Woman charged with murder, arson after fatal Beltrami County fire

A Minneapolis woman is charged with murder and arson following a fatal camper fire earlier this week in Beltrami County.

Cora Lee Quaderer, 34, is charged with intentional second-degree murder, unintentional second-degree murder and first-degree arson in connection to the Tuesday night fire.

RELATED: Woman arrested after fatal fire, arson investigation in Bemidji

The Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to a reported camper fire in the 4700 block of Allens Bay Drive Southeast, near Cass Lake, at around 7 p.m. There, they found the trailer fully engulfed in flames. After firefighters extinguished the fire, they found human remains inside the camper.

According to a criminal complaint, two witnesses told authorities that they were walking up a driveway to the camper when they saw Quaderer standing outside and yelling at a man inside to let her inside or she’d destroy the camper. They also reported smelling gas.

The witnesses said Quaderer then lit a piece of cloth on fire and tossed it toward the front door of the camper, which immediately ignited and quickly spread around the camper, the complaint states.

Quaderer ran away and the man inside was then heard by the witnesses yelling that he couldn’t get out. The complaint adds that the witnesses tried to remove an air conditioning unit from the window to help the man escape but the fire spread too quickly and they had to retreat.

The body was taken to the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy but the man’s identity hasn’t yet been confirmed.

The following day, at around 6 p.m., Quaderer was found hiding in Brooklyn Center and was arrested.

She made her first court appearance on Friday and had her bail set at $1 million with conditions or $2 million without. Her next hearing is set for Sept. 12.