A 43-year-old woman has admitted to fatally stabbing a man with scissors in his northern Minnesota camper and setting it on fire.
Northern Minnesota woman admits fatally stabbing man with scissors in camper and setting it ablaze
She told authorities that she went to the victim's home in search of methamphetamine and feared he was going to attack her.
November 1, 2022 at 8:38PM
Crystal M. Wilson, of Deer River, Minn., pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder and first-degree arson in connection with the death of 59-year-old Bradley Keith Reymann on July 18 in Ball Club, Minn., about 20 miles northwest of Grand Rapids.
The Itasca County Attorney's Office said state guidelines call for a sentence of up to 37⅓ years. The defense has said it intends to raise mitigating factors in support of a reduced sentence.
Both sides will make their arguments at sentencing, scheduled for Jan. 20.
Reymann's online obituary said he served in the Army with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, N.C. After his discharge, he worked as a journeyman for various power companies in several states.
According to the charges:
Police responded to a report of a fire behind Harwood's store and saw a camper engulfed in flames and Reymann on the ground nearby with severe burns on a hand and arms. The officer detected no pulse and saw puncture wounds to his back and arms.
A woman who worked at the store said the man was her nephew and he had been living in the camper for the past two to three years.
A man told the Sheriff's Office that he had been living with Wilson until he kicked her out. He said he saw Wilson covered in blood on the day of the camper fire. He said the two of them watched the camper burn, and she said, "He will not be able to hurt anybody again," the charges read.
Wilson told law enforcement that she went to a powwow in Ball Club on July 17 and used methamphetamine and drank alcohol that day. She said she then went to Reymann's camper in search of more meth or alcohol.
At some point while with Reymann, she said, she feared he was going to attack her with a butcher knife so she stabbed him multiple times with scissors. Asked how many times she stabbed him, Wilson replied: "I just kept going."
Wilson said she found a lighter and ignited curtains and a blanket.
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