This years Iditarod field is the smallest in history. Anchorage man sentenced to 55 years in prison for murder of Alaska Zoo That puts APD at a more than 90 percent "clearance" rate for homicide cases. In September, the death of a man in the middle of a busy intersectionshut down anelementary school and a middle schoolwhile police investigated the killing. Alaska's arduous Iditarod kicks off with ceremonial start | KRDO An autopsy report concluded that she had been killed by a single stab wound to the back. 2023 BBC. Photos apparently show the woman underneath a blanketon a hotel luggage cart near a truck and in the truck bed, per the document. Anchorage police say 8-month-old baby found safe; father arrested on has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, and was taken to Anchorage Jail. The killings happened in nearly every corner of Anchorage: from an Eagle River apartment complex toa normally quietsouth-sidesubdivision. [9][12] She stood between 4 ft 11 in and 5 ft 3 in, and her hair color ranged from light brown to strawberry-blond. Putting names to archive photos, China looks at reforms to deepen Xi's control, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, In photos: India's disappearing single-screen cinemas. The Alaska Public Defender Agencys longtime director, Quinlan Steiner, announced his resignation in April. Feds: Eagle River nurse prescribed 4 million opiates in 5 years, contributed to two overdose deaths. According to Hansen, Eklutna Annie had been wearing blue jeans, a sweater, and a brown leather jacket. Press Release - Anchorage Man Sentenced to Ninty-Nine Years - Alaska The REAL Deaths Behind The Show (Episode Guide) - Emma Cruises Alaska Public Media 2022. According to the affidavit, the couple had separate bedrooms. 28, 2020 at 10:10 AM PDT. An employee at the city of Mountain Village said the city currently has no police officer and that no officials were available to comment on the case. [sic] A manwith some sort of English accent can be heard in the video as well. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News). Man accused of killing woman, recording it is charged in 2nd Alaska murder She was aged between 16 and 25 at the time of her death, and her body was discovered several months after her murder. [3][4], Eklutna Annie was murdered by serial killer Robert Hansen, most likely in 1979. die.". Catfishing is when a person creates a fake identity on a social network account to deceive a specific victim. Witnesses say that the incident was described by crew members as "a domestic disturbance". Legal Statement. 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. 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. Gardner was shot four times, according to the charging documents. It was first broadcast on May 9th, 2021. Her eldest daughter Chloe was killed with her. In some villages, city and tribal leaders say they have no choice but to hire convicted criminals as cops. 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 . This years Iditarod field is the smallest in history. In September 2020, a revised facial reconstruction of the victim was released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. 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. Mike Dunleavy named Steiners replacement Tuesday: Samantha Cherot of Anchorage, who has worked both as a public defender and a private criminal defense and family attorney. IE 11 is not supported. Street fighting in Bakhmut but Russia not in control, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, Alex Murdaugh's legal troubles are far from over, 'The nurses wanted me to feel guilty about my abortion, From Afghan TV fame to a US factory floor. Months before the alleged hit . Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll told reporters Abouchuk's family reported her missing in February, but he said she had. State prosecutors say Darin Lee Jones, 54, and Shawn Michael Phillips, 52, killed Patricia Phelps, 48, in Anchorage's Spenard neighborhood in 2017. or redistributed. On that day, close to midnight, 48-year-old Charles Doubek called 911 and told dispatchers his wife had been shot, according to a version of events relayed in an affidavit by Alaska State Trooper investigator Jason Fieser. [n 2], The remains of Eklutna Annie are interred at the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, under a marker reading "Jane Doe / Died 1980".[21][22]. "That's what's been fascinating.". APD officer Arn Salao was wounded and the suspect, James Dale Ritchie, was killed in the early-morning shootout. Alaska Teen Killed Friend After Man Online Allegedly Offered $9M It appeared that Smith recorded them himself, according to the affidavit. All rights reserved. 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. As Merritt approachedAndrew Robertson-Goughnor, police said, Robertson-Goughnor shot him. Could a bigger prize and more races boost interest? When is Eurovision and how do you get tickets? He was unable to "remember whether she was a prostitute or [a] dancer", although he did state he believed she was from Kodiak, Alaska. In June, U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr declared a public safety emergency in the state, announcing $10.5 million in funding for village police, equipment and public safety buildings. 2022 Anchorage Daily News. It's not that clear-cut, said McKinnon. Alaska Public Media 2022. 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. Smith came to Alaska from South Africa about five years ago and became a naturalized U.S. citizen last month, according to the bail memo. But they are working to build a case meeting the evidence threshold that would allow for prosecution, Markiewicz said. Last year, Steiner, who was then the agencys director, warned that his attorneys were at their limit and would have to start refusing to handle new cases without a $1 million boost to their $26 million budget. All rights reserved. Early on Christmas Eve, James "Lucas" Moren became Anchorage homicide victimNo. She had hit the wall, an acting supervisor later told the judge. The woman attempted to fight back, the affidavit said. The FBI is investigating the death because it occurred in US waters. An Alaska resident found a stray SD card lying on the street in late September and discovered gruesome content inside: images and video of a woman appearing to be assaulted and murdered. "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. According to police, the arrest came after someone reported finding a digital storage device containing video of the killing. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. 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. Doubek and Gardner shared a home in a Wasilla neighborhood off of Snowshoe Lane. She deserves just as much as a search for her people as any other victim, as any other survivor. Ritchie was killed during a shootout with police officers in downtown Anchorage on November 12, 2016. Smith is originally from South Africa. [1], "Identifying [Eklutna Annie] means that no matter how you lived, whatever circumstances that you are in, that even after death, there is an equality here. Couple in Alaska cruise ship murder seemed like "perfect American Lucas Moren himself had cleaned up the bloody scene of the machete attack on his mother. He has since been released, now in the custody of authorities, and is charged with first- and second-degree murder. Moody, the Alaska Public Defender Agency supervisor, said there are currently 11 vacant attorney positions out of 98 statewide. In 2007, she had been severely injured when her fiance's son,Christopher Erin Rodgers, attacked the couple with a machete at their Palmer home. She said he never exhibited any violent tendencies such as those she heard of from police. Anchorage Police Department personnelwere investigating a fatal shooting near 15th Avenue and E Street early Sept. 13, 2016. "James recognized the potential issue and has appropriate (sic) adjusted his behavior to make himself more inviting for others to seek help. According to police, the arrest came. The graphic videos show a woman being strangled and a mans voice saying justdie, the Associated Press reported. The FBI is testing his DNA in a nationwide database that may reveal if he is linked to any crimes in other states, McKinnon said. Born in Montana but raised in Alaska, Duke married, raised three children and worked jobs including as a teachers aide. "Loose lips sink ships," Markiewicz said. ThatFriday, she dropped him off for an evening out downtown. But there are plenty of public defender offices in the Lower 48 who are offering those exact salaries right now with lower cost of living and more stability in their government and their budget., The public defender agency asked that MacDonald be disqualified from the Mountain Village case because of his bias against the agency and Walters, the defendant. Skidmore said the number of prosecutors is rebounding following a reduction years earlier and now includes more than 120 attorneys. Police say the majority of the deaths fall into the same tragic but predictable circumstances that thread through homicides every year: domestic violence, personal disputes escalated by a weapon, robberies gone bad. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Read about our approach to external linking. It did not include those deaths. An ongoing Daily News and ProPublica investigation has found that one in three Alaska communities has no local law enforcement of any kind. Brian Steven Smith is shown being arraigned on a charge of first-degree murder at the Anchorage Jail courtroom Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. A 19-year-old from Anchorage, Alaska, was allegedly killed by her best friend and several other teen accomplices after they were promised millions of dollars for video evidence of the killing by a man who had catfished them. She said she was not a police officer in the village at the time of the killing. Police do not believe Ritchie was involved with any otherunsolved slayingsin 2016. CALIFORNIA MAN SENTENCED AFTER FORMER ROOMMATE FOUND DEAD, BLUDGEONED INSIDE WALL. He warned Metzger against scurrying around in district court, spending time on lesser felony cases instead of the homicide case, according to her motion. Police continued to investigate and interviewed her two days later after Snapchat video appeared, in which she appeared to confess, the documents say. All rights reserved. The Public Defender Agencys budget, meanwhile, has grown by 9 percent in the past two years. Police said the body was found near milepost 108 of Seward Highway on Oct. 2. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Schilmiller admitted to federal agents and Indiana State Police his role in the plot, saying he chose Hoffman as the victim and he told Brehmer to kill her, according to the court documents. Upon examining the card, police said it"contained several videos which appeared to show the assault and subsequent homicide of an adult female" and an investigation was opened. The Anchorage Police Department has identified the victim as Kathleen J. Henry, 30, according to a statement released Thursday afternoon. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Alaska teens hoping to cash in on a $9 million offer from a Midwest millionaire brutally killed a developmentally disabled woman on a popular trail outside Anchorage, shooting her in the back of the head and dumping her body in a river, authorities allege. MacDonald serves as the presiding judge for the Fairbanks-based Fourth Judicial District. The Department of Law asked that Smith'sbond be set at $2 million. Mystery over woman's murder on Alaska cruise ship - BBC News Thim declined to say anything about the other investigation, or whether Smith is a suspect in other crimes. Smith appeared in court Wednesday, where a judge said he'd be appointed a public defender. According to online court records, no new trial date has been set in the killing of Gertrude Queenie. [16], Hansen was sentenced to 461 years in prison without the possibility of parole for her murder and three others. The motion filed by Walters new public defender, Julia Metzger, cited MacDonalds comments in hearings over the summer, including remarks about the public defender agency neglecting clients and accusing its attorneys of complete abandonment and total disregard of professional responsibilities., Metzger said MacDonald launched into a 17-minute diatribe at a July 18 hearing, during which he predicted the public defender agency might continue to delay the Mountain Village homicide trial until 2020. Delay is always the friend of the defense because it makes it harder for prosecutors to put on their case..