There wasSelena Mullenax, a young mother studying for her GEDfound shotin a public park on a winter morning. (In addition to the 75 criminal attorneys, about 25 more work on appeals and childrens cases.) The Alaska Public Defender Agencys longtime director, Quinlan Steiner, announced his resignation in April. All rights reserved. MacDonald denied the request, saying his findings are not an indictment of the Alaska Public Defender Agency nor its attorneys. 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. die.". Police have not identified the victim, who is said to have been killed during the first week of September. The organization had previously released a digital reconstruction, and a clay bust of Eklutna Annie had also been created in the past. 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. According to police, the arrest came. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! All but one of the victims in those cases were female. Some people have speculated gangs are to blame for the bloodshed. A separate 1998 audit done for the Alaska Legislature said the states public defenders can ethically handle no more than 59 cases in a 60-hour work week; by that standard, Steiner said at the March hearing, his agency needed 66 more lawyers to fulfill its constitutional obligations. [10], As Eklutna Annie struggled against his efforts to overpower her, she had screamed, "Don't kill me! An Alaskan murder mystery has been solved thanks to a SD card found laying in the street. 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 show Very Scary People profiled Robert Hansen in "The Butcher Baker". But a bail memorandum filed in the case . She is the only victim of Robert Hansen to remain unidentified. 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. Anchorage police investigate a fatal shooting at the Holiday Gas Station located on Abbott Road on Wednesday evening, May 25, 2016. In the Lower 48, gangs are more organized and act as outside-the-law businesses, pushing drugs and weapons in defined territories. 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. Federal authorities allege Brehmer produced sexually explicit videos involving a minor and sent them to Schilmiller. The department is also trying to directly ask the public for help more often. "That's our plan to create a better police presence," McKinnon said. 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. Judges appoint public defenders for defendants who cant afford to hire their own lawyers. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. But they are working to build a case meeting the evidence threshold that would allow for prosecution, Markiewicz said. Parents would be wise to monitor the activity of their children online.. or redistributed. The victim has been identified as 39-year-old Kristy Manzanares, from the US state of Utah. On Sept. 30, police received a report from someone saying they had found an SD card containing several videos of an assault and murder. Thim said Smith was subsequently connected to the remains discovered on the highway through hotel records and cell-phone data. Hansen specifically stated she was his first murder victim. In response, he chased after her, grabbed her by the hair and tripped her to the ground. ANCHORAGE, Alaska A woman pleaded guilty to murder after an Indiana man allegedly offered her $9 million to "rape and murder someone in Alaska." According to the Alaska Department of Law, 22-year-old Denali Brehmer admitting to killing 19-year-old Cynthia Hoffman on June 29, 2019, near Thunderbird Falls in Chugiak, Alaska. 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. Police immediately suspected John Newman's nephew, 23-year-old Kirby Anthoney. Contact her at mtheriault@adn.com. He was returning to Anchorage, where he lives, Thim said. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Zaz Hollander is a veteran journalist based in the Mat-Su and is currently an ADN local news editor and reporter. She has not been identified. 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. 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. 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. Alaska Public Media 2022. "That tells us other people believe it is a good place," he said. "That's what's been fascinating.". 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. Smith was taken into custody on an arrest warrant for first-degree murder Tuesday afternoon at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, police said in an online release announcing the arrest Wednesday. Smith, 48, appeared in Anchorage Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon. State prosecutors say Darin Lee Jones, 54, and Shawn Michael Phillips, 52, killed Patricia Phelps, 48, in Anchorage's Spenard neighborhood in 2017. IE 11 is not supported. 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. Resources can be found by calling Alaska 211 or visiting the State of Alaskas website to find treatment options. The district covers an enormous and geographically diverse swath of Alaska, from the woodsy Alaska-Canada border in the Interior to the Bering Sea coast. It had 39 images and 12 videos that recorded the alleged crime. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. 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. 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. "James recognized the potential issue and has appropriate (sic) adjusted his behavior to make himself more inviting for others to seek help. 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". 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. Born in Montana but raised in Alaska, Duke married, raised three children and worked jobs including as a teachers aide. 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. 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. He stepped out of the car and said goodbye to his mom and Marcy. MacDonald, who was appointed by then-Gov. Market data provided by Factset. MacDonald declined to be interviewed, saying that Walters case is still open. Brian Smith . Last week, 23-year-old Darla Velador of Anchorage was stabbed to death. The race is on: What to know about the 2023 Iditarod, No injuries in downtown Anchorage commercial building collapse. I don't believe it.". Officers arrested Brian Steven Smith, 48, Tuesday afternoon, an Anchorage Police Department statement said. Igou pleaded guilty on November 5, 2020 to the September 10, 2017 murder of Aurora Paint Company co-owner Gregory Gill. Brian . 