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In May, 19-year-old Brandon Merritt went to a Holiday gas station and exchanged words with another man, according to police. At 41, he was a bachelor. 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 emergency officials issued an AMBER Alert for 8-month-old boy Ahmiri Chaney on Feb. 17, 2023. . 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. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News). 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. MacDonald serves as the presiding judge for the Fairbanks-based Fourth Judicial District. "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. [sic] A manwith some sort of English accent can be heard in the video as well. She was aged between 16 and 25 at the time of her death, and her body was discovered several months after her murder. Anchorage Police Department personnelwere investigating a fatal shooting near 15th Avenue and E Street early Sept. 13, 2016. Shannon Duke. James Dale Ritchie was a senior at East High School in 1994. But detectives had gotten video of the homicide days prior to finding the victims body, police said. 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. Two days later, both Brehmer and McIntosh were interviewed. When they were able to determine that this was an actual crime, then the investigation started to quickly speed up.. [17], To date, Roxane Easland, Karen Evan, Megan Emerick, and Teresa Davis have been ruled out as being Eklutna Annie. The Public Defender Agencys budget, meanwhile, has grown by 9 percent in the past two years. 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. 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.". He was unable to "remember whether she was a prostitute or [a] dancer", although he did state he believed she was from Kodiak, Alaska. It was first broadcast on May 9th, 2021. Delay is always the friend of the defense because it makes it harder for prosecutors to put on their case.. Contact her at mtheriault@adn.com. 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. 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. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. According to police, the arrest came after someone reported finding a digital storage device containing video of the killing. Hoffman was allegedly best friends with Brehmer, and she was chosen by the group as the victim, the documents say. He isnow charged with murder. In response, he chased after her, grabbed her by the hair and tripped her to the ground. Doubek slept downstairs. 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 . He stepped out of the car and said goodbye to his mom and Marcy. 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. Legal Statement. Marcy keeps running over the questions in her mind: Why is this happening in Anchorage? A memorial for James Lucas Moren in an alley behind the Gaslight Bar on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016. Gardner slept upstairs. Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll told reporters Abouchuk's family reported her missing in February, but he said she had last been seen by them in July 2018. "She championed any child. This week, Brian Smith, 48, was charged with first-degree murder in the case, the Anchorage Police Department said in a Wednesday statement. 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. The State Medical Examiner Office is working to confirm her identity and manner of death. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, He told Anchorage District Court Judge Brian Clark that he had about $2,000 in total saved. 2023 BBC. Ritchie was killed during a shootout with police officers in downtown Anchorage on November 12, 2016. It appeared that Smith recorded them himself, according to the affidavit. 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. The year's final tally surpasses even the 29 deathsthat occurred in 1995, at the time attributed by officials to gang and drug activity. "We are working on the Ship Creek case still and the Valley of the Moon Park," said Markiewicz. Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll told reporters Abouchuk's family reported her missing in February, but he said she had. 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. 2022 Anchorage Daily News. The next year,that number nearly doubled, to 25. 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. But they point out the majority of them were either involved in risky behavior or killed by someone they knew. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. "James recognized the potential issue and has appropriate (sic) adjusted his behavior to make himself more inviting for others to seek help. Theres also the question of how an SD card containing images and videos of a slaying, labeled Homicide at midtown Marriott, came to be discarded on a busy Anchorage street. 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. 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. Denali Brehmer, 22, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the June 2019 death of Cynthia Hoffman, the Alaska Department of Law said. Police did not say why the SD card was in the street, but they believe Smith recorded the images himself, according to the AP. The woman attempted to fight back, the affidavit said. "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. He was sentenced to 498 years in prison for the murder spree. Fox News Flash top headlines for Oct. 17 are here. 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 . 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. Skidmore said the number of prosecutors is rebounding following a reduction years earlier and now includes more than 120 attorneys. The case remains open, and numerous efforts have been made to determine the identity of the decedent, including several forensic facial reconstructions of how she may have appeared in life. 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. Mar 6th 600p DARLA Recently retired newly weds embark on their third tropical cruise in less than year. 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. Her family was not contacted and her items were removed from her cabin. 