The killings happened in nearly every corner of Anchorage: from an Eagle River apartment complex toa normally quietsouth-sidesubdivision. Police have not identified the victim, who is said to have been killed during the first week of September. The Alaska teens are being represented by the public defenders office, which has a policy of not commenting on cases. 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. "That tells us other people believe it is a good place," he said. This story was produced as part of a collaboration between Alaska Public Media and the Anchorage Daily News. After Mr. Mackay and the pilot's sister, Muriel . At the sentencing hearing, the State presented video . 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. She covers breaking news, the Mat-Su region, aviation and general assignments. 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. He was unable to "remember whether she was a prostitute or [a] dancer", although he did state he believed she was from Kodiak, Alaska. Her family was not contacted and her items were removed from her cabin. 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.. TODAY - Anna Kaplan 18h. A Wasilla woman was shot four times at home Sunday night and her husband is charged with her murder, according to Alaska State Troopers. She championed any child she met that needed a second chance for success, her obituary said. 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. Each of the three men died from gunshot wounds. In court Wednesday, Smith appeared in handcuffs, wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Kyle Hopkins and Nat Herz, Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. She was aged between 16 and 25 at the time of her death, and her body was discovered several months after her murder. MacDonald, who was appointed by then-Gov. Catfishing is when a person creates a fake identity on a social network account to deceive a specific victim. 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. APDsays when Moren left the Gaslight Lounge later that night,he was followedby Roy Schauer, 46. 2023 BBC. Smith is charged with first-degree murder. [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]. 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. According to court documents, Denali Brehmer, 18, confessed to killing Cynthia Hoffman on June 2 at the . [2][4], Serial killer Robert Hansen admitted responsibility for Eklutna Annie's murder in 1984. I'll stand behind him, beside him, while he's going through this," Bissland added. According to police, the arrest came. They were all going to spend Christmas together the next day. 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. An ongoing Daily News and ProPublica investigation has found that one in three Alaska communities has no local law enforcement of any kind. According to a press release from the Alaska Department of Law, Charlie was sentenced to 75 years . 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. We still dont know who she is and we dont know much about her," said Thim. A millionaire widower and her teenaged daughter take a fivestar cruise together. 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. Alaska Public Media 2022. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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. Don't kill me!" (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen). 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. The Anchorage office is expected to open on August 27. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 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. That puts APD at a more than 90 percent "clearance" rate for homicide cases. But the 2016 toll also reflects one extraordinary factor:a potential serial killer apparently targeting strangers. 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. Thursday evening Live Doppler 13 forecast - Feb. 9, 2023. ", "Alaska State Troopers: Unidentified Body", "Serial Killer Robert Hansen Dies in Anchorage", "Serial Killer's Victim Exhumed In Alaska: Who Is 'Horseshoe Harriet'? 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. According to the affidavit, the couple had separate bedrooms. A Snapchat video showed two of the teens accused of killing 19-year-old Cynthia Hoffman near the Thunderbird Falls trailhead in June apparently discussing the crime. Brehmer agreed to commit the murder for him.. 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. Her fiance was killed. He had started Friday night with two of the people closest to him: family friend Ronda Marcy and his mother, Elann "Lennie" Moren. 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. He worked in construction and kitchens, said Marcy, a paralegal. Do you know this baby? Anchorage man sentenced to 55 years in prison for murder of Alaska Zoo When is Eurovision and how do you get tickets? Brian . 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. Market data provided by Factset. 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. An economic thing happening? Passengers told CBS News that a "murder mystery" theme dinner had been taking place when the incident occurred, and several passengers first confused the crime for a hoax. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) The Iditarod, the world's most famous sled dog race, starts Saturday with a fan-friendly ceremonial run through the streets of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city. She has not been identified. data the agency has presented to the Legislature. Anchorage police investigate a fatal shooting at the Holiday Gas Station located on Abbott Road on Wednesday evening, May 25, 2016. Anchorage police identified the second victim as Veronica Abouchuk. 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. Doug Moody, a supervisor at the Public Defender Agency, said in a phone interview Tuesday that Cherot will be reviewing MacDonalds critique. 2019, on charges of murder in Anchorage, Alaska. I was the only one there, I did that, I killed her, he told investigators, according to the charges. Paula Zorawski,answered her front dooronly to be shot in the face by people, Anchorage police believe, were hoping to rob her son of marijuana. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 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. Warming water may be to blame. Ritchie was killed during a shootout with police officers in downtown Anchorage on November 12, 2016. Its just really incredibly disheartening, Pearson said. Alaska Native Man's Unsolved Murder Part of 'Epidemic' According to Hansen, Eklutna Annie had been wearing blue jeans, a sweater, and a brown leather jacket. She disappeared without a trace. But a bail memorandum filed in the case . Mar 6th 600p DARLA Recently retired newly weds embark on their third tropical cruise in less than year. Slawomir Markiewicz, the Anchorage Police Department's top detective. Smith came to Alaska from South Africa about five years ago and became a naturalized U.S. citizen last month, according to the bail memo. 