"Why life seems harder, why things seem scarier why is that? 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. 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. Anchorage Police investigate the scene where human remains we found at mile 108 of the Seward Highway near Rainbow on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. The Department of Law asked that Smith'sbond be set at $2 million. Police said the body was found near milepost 108 of Seward Highway on Oct. 2. data the agency has presented to the Legislature. All but one of the victims in those cases were female. 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. She was aged between 16 and 25 at the time of her death, and her body was discovered several months after her murder. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Police have not yet pointed to any known motive in the cases where Ritchie is identified as a suspect. 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. 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. 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. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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. 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. That puts APD at a more than 90 percent "clearance" rate for homicide cases. 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. The State Medical Examiner Office is working to confirm her identity and manner of death. The caller told police the memory card had been found laying in the middle of the street of an Anchorage neighborhood. 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. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Reporter Jeff Parrott contributed to this story. Anchorage police: Homicide video victim - Alaska Public Media 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. Market data provided by Factset. MacDonald wrote that in addition to the Mountain Village case, hes overseeing two other homicide trials and a sexual assault case that have all been significantly delayed due to a public defender withdrawing late into the case.. APD asked morning commuters to avoid the area. Troopers: Wasilla woman killed, husband charged with her murder 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. All rights reserved. The Emerald Princess, operated by Princess Cruises, had departed from Seattle on Sunday for a week-long trip. Thim declined to say anything about the other investigation, or whether Smith is a suspect in other crimes. Alaska's arduous Iditarod kicks off with ceremonial start | KRDO Smith appeared in court Wednesday, where a judge said he'd be appointed a public defender. Policeinvestigate the scene of an officer-involved shooting in downtown Anchorage onNovember 12, 2016. APD provided a recent photograph of Ritchie. He has since been released, now in the custody of authorities, and is charged with first- and second-degree murder. He was returning to Anchorage, where he lives, Thim said. Thim said Smith was subsequently connected to the remains discovered on the highway through hotel records and cell-phone data. The womans body was found last week along the Seward Highway south of the city. Alaska teens charged in 'murder for millions' slaying | AP News 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. Advocate for missing and murdered women, reflecting on the ongoing efforts to identify Eklutna Annie[18], Eklutna Annie remains unidentified. 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. 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. High winds cause damage, power outages across central Indiana . Our salaries up here used to be the draw, an attorney for the agency said. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? Do you know this baby? A handwritten note laid on a nearby bench with the words Shes havin an affair proof is in the phone. Market data provided by Factset. She covers breaking news, the Mat-Su region, aviation and general assignments. 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. [10], As Eklutna Annie struggled against his efforts to overpower her, she had screamed, "Don't kill me! Deadliest state: For women in Alaska, rape and murder are too common [Here are the most-read Alaska Dispatch News stories of 2016]. She disappeared without a trace. Authorities were expected to announce charges on the case on Thursday. We still dont know who she is and we dont know much about her," said Thim. Igou pleaded guilty on November 5, 2020 to the September 10, 2017 murder of Aurora Paint Company co-owner Gregory Gill. Police said the body was found near milepost 108 of Seward Highway on Oct. 2. In the Lower 48, gangs are more organized and act as outside-the-law businesses, pushing drugs and weapons in defined territories. Alaska Native Man's Unsolved Murder Part of 'Epidemic' 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. 1 language. 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. On Wednesday,. It's unclear who the woman is, but authorities are working to identify her and determine how she died. 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. 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. CALIFORNIA MAN SENTENCED AFTER FORMER ROOMMATE FOUND DEAD, BLUDGEONED INSIDE WALL. In May, 19-year-old Brandon Merritt went to a Holiday gas station and exchanged words with another man, according to police. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. In at least two cases, a person believed to be breaking into a home was killed in what prosecutors determinedto be self-defense, and no charges were filed.The deaths ofLoren Douglas, 30, andAllen Raymond, 19, are still considered homicides by APD. According to police, the arrest came. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Prosecutors: Anchorage cold case murder started with gunfire, ended in The Public Defender Agencys budget, meanwhile, has grown by 9 percent in the past two years. Overwhelmingly, people were killed with guns: Gunfire was involved in all but four of the year's homicides. I don't believe it.". 2023 BBC. There wasSelena Mullenax, a young mother studying for her GEDfound shotin a public park on a winter morning. Feds: Eagle River nurse prescribed 4 million opiates in 5 years, contributed to two overdose deaths. James Dale Ritchie was a senior at East High School in 1994. What science tells us about the afterlife. 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. MacDonald, who was appointed by then-Gov. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. [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. 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. The victim has. Witnesses say she was travelling with her children. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! 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. [14], In 1984, Robert Hansen admitted that he was responsible for the victim's death. James Dale Ritchie - Wikipedia Police immediately suspected John Newman's nephew, 23-year-old Kirby Anthoney. It did not include those deaths. Videos and photos show brutal attack of woman in Anchorage hotel room "Loose lips sink ships," Markiewicz said. McKinnon pointed out that in the same year Anchorage set a homicide record, it also set a record for thenumber of touristsvisiting the city. 