"In the fog and the white light, I saw him walking down the alley," Marcy said. 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. When troopers arrived, they found Doubek lying just inside the front door. 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! Police have only definitively named him as the gunman in one killing, that of Treyveon Thompson on July 29. 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. Denali Brehmer, 22, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the June 2019 death of Cynthia Hoffman, the Alaska Department of Law said. TENNESSEE COLLEGE STUDENT ACCUSED OF FATAL SHOOTING IN DORM. Smith had registered a room at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott the night the video was taken, according to the affidavit. She said she was not a police officer in the village at the time of the killing. "Same exactly happens to homicide cases. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. [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! Sarah Palin in 2007, admonished public defenders for specific professional failures in their handling of Walters case. LOUISIANA MAN ARRESTED IN 1989 MURDER CASE: POLICE. 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. Anchorage police investigate a fatal shooting at the Holiday Gas Station located on Abbott Road on Wednesday evening, May 25, 2016. Zaz Hollander is a veteran journalist based in the Mat-Su and is currently an ADN local news editor and reporter. He always committed his murders at night, often around midnight or a short time after. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. [7] He further recollected: "I picked her up downtown and told her I was going to take her to my home". 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. Alaska emergency officials issued an AMBER Alert for 8-month-old boy Ahmiri Chaney on Feb. 17, 2023. . ", Autumn Smith. It had 39 images and 12 videos that recorded the alleged crime. 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. Some people have speculated gangs are to blame for the bloodshed. 1 language. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! The graphic videos show a woman being strangled and a mans voice saying justdie, the Associated Press reported. 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.". 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. (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. Princess Cruises said 39-year-old Kristy Manzanares of Utah. The memory card was labeled "homicide at midtown Marriott" and contained 39 images and 12 videos of an assault and murder. Time stamps on the images at the hotel showed they were taken in the early hours of Sept. 4, the affidavit said. She championed any child she met that needed a second chance for success, her obituary said. Advocate for missing and murdered women, reflecting on the ongoing efforts to identify Eklutna Annie[18], Eklutna Annie remains unidentified. The . 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. 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. (Scott Jensen / Alaska Dispatch News). I said to his mother how cool he looked like a prizefighter about to enter the arena.". TODAY - Anna Kaplan 18h. 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. In 2004 a 40-year-old lady named Merrian was taking a cruise to Alaska on board the Celebrity Mercury. On the whole they are to be commended for all they do in the face of serious institutional limits, he wrote. [9] A box of Salem matches were found in a pocket of her jacket, indicating she may have been a smoker. Warming water may be to blame. 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. 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. The Alaska Public Defender Agencys longtime director, Quinlan Steiner, announced his resignation in April. 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. 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. Just two years ago, in 2014, Anchorage ended the year with 13 homicides on the books the lowest in two decades. Brian Steven Smith during his arraignment Wednesday. 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. Fiesers account supports a complaint filed by prosecutors charging Doubek with the murder of his wife, 54-year-old Marjorie Gardner. This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 21:52. The domestic violence-related cases range from amother accused of suffocating her infant daughter,to a man accused of fatally shootinghis son-in-law. He had started Friday night with two of the people closest to him: family friend Ronda Marcy and his mother, Elann "Lennie" Moren. 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. ", "Alaska State Troopers: Unidentified Body", "Serial Killer Robert Hansen Dies in Anchorage", "Serial Killer's Victim Exhumed In Alaska: Who Is 'Horseshoe Harriet'? Two days later, both Brehmer and McIntosh were interviewed. [9][12] She stood between 4 ft 11 in and 5 ft 3 in, and her hair color ranged from light brown to strawberry-blond. "Why life seems harder, why things seem scarier why is that? But they are working to build a case meeting the evidence threshold that would allow for prosecution, Markiewicz said. Alaska Public Media 2022. [8] He died in prison in August 2014. "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. data the agency has presented to the Legislature. Last week, 23-year-old Darla Velador of Anchorage was stabbed to death. 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. We learned sometimes the hard way in the past.". 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 caller told police the memory card had been found laying in the middle of the street of an Anchorage neighborhood. Market data provided by Factset. Her body was found along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage on Oct. 2. Each of the three men died from gunshot wounds. But detectives had gotten video of the homicide days prior to finding the victims body, police said. Doubek slept downstairs. APD officer Arn Salao was wounded and the suspect, James Dale Ritchie, was killed in the early-morning shootout. 