The race is on: What to know about the 2023 Iditarod, No injuries in downtown Anchorage commercial building collapse. The year'shomicides include at least seven domestic violence killings, where the victim is believed to have beenslain by an intimate partner or someone in their immediate family. According to the charges, his mother called to report the attack and Walters fired a shotgun when two Village Police Officers attempted to approach him. Of the34 homicides in 2016, all but three are considered solved, with police identifying at least a main suspect, according to Sgt. The callertold police the memory card was found layingin the middle of the street in the Fairview neighborhood of Anchorage. In February 2017, 37-year-old Brandy Sullivan, an Alaska Airlines customer-service agent who lived in an upscale Anchorage suburb, was allegedly shot and killed by her estranged husband.. When is Eurovision and how do you get tickets? He said Eklutna Annie was either an exotic dancer from a local bar or a prostitute and that she was his first murder victim,[15] adding that she had been murdered in the fall or early winter of 1979. Police said the body was found near milepost 108 of Seward Highway on Oct. 2. Early on Christmas Eve, James "Lucas" Moren became Anchorage homicide victimNo. At one point, the agencys seven-attorney Bethel office was down to three, he said. July 27, 2017 / 10:16 AM / CBS News A suspect is in custody Thursday morning after a woman was found dead on a cruise ship in Alaska. It is routine for me to enter class seeing several other students at the board with James as he provides guidance not only for my class but other classes as well.". In 2017, the year Queenie was killed, the rate of women killed by men in Alaska was three times the national average and the highest in the United States, according to the Violence Policy Center. It's unclear who the woman is, but authorities are working to identify her and determine how she died. "Clearance" means police have either made an arrest, prosecutors have declined to file charges due to self-defense or some other reason, or the suspect died. However, when Eklutna Annie realized he was not driving in the direction of his home, she first asked him to drive her back to Anchorage, before he unsuccessfully attempted to convince her he was driving her to another safe location, claiming he was driving a "little further", to which Eklutna Annie replied, "Well, I'm not!" The public defender representing Walters was juggling 200 cases and resigned due to mental exhaustion a week before the trial was to begin in July, according to the order. All rights reserved. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Clayton Andrew Charlie, who pleaded guilty in 2019 to second-degree murder in the stabbing death of a groundskeeper at the Alaska Zoo, has been sentenced to 55 years in prison. Last Monday, Sept. 30, a woman called police dispatch to report that shed found an SD card containing a video of a homicide on the ground, police said. A man accused of killing a woman and recording it on an SD card later found in the street has been indicted in the murder of a second woman in Alaska, authorities announced Thursday. (Erik Hill / Alaska Dispatch News). "Same exactly happens to homicide cases. It's not that clear-cut, said McKinnon. Police immediately suspected John Newman's nephew, 23-year-old Kirby Anthoney. [8] He died in prison in August 2014. The Alaska teens are being represented by the public defenders office, which has a policy of not commenting on cases. He has not yet entered a plea. Officers arrested Brian Steven Smith, 48, Tuesday afternoon, an Anchorage Police Department statement said. A Wasilla woman was shot four times at home Sunday night and her husband is charged with her murder, according to Alaska State Troopers. All rights reserved. After troopers arrived, Doubek was given first aid and taken to a hospital. So far, nothing has been found. Of the 34 victims, 14 were under the age of 25. The case marks the second killing in less than six months involving a video. Legal Statement. An earlier version of the chart in this story incorrectly stated that it included fatal officer-involved shootings and justifiable homicides. The next year,that number nearly doubled, to 25. Hansen specifically stated she was his first murder victim. Detectives knew almost immediately that something was wrong, that someones loved one was killed when they found her remains, he said. Hoffman, 19, died from a gunshot wound to the. The department is also trying to directly ask the public for help more often. