Charges: Man set ablaze in Chisago County home pushes through pain in final hours, names attacker

A man doused in gasoline and set ablaze in the middle of the night in his Chisago County home pushed through the pain in his final hours to implicate his attacker, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.

Dallas R. Evenstad, 34, of Albertville, Minn., was charged in Chisago County District Court with second-degree murder and first-degree assault in connection with the predawn fire Sunday in Fish Lake Township that killed 69-year-old Charles A. Stene and injured 42-year-old Amy C. Nord, who shared the home with him.

Evenstad remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail and is due in court June 22. Messages were left with his attorney seeking a response to the allegations.

According to the criminal complaint:

Firefighters from nearby Rush City were dispatched about 3:30 a.m. to the burning home in the 45800 block of Cambridge Drive. A sheriff's sergeant overheard on emergency dispatch audio that a woman with burns said the fire was set intentionally.

The sergeant arrived to the home and saw a screaming Stene rolling on the ground in a blanket.

Despite having been burned over nearly his entire body, Stene identified the suspect as Evenstad and said he was asleep with Nord by his side when "he threw gas on me and lit me up," the charges read.

An air ambulance took Stene to HCMC, where he was pronounced dead that afternoon. An autopsy determined he suffered burns over 80% to 90% of his body.

From her bed at Regions Hospital, Nord told a sheriff's investigator that she awoke to the smell of gasoline, heard noises and asked aloud whether someone was dumping fuel on her and Stene. She said Evenstad set Stene on fire with the flick of a lighter and ran out of the bedroom. Nord was in good condition as of Thursday afternoon, a hospital spokesman said.

Stene's daughter, who also lives in the home but was not there when the fire was set, said she knew Evenstad was familiar with the home's layout.

While a motive remains under investigation, Nord told the investigator "she knew [Evenstad] had threatened [Stene's daughter] in the past," the complaint read.

Police in Crosby, about 100 miles northwest of Fish Lake Township, said a resident reported that a shirtless Evenstad showed up about 5 a.m. and asked him whether he could stay at his apartment for a while. He was soon arrested on suspicion of receiving stolen property.

Crow Wing County deputies confiscated a lighter from Evenstad and investigators found a shirt smelling of gasoline inside the car he had been driving.