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. Thats going to escalate things tremendously because when were talking about misuse of substances, that inhibition is gone. Gov. [Here are the most-read Alaska Dispatch News stories of 2016]. Smith, 48, appeared in Anchorage Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon. 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. / 61.1254; -149.5234. Thim declined to say anything about the other investigation, or whether Smith is a suspect in other crimes. 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. Detectives recognized Brian Steven Smith from the graphic videos because Smith is involved in a separate ongoing investigation, said Anchorage Police Department spokesman MJ Thim. It's not that clear-cut, said McKinnon. Human remains found along Seward Highway near Rainbow trailhead. 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. All rights reserved. "It depends on what we're looking at as far as danger," said McKinnon, speaking generally about citizen safety and homicides in 2016. [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! 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 . McIntosh, who is being tried as an adult in the case, was the gunman, prosecutors say. Such delays typically benefit defendants and make it harder for prosecutors to secure convictions, said Alaska Deputy Attorney General John Skidmore. 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. 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. It had 39 images and 12 videos that recorded the alleged crime. 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. Around 2010, he left Alaska and spent time in Las Vegas before moving to Virginia, where his parents now live. 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. The FBI is investigating the death because it occurred in US waters. 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. 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. 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. In the years since, he'd helped her live with lasting injuries. (Bill Roth / ADN). Deputy District Attorney Brittany Dunlop said the process calls for the case to be brought before a grand jury. 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. An autopsy report concluded that she had been killed by a single stab wound to the back. Thim said Smith was subsequently connected to the remains discovered on the highway through hotel records and cell-phone data. 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. Brian Smith . (Bob Hallinen / Alaska Dispatch News). [14], In 1984, Robert Hansen admitted that he was responsible for the victim's 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!" [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. At one point, the agencys seven-attorney Bethel office was down to three, he said. They are unwilling to share details of crimes in which charges have not been filed. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, "What we're seeing is that when we ask the community for assistance, they really respond to us," he said. Man arrested for murder after SD card with video of crime found on street. In 2004 a 40-year-old lady named Merrian was taking a cruise to Alaska on board the Celebrity Mercury. Smith is originally from South Africa. There were no immediate details aboutthe earlierinvestigation involving Smith. 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. Here, "it's more groups of people who know each other and engage in high-risk behavior together," he said. 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. Months before the alleged hit . A millionaire widower and her teenaged daughter take a fivestar cruise together. Hoffman, 19, died from a gunshot wound to the. 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. Nancy Furlow . Anchorage police investigate a fatal shooting at the Holiday Gas Station located on Abbott Road on Wednesday evening, May 25, 2016. Witnesses say that the incident was described by crew members as "a domestic disturbance". Overwhelmingly, people were killed with guns: Gunfire was involved in all but four of the year's homicides. Read about our approach to external linking. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. 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. State prosecutors say Darin Lee Jones, 54, and Shawn Michael Phillips, 52, killed Patricia Phelps, 48, in Anchorage's Spenard neighborhood in 2017. But a bail memorandum filed in the case . or redistributed. 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. Alaskas public defenders have argued for the past two years that rising caseloads and tight budgets are straining their ability to fulfill their constitutional obligation to represent their clients. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. In the Lower 48, gangs are more organized and act as outside-the-law businesses, pushing drugs and weapons in defined territories. [6], On July 17, 1980, Eklutna Annie's skeletal remains were found by workmen, buried in a shallow grave along a series of power lines north of Anchorage. In that case, her father was charged with the killing. And they say despite the number of killings, suspects are at large in very few of the cases. At one June hearing, shortly before she resigned, the public defender noted she was working a double case load. Police point at recent hiring of new officers as an effort to make the city safer. Parents would be wise to monitor the activity of their children online.. "That tells us other people believe it is a good place," he said. 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. But they are working to build a case meeting the evidence threshold that would allow for prosecution, Markiewicz said. has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, and was taken to Anchorage Jail. The Department of Law asked that Smith'sbond be set at $2 million. 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. 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". Together, the homicides pose a question for Anchorage: What made 2016 so deadly? Ritchie is considered the main suspect in those killings, said Markiewicz. A handwritten note laid on a nearby bench with the words Shes havin an affair proof is in the phone. MacDonald denied the request, saying his findings are not an indictment of the Alaska Public Defender Agency nor its attorneys. 