Man charged with murder in trailer home fire

A Pine County man has been charged with causing the death of a 59-year-old man by beating him unconscious and setting his mobile home on fire.

Robert Sam Raisch Jr., 49, has been charged with assault, arson and second-degree murder in the death of James Michael Shepardson of Finlayson, Minn., on March 7.

According to the criminal complaint:

Pine County sheriff's deputies responded to reports of a fire at the mobile home on Hammond Road in Finlayson late on the night of March 7. Shepardson's vehicle was in the driveway. After firefighters extinguished the blaze, investigators found human remains that were later identified as Shepardson.

An autopsy found that Shepardson's skull was fractured in several places. The examiner found that Shepardson's blood had high carbon monoxide levels, meaning that he was alive when the fire started.

A female acquaintance who was driving Raisch around on the night of the fire said he went into Shepardson's home with a younger man. She stayed in the car. When the two men returned to the truck carrying stereo speakers and a television, she said they both smelled like blood.

The younger man, who has not been charged in the incident, told police that he saw Raisch push Shepardson into a pile of tools and other sharp objects. The younger man said he brought a stereo speaker out to the truck at Raisch's request. When he returned to the mobile home, he found Shepardson badly beaten and not moving. He also saw fires in the living room and kitchen.

The three allegedly transported the television and stereo speakers to other homes before dropping Raisch off at his mother's house in Sandstone, Minn.

Raisch has previously been convicted of aggravated robbery for beating a man in Isanti County with a piece of lumber and stealing the man's truck. He's been in custody at Pine County Jail since March 9.