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Passengers describe learning woman died aboard Alaska cruise ship Our salaries up here used to be the draw, an attorney for the agency said. An autopsy report concluded that she had been killed by a single stab wound to the back. "He had a leather jacket on and blue jeans, with a hoodie. Police and a crime scene investigation unit spent much of Tuesday afternoon and evening at the home where Smith lived with his wife, hauling away a black pickup, neighbors said. On Wednesday,. He also told officials Brehmer communicated with him throughout the murder, and sent Snapchat photographs and videos of Hoffman while bound and then after the murder. In September 2020, a revised facial reconstruction of the victim was released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Other images showed her being strangled by a man who was yelling at her to die in what sounded like a foreign accent, at one point stomping on her throat. (In addition to the 75 criminal attorneys, about 25 more work on appeals and childrens cases.) Days later, on Oct. 2, police officers found human remains on the side of a highway. Couple in Alaska cruise ship murder seemed like "perfect American Then, on Wednesday, Oct. 2, the womans body was found along Turnagain Arm, near the Rainbow trailhead. IE 11 is not supported. Igou pleaded guilty on November 5, 2020 to the September 10, 2017 murder of Aurora Paint Company co-owner Gregory Gill. For many, it was the year the city's violence hit home,even if they didn't personally know any of the victims. The Newman Family Murders. Who brutally assaulted and killed Nancy Authorities who have reviewed the videos and photos said they remembered Smith from another investigationand found he was registered in early September to a room at a local hotel that has carpet that matches the one seen in the footage. Videos and photos show brutal attack of woman in Anchorage hotel room "What we're seeing is that when we ask the community for assistance, they really respond to us," he said. "In the fog and the white light, I saw him walking down the alley," Marcy said. "Because of his knowledge other students identify him as a potential source of aid but may have been intimidated by his high level of self confidence," the letter said. More officers on the streets as with arecently addeddowntown foot patrol,members of which made an arrest in Moren's murder onChristmas Eve make streets safer. Troopers arrived hours later and interviewed Walters, who admitted to beating Queenie, his 22-year-old girlfriend, with his fists and a broom handle. He stepped out of the car and said goodbye to his mom and Marcy. [16], Hansen was sentenced to 461 years in prison without the possibility of parole for her murder and three others. Brian Steven Smith, a 48-year-old reportedly from South Africa, was arrested at Ted Stevens International Airport after investigators linked him to the crime. The group met to decide how they would divvy up the money. Ritchie, the 40-year-oldkilled in a downtown shootout with policeafter he wounded an officer in an encounter early Nov. 12, is the prime suspect in the deaths of five people in 2016, APD said. Human remains found along Seward Highway near Rainbow trailhead. Brian Steven Smith, 48, admitted to detectives that he was the man inimages and videos from the card, according to a document filed by the state Department of Law. People were shot to death at a gas station, in a beloved park in the heart of the city, on a scenic beach where people go to look at the mountains. Alaska Public Media 2022. In that case, her father was charged with the killing. According to court papers, the group went off trail and followed a path to the bank of the Eklutna River, where Hoffman was bound, shot and thrown into the river. All but one of the victims in those cases were female. Fox News Flash top headlines for Oct. 17 are here. A 22-year-old Alaska woman pleaded guilty to murdering her 19-year-old "best friend" in 2019 after a man who was allegedly catfishing her offered her $9 million to kill someone. The organization had previously released a digital reconstruction, and a clay bust of Eklutna Annie had also been created in the past. As Merritt approachedAndrew Robertson-Goughnor, police said, Robertson-Goughnor shot him. She has not been identified. A man charged with murder is accused of fatally stabbing his 23-year-old daughter Friday in Anchorage's Fairview neighborhood. An affidavit filed with the criminal complaint against him details a strange chain of events that led police to a trove of gruesome videos and photos. Smith remained in jail on Wednesday where he is being held on an outstanding warrant. Clark asked that he be appointed a public defender and set his bail at $500,000 cash appearance bond and a $250,000 cash performance bond. [10], As Eklutna Annie struggled against his efforts to overpower her, she had screamed, "Don't kill me! TODAY - Anna Kaplan 18h. Time stamps on the images at the hotel showed they were taken in the early hours of Sept. 4, the affidavit said. With the SD card, one of the first questions that detectives had to answer was, Was this staged, or did this really happen? That puts APD at a more than 90 percent "clearance" rate for homicide cases. He has since been released, now in the custody of authorities, and is charged with first- and second-degree murder. The FBI is investigating the death because it occurred in US waters. A 48-year-old Anchorage man was charged with murder after someone found a digital card containing dozens of videos and photos that authorities say show him beating and killing a woman in a. