Bryce Campbell charged in Lutsen Resort fire case

Updated Dec. 4, 3:46 p.m.

An arrest has been made in the investigation into the fire that destroyed the historic Lutsen Resort lodge in February of 2024. The state of Minnesota filed three arson charges and one charge of insurance fraud against Bryce Campbell, owner of the Lutsen Resort, related to the fire.

According to court documents filed on Dec. 3, Campbell is charged with:

• Arson-1st Degree-Dwelling. The charge alleges that Campbell “unlawfully by means of fire or explosives, intentionally destroyed or damaged a building used as a dwelling at the time the act was committed, whether an inhabitant was present therein at the time of the act or not, or any building appurtenant to or connected with a dwelling whether the property of the defendant or of another.”
• Arson-1st Degree-Building-Knows Person is Present. The charge alleges that Campbell “unlawfully by means of fire or explosives, intentionally destroyed or damaged a building, whether the property of the defendant or another, and another person who was not a participant in the crime was present in the building at the time, which the defendant knew.”
• Arson-1st Deg-Building-Possibility Person Present. The charge alleges that Campbell “unlawfully by means of fire or explosives, intentionally destroyed or damaged a building, whether the property of the defendant or another, where the circumstances were such as to render the presence of another person who was not a participant in the crime in the building a reasonable possibility.”
• Insurance Fraud-Present False Representation/Conceals Facts-Claim for Payment. The charge alleges that Campbell, “with the intent to defraud for the purpose of depriving another of property or for pecuniary gain, presented, caused to be presented, or prepared with knowledge or reason to believe that it would be presented, by or on behalf of an insured, claimant, or applicant to an insurer, insurance professional, or premium finance company in connection with an insurance transaction or premium finance transaction, information that contained a false representation as to a material fact, or that concealed a material fact, concerning a claim for payment or benefit under an insurance policy, where the value of the property or services stolen exceeded $35,000.”

Additional court documents stated that Campbell was arrested on Dec. 3 in Michigan after the charges were filed. The same document stated that the charging documents were not initially made public because “reasonable grounds existed to believe that making the arrest warrant complaint public in this case may cause a potential arrestee to flee, hide or otherwise prevent the execution of the arrest warrant.”

Bryce Campbell booking photo. Photo Courtesy of Minnesota DPS

The investigation into the fire lasted nearly two years. The blaze was reported to emergency responders at 12:24 a.m. on Feb. 6, 2024. By 8 a.m. that day the region’s fire departments, led by the Lutsen Volunteer Fire Department, had contained the fire, but were unable to save the lodge.

An investigator from the Minnesota State Fire Marshal office was on the scene later that morning, and an inquiry into the cause of the fire was launched. While the previous summer’s routine fire inspection report included seven violations, three of which were not repaired by the time of the February 2024 fire, at that time the investigators did not indicate whether the cause of the fire was related to the violations.

Steven Kritzeck, a Special Agent with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension who investigates crimes including arson, compiled the statement of probable cause for the warrant complaint.

At the time of the fire, Lutsen Resort Company, North Shore Resort Company, North Shore Land Company, and Shores Resort Company, all owned by Campbell, carried a total debt of over $14,000,000, according to the complaint.

In his statement, Kritzeck referenced a series of Facebook messages between Campbell and his husband, in which they discuss the financial difficulties of the resort, and write “burn it,” about the resort. In a message after the fire, Campbell referred to saying “burn it,” as a joke.

Between August 2022 and May 2023, Campbell increased the value of the resort’s insurance policy twice, increasing from an initial $8,497,500 to an eventual value of $13,000,000.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety, (DPS) which includes the State Fire Marshal, has kept most elements of the investigation confidential per state statute dictating what is public information during ongoing investigations.

At 3 p.m. on Dec. 4, DPS held a press conference about the arrest. Audio from the press conference is below, and a video can be found on the DPS YouTube page.

This is an ongoing story and WTIP will provide updates as they become available.

Kirsten Wisniewski December 4, 2025