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. Ritchie is considered the main suspect in those killings, said Markiewicz. Smith remained in jail on Wednesday where he is being held on an outstanding warrant. LOUISIANA MAN ARRESTED IN 1989 MURDER CASE: POLICE. She has not been identified. (Bill Roth / ADN). 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. 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. 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. Anchorage police investigate a fatal shooting at the Holiday Gas Station located on Abbott Road on Wednesday evening, May 25, 2016. Legal Statement. Judges appoint public defenders for defendants who cant afford to hire their own lawyers. Little is known about Smith, the man charged. 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. Time stamps on the images at the hotel showed they were taken in the early hours of Sept. 4, the affidavit said. Published: Jul. An ongoing Daily News and ProPublica investigation has found that one in three Alaska communities has no local law enforcement of any kind. 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 domestic violence-related cases range from amother accused of suffocating her infant daughter,to a man accused of fatally shootinghis son-in-law. 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. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Witness memories fade, Skidmore said. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Her eldest daughter Chloe was killed with her. Legal Statement. Zaz Hollander is a veteran journalist based in the Mat-Su and is currently an ADN local news editor and reporter. The card was also labeled homicide at midtown Mariott. (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 . 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. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. The case marks the second killing in less than six months involving a video. 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. "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. Market data provided by Factset. Moody, the Alaska Public Defender Agency supervisor, said there are currently 11 vacant attorney positions out of 98 statewide. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News). In June, U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr declared a public safety emergency in the state, announcing $10.5 million in funding for village police, equipment and public safety buildings. 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. When troopers arrived, they found Doubek lying just inside the front door. Many of the victims were young. Together, the homicides pose a question for Anchorage: What made 2016 so deadly? The three cases police still considerunsolved are the deaths of Marcus Cosby Jr., 24, Elijah Zeller, 18, and Ian Bobich, 29. 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 motion argued that the judge misunderstood the limits on public defenders, who do not choose which charges are filed.). On Christmas Day, the people who loved Lucas Moren gathered in the alley behind the Gaslight. "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. There were no immediate details aboutthe earlierinvestigation involving Smith. 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. 32. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Brian Steven Smith during his arraignment Wednesday. 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. An affidavit filed with the criminal complaint against him details a strange chain of events that led police to a trove of gruesome videos and photos. MacDonald declined to be interviewed, saying that Walters case is still open. A man charged with murder is accused of fatally stabbing his 23-year-old daughter Friday in Anchorage's Fairview neighborhood. Around 2010, he left Alaska and spent time in Las Vegas before moving to Virginia, where his parents now live. "That's our plan to create a better police presence," McKinnon said. Hoffman was allegedly best friends with Brehmer, and she was chosen by the group as the victim, the documents say. Gov. It appeared that Smith recorded them himself, according to the affidavit. This story was produced as part of a collaboration between Alaska Public Media and the Anchorage Daily News. 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. 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. Officials said there was no indication Hoffman was sexually assaulted. 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. Jorge Rea-Villa, a handsome tattoo artist who went to a Fourth of July barbecue and ended up dead. 28, 2020 at 10:10 AM PDT. 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. 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. Alaska murder mystery twist: Memory card found along road shows man A memorial for James Lucas Moren in an alley behind the Gaslight Bar on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016. Alaska man accused of strangling captured on digital memory card Mystery over woman's murder on Alaska cruise ship - BBC News 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!" Early on Christmas Eve, James "Lucas" Moren became Anchorage homicide victimNo. 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. Armando Velador Padilla, 46, was taken into custody after the. 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. Couldnt take it anymore., A second note was found among Doubeks belongings that according to troopers, discussed possible drug dealers and that one of them was having an affair with his wife.. Without a doubt, the new director will get this order for a variety of reasons, and will be thinking about how we can do things more efficiently, Moody said. His hair was long. Throughout 2016, Ritchie murdered upwards of five individuals in and around Anchorage, Alaska, most of whom were in parks or along bike paths. 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. On the whole they are to be commended for all they do in the face of serious institutional limits, he wrote. The killings happened in nearly every corner of Anchorage: from an Eagle River apartment complex toa normally quietsouth-sidesubdivision. [2][4], Serial killer Robert Hansen admitted responsibility for Eklutna Annie's murder in 1984. According to a press release from the Alaska Department of Law, Charlie was sentenced to 75 years . In response, he chased after her, grabbed her by the hair and tripped her to the ground. 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. He also told them hehad shot another woman and revealed where he dumped her body. Mar 6th 600p DARLA Recently retired newly weds embark on their third tropical cruise in less than year. We learned sometimes the hard way in the past.". (Google). "In the fog and the white light, I saw him walking down the alley," Marcy 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.