Legal Statement. As Merritt approachedAndrew Robertson-Goughnor, police said, Robertson-Goughnor shot him. A handwritten note laid on a nearby bench with the words Shes havin an affair proof is in the phone. Shannon Duke. 2023 BBC. She had hit the wall, an acting supervisor later told the judge. TENNESSEE COLLEGE STUDENT ACCUSED OF FATAL SHOOTING IN DORM. Photos apparently show the woman underneath a blanketon a hotel luggage cart near a truck and in the truck bed, per the document. It did not include those deaths. 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. 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. 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. Doug Moody, a supervisor at the Public Defender Agency, said in a phone interview Tuesday that Cherot will be reviewing MacDonalds critique. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Federal authorities allege Brehmer produced sexually explicit videos involving a minor and sent them to Schilmiller. Her eldest daughter Chloe was killed with her. "We haven't found evidence that anyone other than Ritchie is involved.". 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. Police have only definitively named him as the gunman in one killing, that of Treyveon Thompson on July 29. 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. 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. It appeared that Smith recorded them himself, according to the affidavit. This week, Brian Smith, 48, was charged with first-degree murder in the case, the Anchorage Police Department said in a Wednesday statement. "James recognized the potential issue and has appropriate (sic) adjusted his behavior to make himself more inviting for others to seek help. Igou pleaded guilty on November 5, 2020 to the September 10, 2017 murder of Aurora Paint Company co-owner Gregory Gill. 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. 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 . Paula Zorawski,answered her front dooronly to be shot in the face by people, Anchorage police believe, were hoping to rob her son of marijuana. 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. Two days later, both Brehmer and McIntosh were interviewed. When is Eurovision and how do you get tickets? (In addition to the 75 criminal attorneys, about 25 more work on appeals and childrens cases.) Could a bigger prize and more races boost interest? She said she was not a police officer in the village at the time of the killing. Doubek and Gardner shared a home in a Wasilla neighborhood off of Snowshoe Lane. I don't believe it.". He worked in construction and kitchens, said Marcy, a paralegal. Brehmer agreed to commit the murder for him.. Police point at recent hiring of new officers as an effort to make the city safer. 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. In that case, her father was charged with the killing. More than three dozenimages and 12 videos were stored on the card, according to the charging documents. "In the fog and the white light, I saw him walking down the alley," Marcy said. The man in the video speaks with a distinct accent, which led detectives to recall a separate case involving Smith, a South African immigrant living in Anchorage. Police do not believe Ritchie was involved with any otherunsolved slayingsin 2016. There has been some suggestion by family members out-of-state that he had recently showed signs of mental illness, McKinnon confirmed, but added, "I don't think we have any concrete evidence to support that.". ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Content Warning: This article contains information that might be difficult for some readers. 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. Cynthia Hoffman. 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. [10], As Eklutna Annie struggled against his efforts to overpower her, she had screamed, "Don't kill me! Smith is charged with first-degree murder. The three cases police still considerunsolved are the deaths of Marcus Cosby Jr., 24, Elijah Zeller, 18, and Ian Bobich, 29. Such delays typically benefit defendants and make it harder for prosecutors to secure convictions, said Alaska Deputy Attorney General John Skidmore. "She championed any child. The womans body was found last week along the Seward Highway south of the city. 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 graphic videos show a woman being strangled and a mans voice saying justdie, the Associated Press reported. When they were able to determine that this was an actual crime, then the investigation started to quickly speed up.. McKinnon said police are still trying to piece together what Ritchie did on a daily basis during the months he is believed to have been back in Anchorage. But its workload is growing more quickly just between the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years, it saw a 16 percent increase in felony cases statewide, according to data the agency has presented to the Legislature. An ongoing Daily News and ProPublica investigation has found that one in three Alaska communities has no local law enforcement of any kind. APDsays when Moren left the Gaslight Lounge later that night,he was followedby Roy Schauer, 46. The group met to decide how they would divvy up the money. TODAY - Anna Kaplan 18h. 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. ", "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. The SD card also contained images of the womans body being removed from a hotel room and transported in a black truck, according to charging documents. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. "We are working on the Ship Creek case still and the Valley of the Moon Park," said Markiewicz. In January 2013, an associate professor wrote a letter of recommendation for Ritchie, who was apparently applying for an internship. You're going to kill me!" The caller told police the memory card had been found laying in the middle of the street of an Anchorage neighborhood. All rights reserved. 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. 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 . 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. Warming water may be to blame. 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. 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. