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 . [9] A box of Salem matches were found in a pocket of her jacket, indicating she may have been a smoker. Many questions remain unanswered Wednesday, including the identity of the woman. An update released by Anchorage Police four months later stated they had taken a then 21-year-old named Orion Lind into custody but no charges were brought over Brandon's murder. The callertold police the memory card was found layingin the middle of the street in the Fairview neighborhood of Anchorage. Nine months and a long Arctic winter have come and gone since the abduction, sexual assault and murder of 10-year-old Ashley Johnson-Barr in the northwest Alaska hub community of Kotzebue.. Signs . Anchorage police think the human remains belong to the woman seen on the memory card, and the medical examiner is working to confirm the connection and the cause of death. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Content Warning: This article contains information that might be difficult for some readers. Nearly a week prior, on Sept. 30, someone called Anchorage Policeclaiming to have "an SD card containing a video of a homicide," according to a press release from authorities. Police said they will release the name of the deceased woman once her identity is confirmed and family is notified. Witnesses say she was travelling with her children. She wore several articles of clothing, including a brown leather hip-length jacket, a light-colored knitted sleeveless shirt (possibly white, beige, or light gray in color), blue jeans, and red, knee-high, high-heeled, zip-up boots. It's unclear who the woman is, but authorities are working to identify her and determine how she died. Cynthia Hoffman. 32. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Skidmore said the number of prosecutors is rebounding following a reduction years earlier and now includes more than 120 attorneys. 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. Authorities were expected to announce charges on the case on Thursday. "I'd say a great number of our citizens don't engage in any activity that's considered dangerous.". Bill said that in her experience with the criminal justice system, cases involving white defendants and victims appear to be resolved more quickly than cases involving Alaska Natives. (Loren Holmes / ADN). 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. He moved back to Alaska in the spring of 2016. The caller told police the memory card had been found laying in the middle of the street of an Anchorage neighborhood. But I feel that in the air.". According to Hansen, Eklutna Annie had been wearing blue jeans, a sweater, and a brown leather jacket. 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. "We are working on the Ship Creek case still and the Valley of the Moon Park," said Markiewicz. It did not include those deaths. But detectives had gotten video of the homicide days prior to finding the victims body, police said. Detectives saythey have a "good understanding" of what happened and who was involved in each of those cases. Witness memories fade, Skidmore said. 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. Hoffman, 19, died from a gunshot wound to the. He had started Friday night with two of the people closest to him: family friend Ronda Marcy and his mother, Elann "Lennie" Moren. [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. MacDonalds ruling addresses some of the most urgent problems facing Alaskas criminal justice system, where policymakers and the public have increasingly turned their focus in recent years. Market data provided by Factset. "That's our plan to create a better police presence," McKinnon said. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, 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. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Another factor no one could have predicted: James Dale Ritchie, who could prove to bethe most prolific killer in AnchoragesinceJoshua Wade, though APD is not ready to call him that. Smith had registered a room at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott the night the video was taken, according to the affidavit. "Loose lips sink ships," Markiewicz said. [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]. The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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. This years Iditarod field is the smallest in history. 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. He always committed his murders at night, often around midnight or a short time after. 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. Anchorage police identified thesecond victim as Veronica Abouchuk. 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. [5][3][10], An autopsy of Eklutna Annie's body revealed she was petite in stature,[11] and most likely white, although she may have had a degree of Native American heritage. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, In the Lower 48, gangs are more organized and act as outside-the-law businesses, pushing drugs and weapons in defined territories. [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. [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! Witnesses say that the incident was described by crew members as "a domestic disturbance". If you or someone you know is struggling with a substance use disorder, help is available. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. In January 2013, an associate professor wrote a letter of recommendation for Ritchie, who was apparently applying for an internship. And they say despite the number of killings, suspects are at large in very few of the cases. For many, it was the year the city's violence hit home,even if they didn't personally know any of the victims. Anchorage police investigate a fatal shooting at the Holiday Gas Station located on Abbott Road on Wednesday evening, May 25, 2016. His wife is not implicated in the slaying. 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. Feds: Eagle River nurse prescribed 4 million opiates in 5 years, contributed to two overdose deaths. Together, the homicides pose a question for Anchorage: What made 2016 so deadly? 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. "[13], According to Hansen, he then drove in the direction of Eklutna Lake, with his vehicle eventually becoming stuck on a desolate road as he veered in the direction of a "muddy swamp". Published: Jan. 27, 2022 at 4:27 PM PST. Alaska cops charged an Anchorage man with murder Tuesday after shocking videos found on a mysterious memory card allegedly captured the suspect assaulting and killing a woman whose remains. 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.. 