Woman receives life sentence for setting fire to camper, killing man inside near Cass Lake

A woman will serve life behind bars for pouring gasoline on a camper and setting it on fire last summer in Beltrami County, killing the man inside.

At a hearing Tuesday, 35-year-old Cora Lee Quaderer entered a Norgaard plea, admitting that there is enough evidence to convict her of first-degree murder for the Aug. 30, 2022, death of Roy Lovelace near Cass Lake. Beltrami County District Judge Shari Schluter then sentenced her to life in prison.

A criminal complaint states witnesses overheard Quaderer yelling at Lovelace from outside the camper, saying that he needed to let her in or she would destroy the trailer. Witnesses recalled smelling gasoline coming from the area before seeing Quaderer light a piece of cloth and tossing it near the camper, which caught flame instantly.

Lovelace, still inside, could be heard screaming that he couldn’t get out. Witnesses tried to free him by dislodging an air conditioning unit from a window, but the fire quickly grew out of control and they had to back off, according to the complaint.

After extinguishing the flames, firefighters found Lovelace’s burned remains inside the camper.

Quaderer fled from the scene, but she was found the next day in Brooklyn Center and was brought into custody.

Prosecutors initially charged Quaderer with two counts of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson. A grand jury indictment later added two counts of first-degree murder. All counts aside from the single first-degree murder conviction were dismissed during Tuesday’s hearing.