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. Hoffman, 19, died from a gunshot wound to the. The next year,that number nearly doubled, to 25. CALIFORNIA MAN SENTENCED AFTER FORMER ROOMMATE FOUND DEAD, BLUDGEONED INSIDE WALL. 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. Homicide detectives began combing through the 39 images and 12 videos on the card, all documenting a horrifying scene of violence against an unknown woman. Prosecutors: Anchorage cold case murder started with gunfire, ended in 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. APD asked morning commuters to avoid the area. 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. On Sept. 30, someone called Anchorage police claiming to have found an SD card containing video of a homicide. Press Release - Anchorage Man Sentenced to Ninty-Nine Years - Alaska In a lot of ways I think it is generational," McKinnon said. Here, "it's more groups of people who know each other and engage in high-risk behavior together," he said. The FBI is investigating the death because it occurred in US waters. 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. 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. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Skidmore said the number of prosecutors is rebounding following a reduction years earlier and now includes more than 120 attorneys. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. ", "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. On the whole they are to be commended for all they do in the face of serious institutional limits, he wrote. 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. Ian Bobich, 29, was found shot to death outside this Elm Street apartment building just before midnight Monday, Oct. 24, 2016, on Government Hill. Hoffman was allegedly best friends with Brehmer, and she was chosen by the group as the victim, the documents say. 1 language. Police do not believe Ritchie was involved with any otherunsolved slayingsin 2016. Other images showed the woman covered in a white sheet, being moved through a parking lot to a truck. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Her body was found along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage on Oct. 2. Read about our approach to external linking. [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. 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. All rights reserved. Authorities were expected to announce charges on the case on Thursday. [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 2011 and 2012, Ritchie was named to the President's List at Blue Mountain Community College in Weyers Cave, in western Virginia, according to school documents obtained by Alaska Dispatch News. There were no immediate details aboutthe earlierinvestigation involving Smith. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. APD provided a recent photograph of Ritchie. die.". 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. In an unusual order, an Alaska judge has declared a crisis in the states courts, saying that turnover among public defenders is delaying criminal trials and denying justice for victims and defendants alike. Born in Montana but raised in Alaska, Duke married, raised three children and worked jobs including as a teachers aide. McKinnon pointed out that in the same year Anchorage set a homicide record, it also set a record for thenumber of touristsvisiting the city. The Newman Family Murders. Who brutally assaulted and killed Nancy 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. But I feel that in the air.". Igou pleaded guilty on November 5, 2020 to the September 10, 2017 murder of Aurora Paint Company co-owner Gregory Gill. McIntosh, who is being tried as an adult in the case, was the gunman, prosecutors say. Smith remained in jail on Wednesday where he is being held on an outstanding warrant. Nationally, the homicide clearance rate hovers around 64 percent, according to statistics from the FBI. Of the 34 victims, 14 were under the age of 25. Lucas Moren himself had cleaned up the bloody scene of the machete attack on his mother. Brian Steven Smith, a 48-year-old reportedly from South Africa, was arrested at Ted Stevens International Airport after investigators linked him to the crime. Around 2010, he left Alaska and spent time in Las Vegas before moving to Virginia, where his parents now live. Veronica Abouchuck, left, and Kathleen Henry. But they are working to build a case meeting the evidence threshold that would allow for prosecution, Markiewicz said. Together, the homicides pose a question for Anchorage: What made 2016 so deadly? ThatFriday, she dropped him off for an evening out downtown. His wife is not implicated in the slaying. 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. Troopers: Wasilla woman killed, husband charged with her murder With the SD card, one of the first questions that detectives had to answer was, Was this staged, or did this really happen? The Emerald Princess, operated by Princess Cruises, had departed from Seattle on Sunday for a week-long trip. Authorities who have reviewed the videos and photos said they remembered Smith from another investigationand found he was registered in early September to a room at a local hotel that has carpet that matches the one seen in the footage. (Loren Holmes / ADN). 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. (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. The group met to decide how they would divvy up the money. Anchorage Police Department personnelwere investigating a fatal shooting near 15th Avenue and E Street early Sept. 13, 2016. On that day, close to midnight, 48-year-old Charles Doubek called 911 and told dispatchers his wife had been shot, according to a version of events relayed in an affidavit by Alaska State Trooper investigator Jason Fieser. 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. "James recognized the potential issue and has appropriate (sic) adjusted his behavior to make himself more inviting for others to seek help. Alaska Public Media 2022. 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 . 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. 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. [14], In 1984, Robert Hansen admitted that he was responsible for the victim's death. Alaska Teen Killed Friend After Man Online Allegedly Offered $9M 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.". Alaska teens charged in 'murder for millions' slaying | AP News A memorial for James Lucas Moren in an alley behind the Gaslight Bar on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016. 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.