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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. Delay is always the friend of the defense because it makes it harder for prosecutors to put on their case.. With the SD card, one of the first questions that detectives had to answer was, Was this staged, or did this really happen? But the same weapon found on Ritchie at the time of his death an uncommon, vintage Colt Python .357 was used to kill four other people in a two-month span: Brianna Foisy, 20, and Jason Netter Sr., 41, on the Ship Creek Trail July 3, and Bryant "Brie" De Husson, 25, and Kevin Turner, 34, at Valley of the Moon Park on Aug. 28. 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. "[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". Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. MacDonald, who was appointed by then-Gov. Armando Velador Padilla, 46, was taken into custody after the. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen). A man charged with murder is accused of fatally stabbing his 23-year-old daughter Friday in Anchorage's Fairview neighborhood. Resources can be found by calling Alaska 211 or visiting the State of Alaskas website to find treatment options. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Gardner was shot four times, according to the charging documents. 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. The card was also labeled homicide at midtown Mariott. Police did not say why the SD card was in the street, but they believe Smith recorded the images himself, according to the AP. According to the bail memo, Alaska State Troopers earlier this year recovered a skull with a gunshot wound in an area near the location Smith later provided. 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. He always committed his murders at night, often around midnight or a short time after. Parents would be wise to monitor the activity of their children online.. The memory card, which was labeled homicide at midtown Marriott, was given to police by the woman who found it, charging documents obtained by NBC affiliate KTUU in Anchorage showed. In an unusual order, an Alaska judge has declared a crisis in the states courts, saying that turnover among public defenders is delaying criminal trials and denying justice for victims and defendants alike. (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. Time stamps on the images at the hotel showed they were taken in the early hours of Sept. 4, the affidavit said. Market data provided by Factset. It took 26 days after Merrian's disappearance for her to be reported as a missing person and for the search for her to start. [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! 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 FBI is testing his DNA in a nationwide database that may reveal if he is linked to any crimes in other states, McKinnon said. 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. He has since been released, now in the custody of authorities, and is charged with first- and second-degree murder. 32. [7] He further recollected: "I picked her up downtown and told her I was going to take her to my home". ", "Alaska State Troopers: Unidentified Body", "Serial Killer Robert Hansen Dies in Anchorage", "Serial Killer's Victim Exhumed In Alaska: Who Is 'Horseshoe Harriet'? 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. This years Iditarod field is the smallest in history. A millionaire widower and her teenaged daughter take a fivestar cruise together. He isnow charged with murder. (Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News via AP) Author: The Associated Press Published: 10:58 PM EDT August 9, 2019 Updated: 3:40 AM EDT August 12, 2019 ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP . In 2016, some 34 people were killed by homicide in 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. [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. 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. APD officer Arn Salao was wounded and the suspect, James Dale Ritchie, was killed in the early-morning shootout. Skidmore said the number of prosecutors is rebounding following a reduction years earlier and now includes more than 120 attorneys. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. [5][3], This unidentified decedent became known as Eklutna Annie due to the location in which her body was discovered. LOUISIANA MAN ARRESTED IN 1989 MURDER CASE: POLICE. 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. In the Lower 48, gangs are more organized and act as outside-the-law businesses, pushing drugs and weapons in defined territories. That puts APD at a more than 90 percent "clearance" rate for homicide cases. 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.. 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. The show Very Scary People profiled Robert Hansen in "The Butcher Baker". (Image from East High School 1994 yearbook and APD handout). Little is known about Smith, the man charged. 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. [3][4], Eklutna Annie was murdered by serial killer Robert Hansen, most likely in 1979. "It depends on what we're looking at as far as danger," said McKinnon, speaking generally about citizen safety and homicides in 2016. Hansen specifically stated she was his first murder victim. Anchorage police identified thesecond victim as Veronica Abouchuk. She has not been identified. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. "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. We still dont know who she is and we dont know much about her," said Thim. His wife is not implicated in the slaying. He told Anchorage District Court Judge Brian Clark that he had about $2,000 in total saved. [Here are the most-read Alaska Dispatch News stories of 2016]. McIntosh, who is being tried as an adult in the case, was the gunman, prosecutors say. Digital evidence and statements show Brehmer was communicating with and sending videos and/or photographs of the events surrounding the incident to Schilmiller at his directive through the duration of the event, documents say. Police had found Henrys remains on the side of a highway on Oct. 2. 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". There were no immediate details aboutthe earlierinvestigation involving Smith. High winds cause damage, power outages across central Indiana . Contact her at mtheriault@adn.com. An earlier version of the chart in this story incorrectly stated that it included fatal officer-involved shootings and justifiable homicides. Born in Montana but raised in Alaska, Duke married, raised three children and worked jobs including as a teacher's aide. On Christmas Day, the people who loved Lucas Moren gathered in the alley behind the Gaslight. 