"I thought we were struggling before. This is what struggling really is," said Acorn Lake Trailer Park resident Melissa Tyge.
The mother a 4-year-old boy and 1-year-old girl came home Wednesday morning to black walls, melted furniture, toys and clothes, in a home that she says was robbed and then set on fire.
She, her fiancé Anthony Libby, and their two children were visiting family out of town. They were gone for less than 24 hours before coming home to discover that all of their valuable electronics and personal items were either stolen or destroyed.
"The outside of the house looked normal and we walked in and everything was burned to nothing," Tyge said.
The alleged robbery and fire reportedly happened between 4 p.m. Tuesday and 11 a.m. Wednesday when the family came home. No law enforcement or fire departments were called at the time of the fire and apparently it put itself out, Tyge said.
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"Nobody seen or heard anything I guess," she added. "It was really weird."
The couple had moved into the mobile home about a month ago, and Tyge said she was in the process of getting a renter's insurance policy in place, but she didn't do it soon enough.
"Every single thing in that house is not salvageable. It's done for," Tyge said.
Tyge and Libby say it took them about seven years to finally settle in a home and accumulate all of the stuff they had.
"Everything was getting cozy and just like that, gone right before my eyes," Tyge said.
Libby said he recently graduated from college and has been working full-time for a couple of months.
"We worked hard for what we have," he said. "We're not rich people, but we try to do what we can for our children."
The couple and their two children are staying temporarily in a hotel until they find a permanent place to live.
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Deputy State Fire Marshal investigator, Andrea Wenzlaff, said the fire is still under investigation with the help of local law enforcement at the Becker County Sheriff's Office.