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. You're going to kill me!" 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Together, the homicides pose a question for Anchorage: What made 2016 so deadly? About three weeks before Hoffman was killed, Brehmer and Schilmiller began discussing a plan to rape and murder someone in Alaska, according to court documents. She disappeared without a trace. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! data the agency has presented to the Legislature. Advocate for missing and murdered women, reflecting on the ongoing efforts to identify Eklutna Annie[18], Eklutna Annie remains unidentified. Troopers: Wasilla woman killed, husband charged with her murder, 2023 Iditarod pre-race coverage and Ceremonial Start, Melissa Fry has the forecast for the Iditarod restart in Willow, Animal rights group PETA continues targeting Iditarod sponsors. "We are working on the Ship Creek case still and the Valley of the Moon Park," said Markiewicz. Police point at recent hiring of new officers as an effort to make the city safer. The millionaire's only demand for the payout was either . Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. (The motion argued that the judge misunderstood the limits on public defenders, who do not choose which charges are filed.). At 41, he was a bachelor. According to police, the arrest came after someone reported finding a digital storage device containing video of the killing. Alaska Teen Killed Friend After Man Online Allegedly Offered $9M (Obituary photo). Judge: case of slain Mountain Village woman shows how Alaska's justice Smith is charged with first-degree murder. shut down anelementary school and a middle school, don't attribute 2016's increase in homicides to any one cause, mother accused of suffocating her infant daughter, killed in a downtown shootout with police, Here are the most-read Alaska Dispatch News stories of 2016. Other witnesses described seeing a bloody man threatening to jump off the ship. Months before the alleged hit . She was aged between 16 and 25 at the time of her death, and her body was discovered several months after her murder. In at least two cases, a person believed to be breaking into a home was killed in what prosecutors determinedto be self-defense, and no charges were filed.The deaths ofLoren Douglas, 30, andAllen Raymond, 19, are still considered homicides by APD. Anchorage police identified the second victim as Veronica Abouchuk. This years Iditarod field is the smallest in history. Brehmer and McIntosh used Leylands pickup on June 2 to take Hoffman on a hike at Thunderbird Falls, a popular location about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Anchorage. After the death, the ship was diverted to the city of Juneau, in Alaska, and passengers were forced by investigators to remain on board for more than eight hours. Shannon Duke. The judges order describes a disparity in the next phase of the criminal justice system the one that begins after a suspect is arrested and the clock starts ticking toward a timely resolution for defendant and victim. One man, James Dale Ritchie, is the prime suspect in five deaths. The Anchorage office is expected to open on August 27. She deserves just as much as a search for her people as any other victim, as any other survivor. All the white people are getting done first while the Natives get pushed to the back burner, Bill wrote in a Facebook message, when asked about the case. Photos apparently show the woman underneath a blanketon a hotel luggage cart near a truck and in the truck bed, per the document. Incident happened aboard the Emerald Princess cruise ship (file picture), Harry: I always felt different to rest of family, Inside the enclave surrounded by pro-Russia forces, US-made cheese can be called 'gruyere' - court, Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, Canadian grandma helps police snag phone scammer. Market data provided by Factset. Troopers: Wasilla woman killed, husband charged with her murder A millionaire widower and her teenaged daughter take a fivestar cruise together. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. [4][7][n 1], Eklutna Annie's body was markedly decomposed, indicating her death had occurred months prior. "That's our plan to create a better police presence," McKinnon said. Warming water may be to blame. But I feel that in the air.". Brian Smith . The victim has. Published: Jan. 27, 2022 at 4:27 PM PST. Anchorage Police investigate the scene where human remains we found at mile 108 of the Seward Highway near Rainbow on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. Authorities who reviewed the SD cards contents said they remembered Smith from another investigation and found he was registered in early September to a room at a local hotel which had the same carpet pattern as the one in the video. