Tyler Walter Edwards sentenced to 17 years in Duluth murder case

Tyler Walter Edwards was sentenced to 204 months, or 17 years, in St. Louis County District Court in Duluth, turning his guilty plea in the death of Maxton Keith Gudowski into the final criminal judgment in a case that has shadowed Lakeside for nearly two years. Edwards had pleaded guilty on April 21 before Judge Jill A. Eichenwald, and the county said he was remanded to the Commissioner of Corrections while the case waited for sentencing.

The killing unfolded inside a residence on North 47th Avenue East on July 25, 2024, when first responders were called to a structure fire at about 2:28 a.m. Firefighters found Gudowski’s body about 20 minutes later, at roughly 2:48 a.m. Charging documents said he had been stabbed dozens of times, and the original case brought second-degree murder, first-degree arson and false-name-to-police allegations. Investigators said the fire involved small liquor bottles, Pine-Sol and a heated blanket used as an ignition source, with the case built through a lengthy investigation involving the Duluth Police Department, the Duluth Fire Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

A second-degree unintentional murder conviction can still produce a long sentence because Minnesota law allows up to 40 years in prison for that offense. Under Minnesota’s sentencing rules, a 204-month executed sentence means about 136 months in prison followed by 68 months of supervised release, which is the state’s post-prison supervision system rather than parole. That means Edwards’ earliest standard release point would come only after roughly 11 years and 4 months in prison, assuming no disciplinary issues alter that timetable.

Gudowski’s death left a lasting mark on his family and on a neighborhood that sits just a mile northeast of Glensheen Mansion and a short drive from the Lakewalk and Canal Park. Gudowski’s obituary says he was born July 19, 1999, grew up in Superior, Wisconsin, and graduated from Superior High School in 2018. With the plea and sentencing in case 69DU-CR-25-1276, the public record now shows how Duluth’s homicide cases move from investigation to charge, from plea to prison, and from a burning house in Lakeside to a long sentence in state custody.