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. Thursday evening Live Doppler 13 forecast - Feb. 9, 2023. 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. Police continued to investigate and interviewed her two days later after Snapchat video appeared, in which she appeared to confess, the documents say. She has not been identified. [2][4], Serial killer Robert Hansen admitted responsibility for Eklutna Annie's murder in 1984. According to police, the arrest came. 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. She said she was not a police officer in the village at the time of the killing. Princess Cruises said 39-year-old Kristy Manzanares of Utah. According to court documents, Denali Brehmer, 18, confessed to killing Cynthia Hoffman on June 2 at the . On Sept. 30, someone called Anchorage police claiming to have found an SD card containing video of a homicide. All rights reserved. She said he never exhibited any violent tendencies such as those she heard of from police. Published: Jan. 27, 2022 at 4:27 PM PST. 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. 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. Many questions remain unanswered Wednesday, including the identity of the woman. [4][7][n 1], Eklutna Annie's body was markedly decomposed, indicating her death had occurred months prior. Brian . More than three dozenimages and 12 videos were stored on the card, according to the charging documents. Reporter Jeff Parrott contributed to this story. Police said the body was found near milepost 108 of Seward Highway on Oct. 2. In 2016, some 34 people were killed by homicide in Anchorage. APD asked morning commuters to avoid the area. I'll stand behind him, beside him, while he's going through this," Bissland added. she said. The killings happened in nearly every corner of Anchorage: from an Eagle River apartment complex toa normally quietsouth-sidesubdivision. This story was produced as part of a collaboration between Alaska Public Media and the Anchorage Daily News. The department is also trying to directly ask the public for help more often. 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. This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 21:52. Slawomir Markiewicz, the Anchorage Police Department's top detective. She championed any child she met that needed a second chance for success, her obituary said. Could a bigger prize and more races boost interest? She disappeared without a trace. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Days later, on Oct. 2, police officers found human remains on the side of a highway. Little is known about Smith, the man charged. 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. Time stamps on the images at the hotel showed they were taken in the early hours of Sept. 4, the affidavit said. 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. The domestic violence-related cases range from amother accused of suffocating her infant daughter,to a man accused of fatally shootinghis son-in-law. Zaz Hollander is a veteran journalist based in the Mat-Su and is currently an ADN local news editor and reporter. 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. ' said APD communications director MJ Thim. 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. 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. Detectives arrested Smith at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to APD. An Alaskan murder mystery has been solved thanks to a SD card found laying in the street. The case marks the second killing in less than six months involving a video. A corrections officer told the court Doubek was on suicide protocols and unable to participate. The callertold police the memory card was found layingin the middle of the street in the Fairview neighborhood of Anchorage. 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. Lucas Moren himself had cleaned up the bloody scene of the machete attack on his mother. The final images on the card show the womans body face down in the bed of a pickup, and were time-stamped Sept. 6. 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. An earlier version of the chart in this story incorrectly stated that it included fatal officer-involved shootings and justifiable homicides. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Many of the victims were young. 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. The SD card was labeled Homicide at midtown Marriott, according to the affidavit. "Same exactly happens to homicide cases. Her fiance was killed. I was the only one there, I did that, I killed her, he told investigators, according to the charges. LOUISIANA MAN ARRESTED IN 1989 MURDER CASE: POLICE. 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. CLICK TO VISIT THE ALL-NEW FOXBUSINESS.COM. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. ", Autumn Smith. Warming water may be to blame. Armando Velador Padilla, 46, was taken into custody after the. Brehmer then enlisted the help of four friends, including 19-year-old Caleb Leyland, 16-year-old Kayden McIntosh and two other unnamed juveniles, to plan and carry out the murder at Schilmillers direction, according to the documents. (Google). The trial has been delayed at least 15 times at the request of the defense, according to MacDonalds order. (The motion argued that the judge misunderstood the limits on public defenders, who do not choose which charges are filed.). Catfishing is when a person creates a fake identity on a social network account to deceive a specific victim. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News). 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 Alaska Public Defender Agencys longtime director, Quinlan Steiner, announced his resignation in April. Its just really incredibly disheartening, Pearson said. 32. 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. 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. As Merritt approachedAndrew Robertson-Goughnor, police said, Robertson-Goughnor shot him. They were all going to spend Christmas together the next day. Legal Statement. An economic thing happening?