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. Anchorage police investigate a fatal shooting at the Holiday Gas Station located on Abbott Road on Wednesday evening, May 25, 2016. The Alaska teens are being represented by the public defenders office, which has a policy of not commenting on cases. "Is it a greater population? In May, 19-year-old Brandon Merritt went to a Holiday gas station and exchanged words with another man, according to police. Read about our approach to external linking. Published: Jan. 27, 2022 at 4:27 PM PST. James Dale Ritchie was a senior at East High School in 1994. Veronica Abouchuck, left, and Kathleen Henry. Of the 34 victims, 14 were under the age of 25. "That tells us other people believe it is a good place," he said. 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. 1 language. 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. Judges appoint public defenders for defendants who cant afford to hire their own lawyers. 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. Rodgers went on to kill another man in Anchorage and shoot two others who survived before his 26-hour rampage ended. While the agencys inflation-adjusted spending has doubled in the past 30 years, its felony caseload has tripled, it says. Smith had registered a room at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott the night the video was taken, according to the affidavit. 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. [14], In 1984, Robert Hansen admitted that he was responsible for the victim's death. or redistributed. But detectives had gotten video of the homicide days prior to finding the victims body, police said. Together, the homicides pose a question for Anchorage: What made 2016 so deadly? 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. Throughout 2016, Ritchie murdered upwards of five individuals in and around Anchorage, Alaska, most of whom were in parks or along bike paths. I was the only one there, I did that, I killed her, he told investigators, according to the charges. Alaska Public Media 2022. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. Police continued to investigate and interviewed her two days later after Snapchat video appeared, in which she appeared to confess, the documents say. 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. 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. (Loren Holmes / ADN). 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. 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. In response, he chased after her, grabbed her by the hair and tripped her to the ground. 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. 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. But APD isnot ready to close the cases. Public records show that he lives in a home in the Geneva Woods neighborhood, and a social media profile that appears to belong to him says he married an Anchorage woman in 2014. In some villages, city and tribal leaders say they have no choice but to hire convicted criminals as cops. This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 21:52. Market data provided by Factset. In arguments included with MacDonalds order, public defenders described an agency at its breaking point, struggling to retain experienced attorneys and unable to compete for recruits against cities with a lower cost of living and comparable pay. Princess Cruises said 39-year-old Kristy Manzanares of Utah. (Bill Roth / ADN). And so somebody who might have been using emotional abuse and threats and that sort of thing may escalate into more physical violence, Pearson said. The . ", Autumn Smith. 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. Other images showed the woman covered in a white sheet, being moved through a parking lot to a truck. Overwhelmingly, people were killed with guns: Gunfire was involved in all but four of the year's homicides. Nationally, the homicide clearance rate hovers around 64 percent, according to statistics from the FBI. At the sentencing hearing, the State presented video . For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Thats going to escalate things tremendously because when were talking about misuse of substances, that inhibition is gone. According to court documents and evidence presented . 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. Police said they will release the name of the deceased woman once her identity is confirmed and family is notified. He moved back to Alaska in the spring of 2016. Last week, 23-year-old Darla Velador of Anchorage was stabbed to death. 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!" "Loose lips sink ships," Markiewicz said. He was unable to "remember whether she was a prostitute or [a] dancer", although he did state he believed she was from Kodiak, Alaska. 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. Anchorage Police Department personnelwere investigating a fatal shooting near 15th Avenue and E Street early Sept. 13, 2016. [8] He died in prison in August 2014. 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. He had then stabbed her once in the back with a black-handled Buck knife as she lay face-down. (Google). On Sept. 30, police received a report from someone saying they had found an SD card containing several videos of an assault and murder. All but one of the victims in those cases were female. At one point, the agencys seven-attorney Bethel office was down to three, he said. Anchorage Police investigate the scene where human remains we found at mile 108 of the Seward Highway near Rainbow on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. Passengers told CBS News that a "murder mystery" theme dinner had been taking place when the incident occurred, and several passengers first confused the crime for a hoax. He has not yet entered a plea. They are unwilling to share details of crimes in which charges have not been filed. The callertold police the memory card was found layingin the middle of the street in the Fairview neighborhood of Anchorage. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. The need for nine more lawyers was based on a 45-year-old standard set by the American Bar Association that public defenders annual caseloads should not exceed 150 felonies. Detectives knew almost immediately that something was wrong, that someones loved one was killed when they found her remains, he said. Police said the body was found near milepost 108 of Seward Highway on Oct. 2. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? During an arraignment at Anchorage Jail Court Wednesday, a judge set Smiths bail at $750,0000 cash and appointed a public defender to represent him.