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BRAINERD 鈥� A 35-year-old Brainerd man accused of shooting another man to death and then abducting a pregnant woman and her children was arraigned Monday in Crow Wing County District Court.

Contributed / Crow Wing County Jail

Chad Aaron Aanerud was charged with multiple felonies, including second-degree murder with intent but not premeditated; second-degree murder without intent while committing a felony; first-degree criminal sexual conduct with penetration in fear of great bodily harm; five charges of kidnapping to facilitate a felony or flight; first-degree arson; two charges of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon; and theft.

Aanerud appeared on the charges Monday, Nov. 4, before Crow Wing County District Court Judge Charles Halverson and was assigned a public defender. The case was assigned to Crow Wing County District Court Judge Kristine DeMay.

Assistant Crow Wing County Attorney Janine LePage told Halverson the state would be asking for a $3 million bond with no conditions and not to assign a bond with conditions. She also asked the court to file a domestic abuse-no contact order against Aanerud.

LePage told the court Aanerud was on parole and on conditional release on two other court cases.

Asked if he would like to comment on the conditions of release, Aanerud asked how he was able to be charged with kidnapping as he claimed the kids were his.

Halverson set bond at $3 million with no conditions. When Halverson inquired about the domestic abuse-no contact order, LePage pointed to the fact that just moments before, Aanerud falsely claimed that the children were his and asked for the order to be put in place to protect them and their mother.

Halverson said a domestic abuse-no contact order would be issued when the court received the correct information on the names and addresses of those who needed to be included in the order.

Aanerud is due back in Crow Wing County District Court on Nov. 12.

According to the criminal complaint, at 1:50 a.m. Friday, Nov. 1, law enforcement received a 911 call reporting Aanerud shot and killed Lyle Maske.

Law enforcement was directed to the location of Maske鈥檚 body at a home on the 15000 block of Loerch Road. Maske鈥檚 body was located on the driveway of a residence located east of his residence on Loerch Road.

Maske had a large amount of blood on his neck and chest and was not breathing. Rifle casings were found on the ground near his body, and he was observed to have apparent gunshot wounds.

Despite attempted life-saving measures, Maske was pronounced dead at 2:19 a.m.

While officers were administering life-saving measures, they observed the main dwelling on the 15000 block of Loerch Road was engulfed in flames. The home burned to the ground.

Nikkole Dobson and her four minor children lived at 15000 Loerch Road, in a building next to the main residence on the property that burned.

A woman living with Maske and his wife told law enforcement that shortly before the shooting, Dobson鈥檚 four minor children arrived at Maske鈥檚 residence and reported Aanerud was "robbing grandpa and grandma鈥檚 house" 鈥� referring to the residence on the 15000 block of Loerch Road.

The woman stated she and Maske decided to drive to the address on the 15000 block of Loerch Road, which is only a short distance away from Maske鈥檚 property, to see what was happening. She and Maske discussed bringing a firearm with them; however, Maske believed it might make the situation worse and chose not to bring a firearm.

The woman told officers she drove Maske to the 15000 Loerch Road property and dropped him off at the end of the driveway. She then returned to Maske鈥檚 residence to be with Dobson鈥檚 children.

She said about 10 minutes after dropping Maske off at the neighboring property, Aanerud showed up at Maske鈥檚 residence in a white van with Dobson in the vehicle鈥檚 front seat.

Aanerud was carrying a rifle and demanded the two women turn over the children. Aanerud forced his way into the residence, firing one or more rounds while demanding "his kids" and threatening to kill them.

Aanerud then forced Dobson and her four juvenile children into the vehicle at gunpoint and left the area at a high rate of speed.

Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch

Shortly after Aanerud left, the woman who lived with Maske went to the property on the 15000 block of Loerch Road, where she found Maske on the ground, lying on his right side with a large amount of blood on his chin and chest. She believed he was dead and called 911.

Following a significant search for the described van, an Amber Alert was issued at 7:20 a.m. Friday, and the van driven by Aanerud was located near Little Falls. Aanerud was placed under arrest by law enforcement, who said he smelled strongly of gasoline or another flammable substance at the time he was removed from the van.

Dobson and the four minor children were found in the van.

Dobson had physical injuries to her face, neck and upper chest area, consistent with having been physically assaulted. The children were found in the back of the van, along with 13 stolen firearms.

Law enforcement obtained statements from Dobson and the minor children.

Information obtained from Dobson and the children indicated that sometime after 9 p.m. on Oct. 31, Aanerud began arguing with Dobson on the porch of the building where Dobson and her children resided, which is within 50 feet of the property owner鈥檚 residence. The property owner and his wife were not home at the time.

Aanerud was demanding sex from Dobson, but she refused. Aanerud went inside the residence and grabbed a .45 caliber handgun, returned to the porch and told Dobson he would shoot her children if she didn鈥檛 have sex with him. Dobson complied, at which time, Aanerud sexually assaulted her.

