Background: The campground at Mac's Park Place in Mazeppa, Minn. (Google Maps). Inset (left): Stanley Munstermann (Wabasha County Sheriff's Office). Inset (right): Barbara McBride-Law (Boldt Funeral Home).
A Minnesota man was arrested in connection with the investigation into a woman found dead in a camper.
Stanley Munstermann, 69, was charged with second-degree murder and booked into the Wabasha County Jail on Feb. 26, months after 66-year-old Barbara McBride-Law was found dead in a camper at a campground in Mazeppa, a city some 70 miles southeast of Minneapolis. The Wabasha County Sheriff's Office said at the time that McBride-Law's body was found on Aug. 30, 2025, inside a camper near Mac's Park Place, a bar at the campground. No obvious trauma was observed at the time, but the medical examiner ruled that McBride-Law's death was the result of homicidal violence.
According to court documents obtained by local ABC affiliate KSTP, police learned after the grisly discovery that Munstermann had been staying with McBride-Law at the campground. When police contacted Munstermann a day after finding McBride-Law's body, he told them he was at his girlfriend's home in Nebraska. Police said Munstermann described their relationship as a longtime friendship going back to their high school days, but was not romantic.
Police said video surveillance showed Munstermann arriving at the campground on Aug. 28, 2025, and leaving at 3:47 a.m. on Aug. 30, 2025, hours before the body was found. Munstermann told police that he was drinking heavily on the night of Aug. 29, 2025, and did not remember being inside McBride-Law's camper.
Several witnesses told police that Munstermann allegedly made some suspicious comments after McBride-Law was found dead. Police said he told one person that he thought he may have killed someone, but he could not remember. During a phone call with a different person, Munstermann allegedly said he believed he may have badly hurt someone, but did not know who.
On Feb. 26, months after McBride-Law was laid to rest, Munstermann was charged with her murder. He was booked into the Wabasha County Jail on two counts of second-degree murder and one count of manslaughter. Local NBC affiliate KTTC reported that his arraignment was scheduled for Monday.