(Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Warming water may be to blame. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Hansen specifically stated she was his first murder victim. Resources can be found by calling Alaska 211 or visiting the State of Alaskas website to find treatment options. Federal Jury Convicts Anchorage Man on Murder and Drug Charges "That's what's been fascinating.". The caller told police the memory card had been found laying in the middle of the street of an Anchorage neighborhood. Throughout 2016, Ritchie murdered upwards of five individuals in and around Anchorage, Alaska, most of whom were in parks or along bike paths. Copyright 2021 KTUU. I was the only one there, I did that, I killed her, he told investigators, according to the charges. It appeared that Smith recorded them himself, according to the affidavit. We still dont know who she is and we dont know much about her," said Thim. When a composite sketch of the man suspected in the death of TreyveonThompson was released, more than 190 people called in tips, McKinnon said. As Merritt approachedAndrew Robertson-Goughnor, police said, Robertson-Goughnor shot him. Market data provided by Factset. 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. 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.. 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!" 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. (Bob Hallinen / Alaska Dispatch News). According to online court records, no new trial date has been set in the killing of Gertrude Queenie. Smith is charged with first-degree murder. 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. "It depends on what we're looking at as far as danger," said McKinnon, speaking generally about citizen safety and homicides in 2016. State prosecutors say Darin Lee Jones, 54, and Shawn Michael Phillips, 52, killed Patricia Phelps, 48, in Anchorage's Spenard neighborhood in 2017. 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. Smith appeared in court Wednesday, where a judge said he'd be appointed a public defender. An SD card found on an Alaska street showed a woman's murder - NBC News Market data provided by Factset. Last week, 23-year-old Darla Velador of Anchorage was stabbed to death. The killings happened in nearly every corner of Anchorage: from an Eagle River apartment complex toa normally quietsouth-sidesubdivision. (Loren Holmes / ADN). Legal Statement. 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. Legal Statement. Alaska copscharged an Anchorage man with murderTuesday after shocking videos found on a mysterious memory card allegedly capturedthe suspectassaulting and killing a woman whose remains were recently discoverednear a highway. Tracy Hansen and her dog, Gunner, were walking on the sidewalk in Anchorage, Alaska, when she was suddenly knocked to the ground, she told NBC . Couldnt take it anymore., A second note was found among Doubeks belongings that according to troopers, discussed possible drug dealers and that one of them was having an affair with his wife.. Market data provided by Factset. "Same exactly happens to homicide cases. (Google). 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. [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. Theres a new fight over Bering Sea black cod. [2][4], Serial killer Robert Hansen admitted responsibility for Eklutna Annie's murder in 1984. According to Hansen, he persuaded Eklutna Annie to help him winch his pickup free from the mud, although when he began to drive his vehicle free, Eklutna Annie attempted to run. Her fiance was killed. ANCHORAGE - Following a three-week trial in U.S. District Court, a federal jury convicted an Anchorage man on charges of murder in furtherance of a continuing criminal enterprise, using a firearm to commit murder in a drug trafficking crime, drug conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Police do not believe Ritchie was involved with any otherunsolved slayingsin 2016. She deserves just as much as a search for her people as any other victim, as any other survivor. According to court documents and evidence presented . Time stamps on the images at the hotel showed they were taken in the early hours of Sept. 4, the affidavit 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. or redistributed. (Obituary photo). Many questions remain unanswered Wednesday, including the identity of the woman. ", "Alaska State Troopers: Unidentified Body", "Serial Killer Robert Hansen Dies in Anchorage", "Serial Killer's Victim Exhumed In Alaska: Who Is 'Horseshoe Harriet'? Deputy District Attorney Brittany Dunlop said the process calls for the case to be brought before a grand jury. Officials said there was no indication Hoffman was sexually assaulted. And they say despite the number of killings, suspects are at large in very few of the cases. Troopers: Wasilla woman killed, husband charged with her murder More than a few cases seem to trace back to a personal slight or insult that escalated into violence, said Lt. John McKinnon, head of APD's homicide unit. [sic] A manwith some sort of English accent can be heard in the video as well. In the years since, he'd helped her live with lasting injuries. 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. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Published: Jul. Anchorage police identified thesecond victim as Veronica Abouchuk. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. She was aged between 16 and 25 at the time of her death, and her body was discovered several months after her murder. Moren, a patron at the bar, was shot and killed in the alley as the bar was closing early in the morning on Dec. 24. Alaska woman pleads guilty to killing 'best friend' after man catfished Policeinvestigate the scene of an officer-involved shooting in downtown Anchorage onNovember 12, 2016. 