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. Ian Bobich, 29, was found shot to death outside this Elm Street apartment building just before midnight Monday, Oct. 24, 2016, on Government Hill. Jorge Rea-Villa, a handsome tattoo artist who went to a Fourth of July barbecue and ended up dead. LOUISIANA MAN ARRESTED IN 1989 MURDER CASE: POLICE. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Alaska teens hoping to cash in on a $9 million offer from a Midwest millionaire brutally killed a developmentally disabled woman on a popular trail outside Anchorage, shooting her in the back of the head and dumping her body in a river, authorities allege. MacDonald serves as the presiding judge for the Fairbanks-based Fourth Judicial District. 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. [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! 2022 Anchorage Daily News. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. McIntosh, who is being tried as an adult in the case, was the gunman, prosecutors say. It was first broadcast on May 9th, 2021. But detectives had gotten video of the homicide days prior to finding the victims body, police said. State lawmakers this year held the public defenders base budget effectively flat, though they included some $1.3 million, or a roughly 5 percent boost, in separate criminal justice legislation that was expected to generate more prosecutions. They were all going to spend Christmas together the next day. She championed any child she met that needed a second chance for success, her obituary said. 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. In September 2020, a revised facial reconstruction of the victim was released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. 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. Police continued to investigate and interviewed her two days later after Snapchat video appeared, in which she appeared to confess, the documents say. CLICK TO VISIT THE ALL-NEW FOXBUSINESS.COM. The final images on the card show the womans body face down in the bed of a pickup, and were time-stamped Sept. 6. Feds: Eagle River nurse prescribed 4 million opiates in 5 years, contributed to two overdose deaths. Market data provided by Factset. Born in Montana but raised in Alaska, Duke married, raised three children and worked jobs including as a teacher's aide. Other images showed the woman covered in a white sheet, being moved through a parking lot to a truck. Police do not believe Ritchie was involved with any otherunsolved slayingsin 2016. 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. ThatFriday, she dropped him off for an evening out downtown. MacDonalds order and decision are part of the ongoing effort to hold a criminal trial in Fairbanks for Walters, who was 34 when troopers arrested him Oct. 5, 2017, in Mountain Village on charges of murder, assault and evidence tampering. Detectives knew almost immediately that something was wrong, that someones loved one was killed when they found her remains, he said. Could a bigger prize and more races boost interest? / 61.1254; -149.5234. 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. [8] He died in prison in August 2014. Nancy Furlow . Last week, 23-year-old Darla Velador of Anchorage was stabbed to death. 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. When troopers arrived, they found Doubek lying just inside the front door. "We are working on the Ship Creek case still and the Valley of the Moon Park," said Markiewicz. Thim declined to say anything about the other investigation, or whether Smith is a suspect in other crimes. Police did not say why the SD card was in the street, but they believe Smith recorded the images himself, according to the AP. During the initial 911 call, Doubek reportedly had slurred, garbled speech and admitted to shooting his wife, according to the affidavit. Detectives saythey have a "good understanding" of what happened and who was involved in each of those cases. 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!" 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. High winds cause damage, power outages across central Indiana . [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]. 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. You're going to kill me!" 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. A Wasilla woman was shot four times at home Sunday night and her husband is charged with her murder, according to Alaska State Troopers. [2][4], Serial killer Robert Hansen admitted responsibility for Eklutna Annie's murder in 1984. Warming water may be to blame. ", "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. Many questions remain unanswered Wednesday, including the identity of the woman. 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. 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. 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. Legal Statement. Delay is always the friend of the defense because it makes it harder for prosecutors to put on their case.. "Same exactly happens to homicide cases. 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. Smith is charged with first-degree murder. On Wednesday,. Schauer shot Moren several times, police say, though they have not said why. It's not that clear-cut, said McKinnon. Photos apparently show the woman underneath a blanketon a hotel luggage cart near a truck and in the truck bed, per the document. 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. Cynthia Hoffman. Police said the body was found near milepost 108 of Seward Highway on Oct. 2. Doubek and Gardner shared a home in a Wasilla neighborhood off of Snowshoe Lane. 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. Brian Steven Smith is arraigned Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 on a charge of first-degree murder at the Anchorage Jail courtroom. His wife is not implicated in the slaying. