In the early morning hours of May 31, 2013, smoke billowed from a lakeside home in Lake Hattie Township, a quiet area about 30 miles southwest of Bemidji, Minnesota. First responders arrived to find the residence engulfed in flames. Outside the burning structure stood a man named Fredrick Bachman, who informed the deputies that the homeowner, James Schwartzbauer, a 57-year-old male, was still inside.
Once firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze, they discovered Schwartzbauer's
remains within the charred ruins of his home. Initially, Bachman, who was Schwartzbauer's 26-year-old roommate of four years, portrayed himself as a concerned friend. He told investigators that he and Schwartzbauer were best friends and that he had tried to fight the fire for 15 minutes, even going back inside multiple times to retrieve his own possessions. He claimed he had called out for Schwartzbauer but, hearing no answer, assumed his friend had made it out safely.
However, investigators and witnesses at the scene grew suspicious of Bachman's account. Witnesses reported seeing him calmly smoking a pipe as the house burned, seemingly unconcerned until he learned one of his rescued bottles of alcohol had broken. Among the items he had managed to save were his computer, alcohol, and a samurai sword, yet his clothes bore no smell of smoke. His story that he believed Schwartzbauer had escaped seemed implausible to authorities.
The investigation took a definitive turn when an autopsy revealed that James Schwartzbauer had not perished in the fire. Instead, he had been fatally shot before the fire was set, indicating the blaze was an attempt to conceal the murder. Further investigation led to the discovery of Schwartzbauer's shotgun submerged in the lake, about 40 feet from the property's dock. Following the collection of evidence and witness statements, Fredrick Bachman was arrested in St. Paul and charged with second-degree murder in the death of his roommate.
