Crow Wing County Amber Alert: Man charged with murder and kidnapping

(FOX9) – The suspect in A fatal shooting of a neighbor and the kidnapping of a pregnant mother and her four children who prompted an Amber Alert in central Minnesota last week is now facing charges.

What we know

Chad Aanerud, 35, was charged Monday with 12 separate charges, including murder, kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct, arson, assault and robbery.

Aanerud was arrested early Friday morning after a shooting, arson and search by Amber Alert. The indictment accuses Aanerud of fatally shooting his neighbor, 62-year-old Lyle Maske, before kidnapping his pregnant girlfriend and her four children in the early morning hours of Nov. 1.

The mother and children were rescued and Aanerud was arrested hours later following the Amber Alert.

Context

The charges refer to multiple parties.

• The suspect: Chad Aanerud
• The shooting victim: Lyle Mask.
• The kidnapping victims: A pregnant mother identified herself only as NAD and her four children. FOX 9 is told that the mother is Aanerud’s girlfriend.
• Neighboring witnesses: Maske’s wife and a woman identified as KLS who lived in the Maske home.

According to the allegations, the pregnant mother, NAD, lived in a second home on a property that apparently belonged to the grandparents of NAD’s children. The grandfather’s house was the one destroyed by the fire.

Timeline

The following timeline is based on the events described in the criminal complaint. It starts in the early morning hours of Friday, November 1.

• On October 31 around 9 p.m.: Aanerud gets into an argument with NAD, the pregnant mother.
• Aanerud demands that the mother have sex with him. When she refuses, he gets a gun and threatens her children.
• After sexually abusing the mother, Aanerud begins pouring fuel on the grandparents’ house.
• The mother wakes her children and tells them to run to the neighbor’s house.
• The children go to Maske’s house to ask for help. They tell Maske that Aanerud was stealing from their grandparents’ house.
• Maske decides to go to the neighboring house to see what is going on.
• Maske is dropped off by KLS at the driveway to the adjacent building. She then returns to the Maske house.
• Maske confronts Aanerud and Aanerud shoots Maske.
• About 10 minutes later, Aanerud shows up at Maske’s house with a gun. The pregnant mother sits in the front seat of Aanerud’s car.
• Aanerud demands that the witness hand over “his children”, force his way into Maske’s house and fire shots in the process. According to the accusations, he also threatened to kill Maske’s wife.
• Aanerud eventually forced the pregnant mother and her four children to get into the vehicle and drive away.
• KLS returns to the neighboring house and finds Maske on the floor with a gunshot wound.
• Around 1:50 a.m., officers responded to the report of the shooting. While trying to revive Maske, they notice a fire in the house of the kidnapped children’s grandparents. That house eventually burns to the ground.
• At 2:19 a.m., Maske was pronounced dead at the scene.
• The Amber Alert is issued during the morning hours.
• At approximately 7:20 a.m., Van Aanerud was spotted driving in Little Falls, Minnesota. The mother and children are rescued and Aanerud is arrested.

After arrest

Speaking to investigators, the complaint states that Aanerud admitted to shooting Maske but claimed it was an accident. But the complaint quotes Aanerud as saying Maske “stuck his nose” where it didn’t belong.

Deputies say Aanerud admitted to setting the grandparents’ house on fire, claiming the homeowner’s wife told him to commit a burglary and burn down the house for insurance money. However, the grandfather told officers that he did not have any insurance on the house.