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. Cellphone records trace Smith to having been at the place where the remains were found within minutes of when the last photo on the SD card was taken, police documents outline. or redistributed. The images showed a naked woman being beaten on the floor of a hotel room, according to the affidavit. [1], Last edited on 18 February 2023, at 21:52, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, "Eklutna Annie: Put The Focus Back on Me! 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. They were all going to spend Christmas together the next day. has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, and was taken to Anchorage Jail. Brian Smith . After troopers arrived, Doubek was given first aid and taken to a hospital. MacDonald wrote that in addition to the Mountain Village case, hes overseeing two other homicide trials and a sexual assault case that have all been significantly delayed due to a public defender withdrawing late into the case.. 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. All rights reserved. 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. 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. He has not yet entered a plea. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. [9] A box of Salem matches were found in a pocket of her jacket, indicating she may have been a smoker. Brian Steven Smith is arraigned Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 on a charge of first-degree murder at the Anchorage Jail courtroom. The death on Tuesday night triggered a lockdown of the 3,400-passenger ship. This week, Brian Smith, 48, was charged with first-degree murder in the case, the Anchorage Police Department said in a Wednesday statement. Murder of Eklutna Annie - Wikipedia 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. Parents would be wise to monitor the activity of their children online.. data the agency has presented to the Legislature. Little is known about Smith, the man charged. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Witnesses say that the incident was described by crew members as "a domestic disturbance". You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Kristy Manzanares had been travelling with a large group, including her children, according to witnesses. This years Iditarod field is the smallest in history. We learned sometimes the hard way in the past.". "That tells us other people believe it is a good place," he said. 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. IE 11 is not supported. Jorge Rea-Villa, a handsome tattoo artist who went to a Fourth of July barbecue and ended up dead. The REAL Deaths Behind The Show (Episode Guide) - Emma Cruises The SD card, reportedly discovered lying in the street in an Anchorage neighborhood, was labeled homicide at midtown Marriott and contained graphic, time-stamped images and video recordings of a man beating and choking a naked woman, according to charging documents. Making the decision to leave, to start the processes for divorce or anything like that, that definitely would escalate the situation and increase lethality for that victim, Pearson said. On the whole they are to be commended for all they do in the face of serious institutional limits, he wrote. [Here are the most-read Alaska Dispatch News stories of 2016]. In September 2020, a revised facial reconstruction of the victim was released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Feds: Eagle River nurse prescribed 4 million opiates in 5 years, contributed to two overdose deaths. I said to his mother how cool he looked like a prizefighter about to enter the arena.". "We haven't found evidence that anyone other than Ritchie is involved.". ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Seven Cold Case Task Force offices across the nation, dedicated to solving cold cases involving missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives, are opening in the next few weeks, one expected to open in Anchorage. Don't kill me!" Thim said Smith was subsequently connected to the remains discovered on the highway through hotel records and cell-phone data. 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. Market data provided by Factset. A Snapchat video showed two of the teens accused of killing 19-year-old Cynthia Hoffman near the Thunderbird Falls trailhead in June apparently discussing the crime. But at one of the many stops along the way, a grizzly discovery is made when crew membersfind the widower's body crammed into her own suitcase. Deadliest state: For women in Alaska, rape and murder are too common On Christmas Day, the people who loved Lucas Moren gathered in the alley behind the Gaslight. Slawomir Markiewicz, the Anchorage Police Department's top detective. For many, it was the year the city's violence hit home,even if they didn't personally know any of the victims. The womans body was found last week along the Seward Highway south of the city. "He had a leather jacket on and blue jeans, with a hoodie. Ian Bobich, 29, was found shot to death outside this Elm Street apartment building just before midnight Monday, Oct. 24, 2016, on Government Hill. 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. He told Anchorage District Court Judge Brian Clark that he had about $2,000 in total saved. In 2016, some 34 people were killed by homicide in Anchorage. 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. An autopsy report concluded that she had been killed by a single stab wound to the back. An Indiana man is accused of " catfishing " an Alaska teenager and convincing her to murder her supposed best friend for $9 million with the help of four others. 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. Thats going to escalate things tremendously because when were talking about misuse of substances, that inhibition is gone. 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. 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. The final images on the card show the womans body face down in the bed of a pickup, and were time-stamped Sept. 6. He also told them hehad shot another woman and revealed where he dumped her body. An Alaskan murder mystery has been solved thanks to a SD card found laying in the street. