A man is in custody and police say he will be charged with murder in the death of a man whose body was found after an apartment fire in Duluth in July.

Tyler Walter Edwards, 25, was arrested Sunday in the death of Maxton Gudowski, 25, on July 25, the Duluth Police Department announced.

Edwards faces pending charges of second-degree murder, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, first-degree arson and interference with a dead body, according to a police department news release.

The arrest comes as police investigate “suspicious circumstances” surrounding Gudowski’s death. His body was found after first-responders were called to a fire in the 600 block of 47th Avenue East in Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood the early morning of July 25.

Gudowski was found in his first-floor apartment unit where the fire started. No other residents of the seven-unit building were injured.

“This incident remains an active and ongoing investigation,” police said Sunday, and no further details were released.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Duluth Police Department Violent Crimes Unit at 218-730-5050.

— Forum News Service

Wedding photographer accused of illicit video

A photographer allegedly surreptitiously recorded a bride getting dressed at a wedding venue in southern Minnesota.

Mitchell Donald Ringness, 30, formerly of Cloquet but now of Pine City, will make his first appearance Thursday in Freeborn County District Court on a gross misdemeanor interfering with privacy charge.

Ringness, who operated MR Photography in Cloquet, is accused of video recording a client without her consent before her wedding at The Barn at Chapeau Shores in Albert Lea in October 2020.

According to court documents, Ringness’ former girlfriend gave a flash drive to Cloquet police in April. She reportedly told police she was suspicious after seeing Ringness come out of the bathroom with his laptop in the middle of the night. She reported finding photographs and videos of naked women that appeared to have been secretly taken.

One video that was recorded from a low angle reportedly shows a bride disrobe and put on her wedding gown. Another woman in the room goes to get someone named “Mitchell” and a photographer with the same body build as Ringness comes into the room and begins to take photos before the video recording stops, according to court documents.

A Cloquet detective turned the case over to Albert Lea police after comparing the video with photographs posted on Ringness’ Facebook page. An Albert Lea detective reviewed the video and online photographs, and visited the wedding venue in person to confirm it was the location of the video, according to the charges.

The bride in the video told police she employed Ringness to photograph her wedding but had not consented to being recorded while getting dressed.

Ringness was not arrested pending his first court appearance. His MR Photography website and Facebook page have been

taken offline.

In a separate matter in 2012, Ringness pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanor criminal sexual conduct. That charge was eventually dismissed after he served 10 days in jail and two years of probation.

— Forum News Service

Swimmer retrying Lake Michigan crossing

An ultra swimmer is trying again to cross Lake Michigan, from Michigan to Wisconsin, just a few weeks after trouble with a GPS device forced him to give up after 60 miles.

Jim Dreyer set out after 6 p.m. Monday in Grand Haven. He said the journey to Milwaukee would cover at least 80 miles in the water and last 72 hours or more without sleep.

Dreyer, 61, will also be towing a small inflatable boat with supplies.

“Sorry for the last-minute notice, but chaos is often part of this open water swimming game,” he said on Facebook while also posting “Here I Go Again,” a 1987 power ballad video by Whitesnake.

His progress can be tracked online.

Dreyer, who calls himself The Shark, crossed Lake Michigan in 1998, starting in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and finishing in Ludington, Michigan. But three at

tempts to do it again have been unsuccessful since 2023.

His last effort began on Aug. 6. The next day, he paused to get fresh AA batteries to keep a GPS device working. But during the process, Dreyer said he somehow lost the bag in the lake.

He had only a compass and nature to help him try to keep moving west. But Dreyer ended up swimming north instead, burning precious time and adding more miles as risky weather approached. A support crew pulled him out of Lake Michigan on Aug. 8.

“What a blow!” Dreyer said.

— Associated Press