Shortly thereafter, Dobson observed Aanerud dumping buckets full of gasoline or diesel on the property owner鈥檚 residence and taking firearms from the residence.

Dobson then woke her children and told them to run to Maske鈥檚 residence, which they did.

Thereafter, Maske arrived in the driveway, where there was a confrontation between Aanerud and Maske. Dobson said she heard a gunshot and saw Maske on the ground. Aanerud shot Lyle Maske with a rifle, the criminal complaint stated.

After he shot Maske, Aanerud said, "See (expletive), I told you 'Shut up,' " according to the criminal complaint. Aanerud then told Dobson to get in the front seat of the van and threatened to kill her if she didn鈥檛.

Tim Speier / Brainerd Dispatch

Aanerud then drove to Maske鈥檚 house, where he demanded the four minor children and fired at least one shot at or into Maske鈥檚 house. Once in the van, Aanerud drove off and at some point shortly after they left Maske鈥檚 home, Aanerud took the 14-year-old child鈥檚 cellphone and threw it out of the van.

After Aanerud was arrested, he provided a statement to law enforcement in which he said that he accidentally shot Maske with a rifle belonging to the property owner when Maske "stuck his nose" where it didn鈥檛 belong and confronted him as he was carrying firearms out of the property owner鈥檚 residence.

Aanerud also admitted to intentionally filling the property owner鈥檚 house with diesel fuel and starting the house on fire. Aanerud claimed the property owner鈥檚 wife wanted him to "stage a burglary" and then burn down the house for the insurance money. However, the property owners stated they did not have insurance on the residence.

Aanerud also admitted to going to the residence on the 14000 block of Loerch Road with Dobson, after shooting Maske, to get the four minor children and leaving the area after killing Maske.

Aanerud initially denied shooting any rounds at the 14000 block Loerch Road residence but later admitted to shooting a round off outside of the residence.

Aanerud stated the firearm used to kill Maske was still in the vehicle when it was seized by law enforcement, along with numerous other firearms.

On Monday, a family friend of the Dobsons reached out to the Dispatch to say Dobson and her children lost almost everything they had in the fire.

Chelsey Kay said she set up a GoFundMe account after the incident to .

Kay said Dobson had to be hospitalized following the incident and that Dobson, who is eight months pregnant, was told the baby was OK.

Kay also said a GoFundMe was started to assist the family of Lyle .

The GoFundMe set up for Dobson and her family can be found at .

The GoFundMe set up for the Maskes can be found at .

Aanerud鈥檚 criminal history includes several convictions on felony charges, including third-degree criminal sexual conduct, improperly registering as a predatory offender, threats of violence, theft, and several instances of third-degree burglary.

Most recently, Aanerud was charged on July 26 in Crow Wing County District Court with felony threats of violence and gross misdemeanor domestic assault after he allegedly threatened a family member and another person with a knife. He also threatened to burn down the family member鈥檚 house and vehicles.

According to the criminal complaint filed in that case, the victims told a Crow Wing County sheriff鈥檚 deputy Aanerud threatened to slit their throats with a knife and that during the altercation, he said he was going to 鈥済o do meth again.鈥�

A plea hearing in that case is scheduled for Nov. 14.

In 2008, Aanerud was charged with felony third-degree criminal sexual conduct against a 15-year-old victim in Brainerd. In 2011, he received a stay of adjudication from the court, was sentenced to 150 days jail, and placed on 15 years of supervised probation. He violated his probation in that case in 2011 and twice in 2012. In 2013, he was sentenced to 36 months in prison with a conditional release of 10 years after confinement.

In 2018, he was convicted in Crow Wing County District Court for knowingly violating registration requirements or providing false information as a predatory offender and sentenced to 31 months in prison.

In 2010, Aanerud was charged in Crow Wing County District Court with felony theft and felony third-degree burglary. In 2012, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, which was stayed while he served five years of supervised probation.

On a separate 2010 charge of felony third-degree burglary in Crow Wing County, Aanerud initially received a stayed prison sentence, but after twice violating his probation requirements, he was sentenced in 2013 to 21 months in prison.

Aanerud faced a third charge in Crow Wing County for felony third-degree burglary in 2010 in which, after violating his probation requirements, he was sentenced to a year and a day in prison. That sentence was served concurrently with the previous sentence.

In 2021, Aanerud was charged in Aitkin County District Court with felony threats of violence. In 2022, he was sentenced to 29 months in prison, which was stayed by the court while he served 180 days in jail and five years supervised probation.

In that case, Aanerud was accused of calling and texting threats to his ex-girlfriend and her mother. The threats included Aanerud telling his ex-girlfriend he was going to come and get her, that he was going to watch her every move, and that he would not stop calling and texting her and her mother. When an Aitkin Police officer told Aanerud to stop, Aanerud replied, 鈥淭hat is not going to happen,鈥� according to the criminal complaint.