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. At the sentencing hearing, the State presented video . The woman attempted to fight back, the affidavit said. ", "Alaska State Troopers: Unidentified Body", "Serial Killer Robert Hansen Dies in Anchorage", "Serial Killer's Victim Exhumed In Alaska: Who Is 'Horseshoe Harriet'? Police do not believe Ritchie was involved with any otherunsolved slayingsin 2016. And he blamed the dysfunction not on managers but on spending plans and policy decisions made by Alaska governors and lawmakers over the years, and continuing to this day. Anchorage police say theyve arrested a man for the murder of a woman whose body had been dumped a week ago on the Seward Highway south of Anchorage. He worked in construction and kitchens, said Marcy, a paralegal. Feds: Eagle River nurse prescribed 4 million opiates in 5 years, contributed to two overdose deaths. The millionaires only demand for the payout was either photos or video of the slaying, according to court documents laying out first-degree murder and other charges against six people in the June 2 death of 19-year-old Cynthia Hoffman. (Scott Jensen / Alaska Dispatch News). According to Hansen, Eklutna Annie had been wearing blue jeans, a sweater, and a brown leather jacket. He always committed his murders at night, often around midnight or a short time after. According to the Violence Policy Center, Alaska ranked number one in murder of women by men in incidents where there were one victim and one offender from 2014 through 2018. Detectives saythey have a "good understanding" of what happened and who was involved in each of those cases. A 48-year-old Anchorage man was charged with murder after someone found a digital card containing dozens of videos and photos that authorities say show him beating and killing a woman in a Midtown hotel room. ' said APD communications director MJ Thim. Her family was not contacted and her items were removed from her cabin. They were all going to spend Christmas together the next day. The domestic violence-related cases range from amother accused of suffocating her infant daughter,to a man accused of fatally shootinghis son-in-law. has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, and was taken to Anchorage Jail. AnAlaska man accused of brutally assaulting and murdering a woman who was seen strangled in videos found ona digital memory cardhasbeen charged with another death, authorities said Thursday. He also allegedly told authorities that he and Brehmer discussed killing another person, but the plan was abandoned, and he admitted to blackmailing Brehmer into raping people. His wife is not implicated in the slaying. ALASKAN MURDER: ENIGMA WITHIN AN ENIGMA - The New York Times Deputy District Attorney Brittany Dunlop said the process calls for the case to be brought before a grand jury. Without a doubt, the new director will get this order for a variety of reasons, and will be thinking about how we can do things more efficiently, Moody said. Homicide detectives began combing through the 39 images and 12 videos on the card, all documenting a horrifying scene of violence against an unknown woman. Eklutna Annie is the name given to an unidentified murder victim whose body was discovered in a wooded area, one mile south of South Eklutna Lake Road in Eklutna, Anchorage, Alaska, in July 1980. But they are working to build a case meeting the evidence threshold that would allow for prosecution, Markiewicz said. On Christmas Day, the people who loved Lucas Moren gathered in the alley behind the Gaslight. The victim was also wearing several pieces of jewelry, including an apparently handmade metal bracelet containing three turquoise stones,[2][8] a copper necklace containing shell beads, a pendant heart, a Timex metal wristwatch consisting of circular links and with a brown watch face, a ring carved from shell jewelry, and gold-plated, twisted metal hoop earrings. She is the only victim of Robert Hansen to remain unidentified. For all the good the internet can do, it can be a very dark place, Bryan Schroder, the U.S. attorney in Alaska, said at a news conference Tuesday. [sic] A manwith some sort of English accent can be heard in the video as well. It did not include those deaths. The REAL Deaths Behind The Show (Episode Guide) - Emma Cruises Federal authorities allege Brehmer produced sexually explicit videos involving a minor and sent them to Schilmiller. He does not look like the young man he portrayed himself to look like, he is not a millionaire and he lives in Indiana, court documents say. The same year, Ritchie was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, an honor society for two-year colleges, and graduated from Blue Mountain Community College with an associate degree in science, according to his diploma. As of Oct. 9, police said they were still working with the state medical examiner to determine her identity and contact her next of kin. Thim said the arrest hinged on two aspects of the investigation: the citizen who chose to call police when they found that card, and the coordination between law enforcement agencies handling the separate cases of the videos and the body. Her eldest daughter Chloe was killed with her. