The owner of Minnesota’s oldest lodge has been charged with torching the historic property in 2024 in an alleged insurance scam — after repeatedly texting his husband, who chimed in with a phrase prosecutors say now reads like a confession on loop: “Just burn it.”
As reported in the New York Post, Bryce Campbell, the Canadian owner of the 140-year-old Lutsen Resort on Lake Superior, who purchased the resort in 2018, was arrested this week on arson and insurance fraud charges. The investigation came to a close nearly two years after he denied any role in the fire that reduced the beloved lodge to rubble and left two stubborn chimneys standing.
Investigators now believe the fire wasn’t a mystery but a last-ditch effort to rescue a business drowning in more than $14 million in debt and unable to make payroll. According to the article, Mr. Campbell had grown desperate in the days before the fire, texting his husband about debt.
“Just burn it,” he allegedly replied — words he also sent in reference to bad customer reviews.
Mr. Campbell had also boosted the property’s insurance coverage by roughly $4.5 million since 2022. After the fire, he filed a $16.5 million claim, calling it “a fire of unknown origin,” according to the article.
But investigators say his phone told a different story: searches for glycol, a type of alcohol, and an accelerant later detected in the boiler room.