2022 Anchorage Daily News. Resources: If you are facing threatened or actual domestic violence, please discreetly call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or Abused Womens Aid in Crisis in Anchorage at 907-272-0100. "They are engaging in this behavior where maybe a mature person would say, 'I'd never do that,' but to the people involved this is real stuff to them disrespect. [Here are the most-read Alaska Dispatch News stories of 2016]. ", "DNA Match IDs Alaska Serial Killer's Victim After 37 Years", https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14666142/?ref_=ttep_ep3, https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2020/09/22/do-you-know-this-woman/, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_Eklutna_Annie&oldid=1140185336, Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery, Anchorage, Alaska. He also told them hehad shot another woman and revealed where he dumped her body. "It depends on what we're looking at as far as danger," said McKinnon, speaking generally about citizen safety and homicides in 2016. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. But he added that those specific failures were symptoms of broader dysfunction, like public defender and prosecutor jobs going unfilled because of obstacles to recruitment and retention, as well as travel restrictions. CALIFORNIA MAN KIDNAPPED GIRL, 17, WHO WORKED WITH PALS TO NAB HIM IN THEIR OWN UNOFFICIAL OPERATION: COPS, There are 39 images and 12 videos on the card, according to a charging document filed by the Alaska Department of Law. An earlier version of the chart in this story incorrectly stated that it included fatal officer-involved shootings and justifiable homicides. He has since been released, now in the custody of authorities, and is charged with first- and second-degree murder. 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. He has not yet entered a plea. TODAY - Anna Kaplan 18h. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. 2022 Anchorage Daily News. He was sentenced to 498 years in prison for the murder spree. The millionaire's only demand for the payout was either . 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. Smith is charged with first-degree murder. At one June hearing, shortly before she resigned, the public defender noted she was working a double case load. According to court documents, Denali Brehmer, 18, confessed to killing Cynthia Hoffman on June 2 at the . 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. If you are considering suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or Stop Suicide Alaska at 1-877-266-HELP. What science tells us about the afterlife. All rights reserved. Gov. Resources can be found by calling Alaska 211 or visiting the State of Alaskas website to find treatment options. The FBI is investigating the death because it occurred in US waters. She was aged between 16 and 25 at the time of her death, and her body was discovered several months after her murder. When substance misuse and mental health problems are part of the dynamic, it heightens the risk, she said. Doubek did not attend his scheduled arraignment Thursday. Anthoney and his girlfriend moved to Anchorage from Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1985 when authorities in Idaho accused him of raping and brutally beating a twelve-year-old girl at a campground near Twin Falls. [4][7][n 1], Eklutna Annie's body was markedly decomposed, indicating her death had occurred months prior. A handwritten note laid on a nearby bench with the words Shes havin an affair proof is in the phone. 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. Officials allege they destroyed some of Hoffmans clothing, purse and cellphone, and Brehmer texted Hoffmans family to let them know they dropped her off at Polar Bear Park in Anchorage. Hansen specifically stated she was his first murder victim. 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. [2][4], Serial killer Robert Hansen admitted responsibility for Eklutna Annie's murder in 1984. 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. They are unwilling to share details of crimes in which charges have not been filed. New documents from Ritchie'stime at community collegein Virginiapresent a portrait of a striving engineering student whose work was so good that a professor wrote in a 2013 letter of recommendation that he gradedRitchie's exams first and used them as the test's key. Throughout 2016, Ritchie murdered upwards of five individuals in and around Anchorage, Alaska, most of whom were in parks or along bike paths. Early on Christmas Eve, James "Lucas" Moren became Anchorage homicide victimNo. McKinnon pointed out that in the same year Anchorage set a homicide record, it also set a record for thenumber of touristsvisiting the city. Smith has a truck matching the one in the images, and pings from his cellphone put him along Rainbow Valley Road off the Seward Highway, near where the womans body was found, within minutes of the last time-stamped photos of the body, the affidavit said. 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. As Merritt approachedAndrew Robertson-Goughnor, police said, Robertson-Goughnor shot him. 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. He told Anchorage District Court Judge Brian Clark that he had about $2,000 in total saved. This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 21:52. Many of the victims were young. "We haven't found evidence that anyone other than Ritchie is involved.". Ritchie is considered the main suspect in those killings, said Markiewicz. A district attorney has been selected to oversee the Bethel office and Skidmore said he is in talks with the North Slope Borough in hopes of funding the first Utqiagvik-based district attorney in several years. Published: Jul. This week, Brian Smith, 48, was charged with first-degree murder in the case, the Anchorage Police Department said in a Wednesday statement. It was first broadcast on May 9th, 2021. That puts APD at a more than 90 percent "clearance" rate for homicide cases. 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. All rights reserved. Police detectivesdon't attribute 2016's increase in homicides to any one cause. APD officer Arn Salao was wounded and the suspect, James Dale Ritchie, was killed in the early-morning shootout. The victim was Robert Pfeil, a 55-year-old senior pilot for Alaska Airlines, who was shot from another car as he drove from work on Oct. 12, 1985. (Google). Police point at recent hiring of new officers as an effort to make the city safer. [14], In 1984, Robert Hansen admitted that he was responsible for the victim's death. "What we're seeing is that when we ask the community for assistance, they really respond to us," he said. Gardner slept upstairs.
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