by April Scheinoha
Reporter
A Thief River Falls man has been formally charged in connection with the death of an unidentified woman found dead after a duplex fire Wednesday evening.
Devon James Pulczinski, 23, has been charged with felony offenses of second degree murder and first degree arson. Pulczinski made his first court appearance Friday. At that time, bond was set at $10 million with no conditions and $1 million with conditions. His next court appearance is set for Monday, April 8.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension hasn’t released the name of the woman. Her body was taken to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy. Initial autopsy results haven’t been released to the public.
The BCA indicated that the woman’s body was found after Thief River Falls firefighters extinguished the fire at 307-1/2 Arnold Ave. S. The woman’s body was found in the kitchen of the upper level apartment, according to the complaint. She was found face down with extensive burns to the back of her body. A deputy state fire marshal’s investigator noted a power cord was around the woman’s neck. Her hands and feet were bound, and fabric was covering her head. The fire investigator also observed a towel near the woman’s backside. It had presumptive positive test result for ignitable liquids.
The fire investigator believed the fire was set in two locations – the kitchen and the living room. The former spot was around and on top of the woman’s body. The other spot was “a futon/clothing pile in the living room.” She determined that “no accidental ignition sources were present” and the fire was “incendiary based.”
Fire gutted the top floor of the duplex, according to the Thief River Falls Fire Department. Flames were shooting out of the upstairs windows when firefighters arrived shortly after 5:37 p.m. Wednesday. The lower level sustained water and smoke damage. Dan Ricks owned the multi-family dwelling.
Law enforcement located Pulczinski, who rented the apartment, about four hours after the fire. He was booked into the Pennington County Jail at about 4 a.m. Thursday. A man, who was aware that police wanted to question Pulczinski, had informed police that Pulczinski had asked him for a ride. He said Pulczinski “seemed desperate and was trying to find a ride to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area.” The man offered to pick up Pulczinski and later notified police about their location. A short time later, with their guns drawn, law enforcement stopped the vehicle in the 100 block of Eighth St. E. Without being questioned by police, Pulczinski allegedly said, “They had nothing to do with it. It was all me.”
Police and the BCA later attempted to speak with Pulczinski at the sheriff’s office. However, he requested to speak with an attorney after being advised of his Miranda rights.
The woman had apparently been dropped off at the apartment earlier that day. Her grandmother told police that she had dropped the woman off at 4:22 p.m. Wednesday to visit with Pulczinski. She returned about eight minutes later after running an errand. She texted her granddaughter and received a text back from the phone. However, she tried to call the woman’s phone, but the granddaughter didn’t answer. The woman remained outside of the apartment for about an hour, when she saw smoke coming out of the home.
A downstairs tenant allegedly told police that he heard arguing in the upstairs apartment earlier that day. However, he hadn’t heard anything else since that time.
A friend said Pulczinski called him, asking to come over to his home at around 5 p.m. Wednesday to talk since Pulczinski was supposed to enter treatment. A short time later, Pulczinski arrived and asked if the man and a woman could give him a ride back to his apartment. He recalled that Pulczinski grabbed a lever action rifle that the man was storing at his home on behalf of Pulczinski. Earlier, someone had stolen the rifle and a third man had returned it to Pulczinski.
They drove Pulczinski back to the apartment. He exited the vehicle with the rifle wrapped in a blanket. The man said Pulczinski appeared to be in a hurry. Law enforcement later found an unloaded Ruger .22-caliber lever action rifle wrapped in a blanket. It was in the box of Pulczinski’s pickup truck. In the backseat were a bag containing about 16 swords, several dozen knives, several hatchets and a rifle scope, among other items.
A witness had seen their vehicle near the home shortly before the fire. A nearby surveillance camera corroborated his statement.
The man and woman later dropped Pulczinski off near Biff’s Kitchen. Along the way, the man noted that Pulczinski allegedly asked to borrow the man’s phone because Pulczinski said he needed to get rid of his own phone. The man recalled that Pulczinski was “acting really strange and different like something bad just happened.”
On that day, the police juvenile investigator also went through text messages from jail-issued cell phones. He found a conversation between Pulczinski and his roommate, James Shaugabay, who was in jail on a drug charge. (Five days before the fire, a search warrant was executed at the apartment, and Shaugabay was one of the people charged.) The conversation started a day before the fire. During the conversation, Pulczinski allegedly texted that he would take care of the charge for Shaugabay. Around 3:12 p.m. March 27, the following day, Pulczinski allegedly texted that he was going to find a way to get Shaugabay out of jail and he would have to hide because law enforcement would be looking for him.