.m. after the fire had broken out. There was no answer. Campbell’s husband. left a series of unanswered Facebook emails to alert him to the fire.
> In earlier messages with his husband about the debt, Campbell said: “Just burn it.”
No guests were registered at the lodge. Business had been slow during a shoulder season. A property caretaker, who reported the fire, escaped unhurt.
Campbell. Faces three counts of arson and one count of insurance fraud.
Lutsen Lodge profile
The 170-room lodge, built in 1951, replaced an earlier structure that also burned in a fire. The new lodge was designed by St. Paul architect Edwin Lundie. Features included stone fireplaces and giant white pine log beams. Campbell, a Canadian by citizenship, purchased the lodge in 2018 for $6.8 million. He claimed to have put $5 million into expansive renovations. He lived 65 miles down the lakeshore at Two Harbors.
Investigation team
The investigation was headed by Dan Krier, state fire marshal, and Drew Evans, a state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension supervisor. Their allegations were filed in Cook County Court in Grand Marais.