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Alaska's arduous Iditarod kicks off with ceremonial start | KRDO After human remains were found along a highway just south of Anchorage two days after the memory card was found, police were able to start putting pieces together. Last week, 23-year-old Darla Velador of Anchorage was stabbed to death. The caller later told officers the card a small memory card used in portable digital devices was discarded on the street at the corner of Fairbanks Street and 13th Avenue in Fairview, near the Gambell Carrs store. In a separate federal investigation rising from the investigation, Schilmiller and Brehmer were indicted Tuesday on federal child pornography charges, including production and coercion and enticement of a minor. Brian Steven Smith during his arraignment Wednesday. In response, he chased after her, grabbed her by the hair and tripped her to the ground. Could a bigger prize and more races boost interest? ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A Utah couple was celebrating their wedding anniversary aboard an Alaska cruise when the husband was found covered in blood next to his wife's lifeless body, a frenzy of . The show Very Scary People profiled Robert Hansen in "The Butcher Baker". The record in this case should reflect that, as a result of the policy and budget choices made by the legislative and executive branches the people of Alaska must tolerate long delays in the prosecution of the type of crimes charged in this case crimes against women, crimes fueled by substance abuse, crimes against law enforcement officers, crimes against rural Alaskans, the judge wrote. Each of the three men died from gunshot wounds. Contact her at mtheriault@adn.com. In court Wednesday, Smith appeared in handcuffs, wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit. This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 21:52. Smith originally pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, sexual assault and tampering in the death of his first victim, 30-year-old Kathleen Henry, before admitting to the crime. MacDonald declined to be interviewed, saying that Walters case is still open. (Anchorage, AK) - On April 22, 2021, thirty-one year-old Randall Igou was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Eric Aarseth for Murder in the First Degree. MacDonald, who was appointed by then-Gov. All rights reserved. Police detectivesdon't attribute 2016's increase in homicides to any one cause. Eklutna Annie is still unidentified, despite her face being reconstructed in both 3-D and 2-D.[4][23] Several missing women are believed to have also been murdered by Hansen. APD officer Arn Salao was wounded and the suspect, James Dale Ritchie, was killed in the early-morning shootout. 2022 Anchorage Daily News. The Department of Law asked that Smith'sbond be set at $2 million. Authorities say Schilmiller, who has been arrested in New Salisbury, Indiana, and will be transferred to Alaska next month, began an online relationship with 18-year-old Denali Brehmer of Anchorage, posing as Tyler. In the Lower 48, gangs are more organized and act as outside-the-law businesses, pushing drugs and weapons in defined territories. Marcytook every votive candle she could find in her house, plus a piece of Christmas pie in plasticwrap, to leave as an offering at a makeshift altar another corner of Anchorage turned into an impromptu memorial for a person killed in 2016. Corrections:This article originally incorrectly stated that a homicide had taken place in the Kempton Hills subdivision in 2016. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Last week, 23-year-old Darla Velador of Anchorage was stabbed to death. A man has been arrested in connection to the murder of a woman aboard a cruise ship off the coast of Alaska, police say, in what has been described as a "domestic disturbance". Veronica Abouchuck, left, and Kathleen Henry. At the scene, troopers found the door handle to Gardners bedroom door had been broken off, with damage marks matching the blade of a broken maul found nearby. ", Autumn Smith. MacDonalds order and decision are part of the ongoing effort to hold a criminal trial in Fairbanks for Walters, who was 34 when troopers arrested him Oct. 5, 2017, in Mountain Village on charges of murder, assault and evidence tampering. The trial has been delayed at least 15 times at the request of the defense, according to MacDonalds order. Contact her at zhollander@adn.com. Legal Statement. All rights reserved. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox.