DULUTH – A man accused of fatally stabbing a 25-year-old Duluth man and then setting his body on fire was charged Wednesday nine months after officials responded to the apartment fire in Lakeside.

Tyler Walter Edwards, 25, is charged with second-degree murder and arson in the death of Maxton Keith Gudowski. Edwards has been in custody since Sept. 1, according to a news release from the Duluth Police Department.

According to the criminal complaint, police and firefighters responded to a fire on the east side of town early July 25. They found Gudowski, who lived alone in a first-floor efficiency apartment, dead at the scene with accelerants on his body, surrounding him and on an electric blanket.

An autopsy showed that Gudowski had more than 30 stab wounds in addition to injuries that showed he tried to defend himself. He was dead before the fire started, according to the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office.

Gudowski graduated from Superior High School in 2018. He enjoyed the outdoors, including bird-watching, hiking, fishing, camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, and drives along the North Shore.

 "He was very passionate about his writing and faith and always willing to help anyone in need," according to his obituary.

In their investigation, the Duluth Police Department found that Gudowski and Edwards had recently gone to a credit union to cash a check from Gudowski's grandmother. Two days later, Edwards bought 20 bottles of 99 Fruit Punch at a local liquor store — believed to be one of the accelerants at the fire scene.

Around the time officers were first called to Gudowski's apartment, Edwards was seen on surveillance videos entering a gas station wearing shorts with a dark stain and later submerging in Lake Superior.

Officers found Edwards on the Lakewalk that afternoon, where he first falsely identified himself as Quan Lafoon Garegnani. He was arrested at the time but not charged.

Soon after he was arrested again in Superior, Wis., before he was extradited to Hennepin County, where he had an active warrant for third-degree criminal sexual conduct. According to court filings, a woman reported to police that she had met Edwards at a Twin Cities bar, gone to a hotel room and woke to him raping her.

His first appearance in St. Louis County court is Thursday morning.

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