{"id":19889,"date":"2026-02-23T03:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T09:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=19889"},"modified":"2026-02-21T08:14:44","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:14:44","slug":"brainerd-man-gets-life-for-murder-kidnapping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/brainerd-man-gets-life-for-murder-kidnapping\/","title":{"rendered":"Brainerd: Man Gets Life for Murder, Kidnapping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Crow Wing County<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\">trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Brainerd man faces life in prison.<\/p>\n<p>The case involved a 2024 murder and a kidnapping near Brainerd.<\/p>\n<p>Chad Aaron Aanerud, 36, was sentenced Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>He received life in prison for first-degree murder.<\/p>\n<p>The victim was 62-year-old Lyle Maske.<\/p>\n<p>The sentence allows possible release after 30 years.<\/p>\n<h2>Sentence terms<\/h2>\n<p>Aanerud entered a plea deal on Dec. 17, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The deal dismissed other charges.<\/p>\n<p>It also set prison terms on these counts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kidnapping to aid a felony or flight: 240 months.<\/li>\n<li>First-degree burglary with a dangerous weapon: 114 months.<\/li>\n<li>Second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon: 42 months, on each of two counts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The kidnapping, burglary, and assault terms run one after another.<\/p>\n<p>Those terms run at the same time as the murder sentence.<\/p>\n<p>Court records show Aanerud received 474 days of jail credit.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_19960\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19960\" style=\"width: 180px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19960\" src=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Chad-Aaron-Aanerud.png\" alt=\"Chad Aaron Aanerud\" width=\"180\" height=\"244\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19960\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chad Aaron Aanerud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Impact statements<\/h2>\n<p>Prosecutors read statements from victims and family members in court.<\/p>\n<p>They described lasting fear, grief, and trauma.<\/p>\n<p>Lois Maske wrote that her husband tried to help Aanerud.<\/p>\n<p>Nikkole Dobson said she and her children are in therapy.<\/p>\n<h2>What the complaint alleges<\/h2>\n<p>A criminal complaint says officers got a 911 call around 1:50 a.m. on Nov. 1, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Maske was found shot on a driveway on Loerch Road near Brainerd.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators also found a home on the property burning.<\/p>\n<p>In court, Aanerud said he used diesel fuel to start the fire.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint says Dobson was pregnant at the time.<\/p>\n<p>It says Aanerud forced Dobson and her four children into a van.<\/p>\n<p>An Amber Alert was issued later that morning, authorities said.<\/p>\n<p>Police found the van near Little Falls and arrested Aanerud.<\/p>\n<p>Dobson and the children were located in the vehicle, records say.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint says Dobson had injuries consistent with an assault.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators reported stolen firearms inside the van.<\/p>\n<h2>More information<\/h2>\n<p>Public court records can be searched through <a href=\"https:\/\/publicaccess.courts.state.mn.us\/CaseSearch\">Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Information on Amber Alerts is posted by the <a href=\"https:\/\/dps.mn.gov\/divisions\/bca\/bca-divisions\/investigative-services\/additional-investigative-services\/alerts-issued-bca\/amber-alert\">Minnesota BCA<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>County prosecution duties are outlined by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crowwing.gov\/454\/Attorney\">Crow Wing County Attorney\u2019s Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for <a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\">TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crow Wing County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A Brainerd man faces life in prison. The case involved a 2024 murder and a kidnapping near Brainerd. Chad Aaron Aanerud, 36, was sentenced Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. He received life in prison for first-degree murder. The victim was 62-year-old Lyle Maske. The sentence allows possible release after 30 years.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/brainerd-man-gets-life-for-murder-kidnapping\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Brainerd: Man Gets Life for Murder, Kidnapping<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[1281,2621,4875,871,13778,772,4876,2438,52,1579,912,4879,2835,3521,13780,4878,151,1286,1505,13779,2078,2425],"class_list":["post-19889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-amber-alert","tag-brainerd","tag-brainerd-mn","tag-case","tag-chad-aaron-aanerud","tag-crime","tag-crow-wing-county","tag-first-degree-murder","tag-for","tag-gets","tag-inforum","tag-kidnapping","tag-life","tag-little-falls","tag-loerch-road","tag-lyle-maske","tag-man","tag-minnesota-court","tag-murder","tag-nikkole-dobson","tag-sentenced","tag-sentencing","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19889"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19962,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19889\/revisions\/19962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}