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Brian . / 61.1254; -149.5234. Nancy Furlow . (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. Smiths wife of five years, Stephanie Bissland, told KTUU on Oct. 10 that Smith was a good husband, and she did not believe the allegations against him. Her eldest daughter Chloe was killed with her. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Even after that request was granted, Steiner said at a legislative budget hearing in March that he needed at least nine more lawyers, on top of an existing staff of roughly 75 criminal attorneys, to fulfill the agencys constitutional obligations. Police have not yet pointed to any known motive in the cases where Ritchie is identified as a suspect. Alaska man accused of strangling captured on digital memory card 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. The FBI is investigating the death because it occurred in US waters. 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. Human remains found along Seward Highway near Rainbow trailhead. ALASKAN MURDER: ENIGMA WITHIN AN ENIGMA - The New York Times He isnow charged with murder. Among those charged is Darin Schilmiller, whom authorities say presented himself as the millionaire Tyler from Kansas, using a fake photograph. Police have only definitively named him as the gunman in one killing, that of Treyveon Thompson on July 29. Anchorage police say they've arrested a man for the murder of a woman whose body had been dumped a week ago on the Seward Highway south of Anchorage. 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. Other witnesses described seeing a bloody man threatening to jump off the ship. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. [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]. (Scott Jensen / Alaska Dispatch News). 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. Fiesers account supports a complaint filed by prosecutors charging Doubek with the murder of his wife, 54-year-old Marjorie Gardner. Smith had registered a room at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott the night the video was taken, according to the affidavit. Days later, on Oct. 2, police officers found human remains on the side of a highway. Two days later, both Brehmer and McIntosh were interviewed. "That's our plan to create a better police presence," McKinnon said. Troopers arrived hours later and interviewed Walters, who admitted to beating Queenie, his 22-year-old girlfriend, with his fists and a broom handle. The woman, who has not yet been identified, is described as having long dark hair and possibly being Alaska Native. Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster gave invocation at Kenai Assembly meeting, Even more cruise ships are coming to Alaska in 2020. 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. 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. 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. The show Very Scary People profiled Robert Hansen in "The Butcher Baker". This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 21:52. This is a truly horrific case that is not the norm for our community, Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll said at a news conference, the Anchorage Daily News reported . In that case, her father was charged with the killing. Anna Bill, a former Mountain Village police officer honored by the Alaska Federation of Natives for her advocacy on behalf of Alaska Native women and children, said the homicide was devastating for the victims family. 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. When substance misuse and mental health problems are part of the dynamic, it heightens the risk, she said. Pilot Project sites will implement initial response plans for tribal communities' response to new missing and murdered persons cases Anchorage, Alaska - United States Attorney Bryan Schroder announced Alaska's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Pilot Project (Pilot Project) today. The videos show a woman being strangled and in one Smith can be heard saying just die. The videosshow Henry face down in the back of a truck. Michelle Theriault Boots is a reporter who covers news and features about life in Alaska, and has been focusing on corrections and psychiatric care issues in the state. "One of the little girls from that room came running out, calling for help, that her parents had been in a fight," one passenger told CBS News. The next year,that number nearly doubled, to 25. Gardner was a beloved community member, devoted mother and a part-owner of Hilltop Recycling, a long-standing staple of the Chugiak area, according to her family. Then, on Wednesday, Oct. 2, the womans body was found along Turnagain Arm, near the Rainbow trailhead. A woman in Alaska was walking her dog when a moose charged her from behind and kicked her in the head, according to shocking video captured by a bystander. [4][7][n 1], Eklutna Annie's body was markedly decomposed, indicating her death had occurred months prior. 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. Police solved an Alaskan murder with a memory card found along road. 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. Schilmiller offered Brehmer nine or more million dollars to carry out the murder and to have photographs and/or videos of the murder sent to him, the documents say. Cynthia Hoffman. 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. "We are working on the Ship Creek case still and the Valley of the Moon Park," said Markiewicz. She had hit the wall, an acting supervisor later told the judge. Moody, the Alaska Public Defender Agency supervisor, said there are currently 11 vacant attorney positions out of 98 statewide. In court Wednesday, Smith appeared in handcuffs, wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit. The three cases police still considerunsolved are the deaths of Marcus Cosby Jr., 24, Elijah Zeller, 18, and Ian Bobich, 29.

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