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Gardner slept upstairs. "Loose lips sink ships," Markiewicz said. Mar 6th 600p DARLA Recently retired newly weds embark on their third tropical cruise in less than year. Don't kill me!" [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. All rights reserved. [4][7][n 1], Eklutna Annie's body was markedly decomposed, indicating her death had occurred months prior. According to Hansen, he had first attempted to placate Eklutna Annie as he restrained her, falsely claiming he did not intend to harm her, although she responded: "You are! While the agencys inflation-adjusted spending has doubled in the past 30 years, its felony caseload has tripled, it says. Anchorage police identified the second victim as Veronica Abouchuk. According to Hansen, Eklutna Annie had been wearing blue jeans, a sweater, and a brown leather jacket. Alaska Public Media 2022. 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. According to court documents, Denali Brehmer, 18, confessed to killing Cynthia Hoffman on June 2 at the . "He had a leather jacket on and blue jeans, with a hoodie. 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. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. But APD isnot ready to close the cases. (Scott Jensen / Alaska Dispatch News). 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. 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. The district attorney's office also decided not to pursue criminal charges in the shooting death ofAaron Syvinski, 30, which was found to be in self-defense. Many of the victims were young. 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". 2022 Anchorage Daily News. 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 . 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. 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. Other witnesses described seeing a bloody man threatening to jump off the ship. 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. All the white people are getting done first while the Natives get pushed to the back burner, Bill wrote in a Facebook message, when asked about the case. Hoffman was allegedly best friends with Brehmer, and she was chosen by the group as the victim, the documents say. Overwhelmingly, people were killed with guns: Gunfire was involved in all but four of the year's homicides. Doubek did not attend his scheduled arraignment Thursday. 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. "She championed any child. 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 warned Metzger against scurrying around in district court, spending time on lesser felony cases instead of the homicide case, according to her motion. The Associated Press contributed to this report. According to a press release from the Alaska Department of Law, Charlie was sentenced to 75 years . 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. In that case, her father was charged with the killing. In a separate federal investigation rising from the investigation, Schilmiller and Brehmer were indicted Tuesday on federal child pornography charges, including production and coercion and enticement of a minor. Fiesers account supports a complaint filed by prosecutors charging Doubek with the murder of his wife, 54-year-old Marjorie Gardner. ", "Alaska State Troopers: Unidentified Body", "Serial Killer Robert Hansen Dies in Anchorage", "Serial Killer's Victim Exhumed In Alaska: Who Is 'Horseshoe Harriet'? ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Content Warning: This article contains information that might be difficult for some readers. Brian Steven Smith during his arraignment Wednesday. Sarah Palin in 2007, admonished public defenders for specific professional failures in their handling of Walters case. The remarks by the veteran judge came in a 37-page order to delay the murder trial of Alexie Walters, a man accused of beating his girlfriend, Gertrude Queenie, to death in 2017 in Mountain Village, on the Yukon River in Southwest Alaska. In the years since, he'd helped her live with lasting injuries. 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. He then attempted to placate her, before pulling a gun, saying: "You do exactly as I say and you won't get hurt. Authorities say Schilmiller, who has been arrested in New Salisbury, Indiana, and will be transferred to Alaska next month, began an online relationship with 18-year-old Denali Brehmer of Anchorage, posing as Tyler. Read about our approach to external linking. She disappeared without a trace. "Because of his knowledge other students identify him as a potential source of aid but may have been intimidated by his high level of self confidence," the letter said. (Loren Holmes / ADN). 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. This years Iditarod field is the smallest in history. 32. 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. [17], To date, Roxane Easland, Karen Evan, Megan Emerick, and Teresa Davis have been ruled out as being Eklutna Annie. [14], In 1984, Robert Hansen admitted that he was responsible for the victim's death. Witnesses say she was travelling with her children. Legal Statement. Its just really incredibly disheartening, Pearson said. With the SD card, one of the first questions that detectives had to answer was, Was this staged, or did this really happen? She said she was not a police officer in the village at the time of the killing. A corrections officer told the court Doubek was on suicide protocols and unable to participate. 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. A memorial for James Lucas Moren in an alley behind the Gaslight Bar on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016. One man, James Dale Ritchie, is the prime suspect in five deaths. The next year,that number nearly doubled, to 25. The Anchorage office is expected to open on August 27. (The motion argued that the judge misunderstood the limits on public defenders, who do not choose which charges are filed.). Witnesses say that the incident was described by crew members as "a domestic disturbance". "Why life seems harder, why things seem scarier why is that? July 27, 2017 / 10:16 AM / CBS News A suspect is in custody Thursday morning after a woman was found dead on a cruise ship in Alaska. 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. 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. The Anchorage Police Department has identified the victim as Kathleen J. Henry, 30, according to a statement released Thursday afternoon. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. [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.
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