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. According to online court records, no new trial date has been set in the killing of Gertrude Queenie. Ian Bobich, 29, was found shot to death outside this Elm Street apartment building just before midnight Monday, Oct. 24, 2016, on Government Hill. 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. All rights reserved. "One of the little girls from that room came running out, calling for help, that her parents had been in a fight," one passenger told CBS News. One man, James Dale Ritchie, is the prime suspect in five deaths. 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. Skidmore said the number of prosecutors is rebounding following a reduction years earlier and now includes more than 120 attorneys. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. The three cases police still considerunsolved are the deaths of Marcus Cosby Jr., 24, Elijah Zeller, 18, and Ian Bobich, 29. Smith remained in jail on Wednesday where he is being held on an outstanding warrant. CLICK TO VISIT THE ALL-NEW FOXBUSINESS.COM. Smith is originally from South Africa. Nine months and a long Arctic winter have come and gone since the abduction, sexual assault and murder of 10-year-old Ashley Johnson-Barr in the northwest Alaska hub community of Kotzebue.. Signs . (Obituary photo). The SD card was labeled Homicide at midtown Marriott, according to the affidavit. Throughout 2016, Ritchie murdered upwards of five individuals in and around Anchorage, Alaska, most of whom were in parks or along bike paths. 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. MacDonald declined to be interviewed, saying that Walters case is still open. It's not that clear-cut, said McKinnon. Smith appeared in court Wednesday, where a judge said he'd be appointed a public defender. (Erik Hill / 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. Ritchie was killed during a shootout with police officers in downtown Anchorage on November 12, 2016. (In addition to the 75 criminal attorneys, about 25 more work on appeals and childrens cases.) "What we're seeing is that when we ask the community for assistance, they really respond to us," he said. 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. [sic] A manwith some sort of English accent can be heard in the video as well. Her family was not contacted and her items were removed from her cabin. 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. The memory card found along road shows an Anchorage man assaulting and killing woman. [14], In 1984, Robert Hansen admitted that he was responsible for the victim's death. What science tells us about the afterlife. More than three dozenimages and 12 videos were stored on the card, according to the charging documents. 28, 2020 at 10:10 AM PDT. In the years since, he'd helped her live with lasting injuries. 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. He also told them hehad shot another woman and revealed where he dumped her body. 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. But the 2016 toll also reflects one extraordinary factor:a potential serial killer apparently targeting strangers. He was unable to "remember whether she was a prostitute or [a] dancer", although he did state he believed she was from Kodiak, Alaska. On Sept. 30, someone called Anchorage police claiming to have found an SD card containing video of a homicide. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News). ", "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. 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.. Around 2010, he left Alaska and spent time in Las Vegas before moving to Virginia, where his parents now live. Brian Steven Smith is arraigned Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 on a charge of first-degree murder at the Anchorage Jail courtroom. The race is on: What to know about the 2023 Iditarod, No injuries in downtown Anchorage commercial building collapse. 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. According to police, the arrest came after someone reported finding a digital storage device containing video of the killing. 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. 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. The callertold police the memory card was found layingin the middle of the street in the Fairview neighborhood of Anchorage. Judges appoint public defenders for defendants who cant afford to hire their own lawyers. 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. Hansen specifically stated she was his first murder victim. Police have not yet pointed to any known motive in the cases where Ritchie is identified as a suspect. Read about our approach to external linking. This years Iditarod field is the smallest in history. I was the only one there, I did that, I killed her, he told investigators, according to the charges. Police and a crime scene investigation unit spent much of Tuesday afternoon and evening at the home where Smith lived with his wife, hauling away a black pickup, neighbors said. At 41, he was a bachelor. 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. 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. 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. There were no immediate details aboutthe earlierinvestigation involving Smith. 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. She had hit the wall, an acting supervisor later told the judge. 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. The millionaire's only demand for the payout was either . But APD isnot ready to close the cases. The womans body was found last week along the Seward Highway south of the city. 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.