Anchorage Police Department personnelwere investigating a fatal shooting near 15th Avenue and E Street early Sept. 13, 2016. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. (Erik Hill / Alaska Dispatch News). He told Anchorage District Court Judge Brian Clark that he had about $2,000 in total saved. 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. Police do not believe Ritchie was involved with any otherunsolved slayingsin 2016. All but one of the victims in those cases were female. They are unwilling to share details of crimes in which charges have not been filed. 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. "What we're seeing is that when we ask the community for assistance, they really respond to us," he said. High winds cause damage, power outages across central Indiana . 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. 28, 2020 at 10:10 AM PDT. 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. 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. McKinnon pointed out that in the same year Anchorage set a homicide record, it also set a record for thenumber of touristsvisiting the city. 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. 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. The womans body was found last week along the Seward Highway south of the city. (Obituary photo). [5][3], This unidentified decedent became known as Eklutna Annie due to the location in which her body was discovered. Witness memories fade, Skidmore 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. Legal Statement. 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. All rights reserved. Two days later, both Brehmer and McIntosh were interviewed. 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. All rights reserved. Her eldest daughter Chloe was killed with her. Gardner was shot four times, according to the charging documents. Incident happened aboard the Emerald Princess cruise ship (file picture), Harry: I always felt different to rest of family, Inside the enclave surrounded by pro-Russia forces, US-made cheese can be called 'gruyere' - court, Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, Canadian grandma helps police snag phone scammer. An earlier version of the chart in this story incorrectly stated that it included fatal officer-involved shootings and justifiable homicides. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. 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. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Zaz Hollander is a veteran journalist based in the Mat-Su and is currently an ADN local news editor and reporter. When troopers arrived, they found Doubek lying just inside the front door. 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. 2023 BBC. She deserves just as much as a search for her people as any other victim, as any other survivor. 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. Sarah Palin in 2007, admonished public defenders for specific professional failures in their handling of Walters case. For many, it was the year the city's violence hit home,even if they didn't personally know any of the victims. She has not been identified. He also told them hehad shot another woman and revealed where he dumped her body. More than three dozenimages and 12 videos were stored on the card, according to the charging documents. Detectives saythey have a "good understanding" of what happened and who was involved in each of those cases. 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. A man charged with murder is accused of fatally stabbing his 23-year-old daughter Friday in Anchorage's Fairview neighborhood. The memory card was labeled "homicide at midtown Marriott" and contained 39 images and 12 videos of an assault and murder. Hoffman, 19, died from a gunshot wound to the. Police continued to investigate and interviewed her two days later after Snapchat video appeared, in which she appeared to confess, the documents say. Delay is always the friend of the defense because it makes it harder for prosecutors to put on their case.. The Anchorage Police Department has identified the victim as Kathleen J. Henry, 30, according to a statement released Thursday afternoon. He worked in construction and kitchens, said Marcy, a paralegal. In court Wednesday, Smith appeared in handcuffs, wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit. He has since been released, now in the custody of authorities, and is charged with first- and second-degree murder. (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. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster gave invocation at Kenai Assembly meeting, Even more cruise ships are coming to Alaska in 2020. April 23, 2021. 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. The show Very Scary People profiled Robert Hansen in "The Butcher Baker". 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. In response, he chased after her, grabbed her by the hair and tripped her to the ground. 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.. 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! 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. An autopsy report concluded that she had been killed by a single stab wound to the back. Police point at recent hiring of new officers as an effort to make the city safer. Or are people just angrier?" When a composite sketch of the man suspected in the death of TreyveonThompson was released, more than 190 people called in tips, McKinnon said. Market data provided by Factset. 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. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. [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. The card was also labeled homicide at midtown Mariott. Fox News Flash top headlines for Oct. 17 are here. And they say despite the number of killings, suspects are at large in very few of the cases. 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. 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. Smith remained in jail on Wednesday where he is being held on an outstanding warrant. 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. [8] He died in prison in August 2014. 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. 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. He warned Metzger against scurrying around in district court, spending time on lesser felony cases instead of the homicide case, according to her motion. They were all going to spend Christmas together the next day. On Thursday, a grand jury indicted Smith onmurder and evidence tampering charges in Abouchuk's death. But I feel that in the air.". 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. Contact her at zhollander@adn.com. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. 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. Last week, 23-year-old Darla Velador of Anchorage was stabbed to death. 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. Alaska emergency officials issued an AMBER Alert for 8-month-old boy Ahmiri Chaney on Feb. 17, 2023. . Cynthia Hoffman. 32. "James recognized the potential issue and has appropriate (sic) adjusted his behavior to make himself more inviting for others to seek help. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 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. A 22-year-old Alaska woman pleaded guilty to murdering her 19-year-old "best friend" in 2019 after a man who was allegedly catfishing her offered her $9 million to kill someone. 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. 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. "I'd say a great number of our citizens don't engage in any activity that's considered dangerous.". Her body was found along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage on Oct. 2. Other images showed the woman covered in a white sheet, being moved through a parking lot to a truck. While the agencys inflation-adjusted spending has doubled in the past 30 years, its felony caseload has tripled, it says. 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. On Christmas Day, the people who loved Lucas Moren gathered in the alley behind the Gaslight. Police said they will release the name of the deceased woman once her identity is confirmed and family is notified. He stepped out of the car and said goodbye to his mom and Marcy. 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. There were no immediate details aboutthe earlierinvestigation involving Smith. Lucas Moren himself had cleaned up the bloody scene of the machete attack on his mother. At one point, the agencys seven-attorney Bethel office was down to three, he said. Brian . ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Content Warning: This article contains information that might be difficult for some readers. 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? 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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. Marcy keeps running over the questions in her mind: Why is this happening in Anchorage? Judges appoint public defenders for defendants who cant afford to hire their own lawyers. The memory card found along road shows an Anchorage man assaulting and killing woman. The race is on: What to know about the 2023 Iditarod, No injuries in downtown Anchorage commercial building collapse. 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. 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. At 41, he was a bachelor. The Department of Law asked that Smith'sbond be set at $2 million. has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, and was taken to Anchorage Jail. [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. "She sounded pretty desperate, but the crew came up as quickly as they could", he said, adding that the incident occurred on the 9th floor of the 19-deck ship. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News). Gardner slept upstairs. Detectives knew almost immediately that something was wrong, that someones loved one was killed when they found her remains, he said. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. 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. For all the good the internet can do, it can be a very dark place, Bryan Schroder, the U.S. attorney in Alaska, said at a news conference Tuesday. "He had a leather jacket on and blue jeans, with a hoodie. He had started Friday night with two of the people closest to him: family friend Ronda Marcy and his mother, Elann "Lennie" Moren. [10], As Eklutna Annie struggled against his efforts to overpower her, she had screamed, "Don't kill me! We learned sometimes the hard way in the past.". Contact her at mtheriault@adn.com. What science tells us about the afterlife. "She championed any child. Upon examining the card, police said it"contained several videos which appeared to show the assault and subsequent homicide of an adult female" and an investigation was opened. Online court records did not list an attorney for Schilmiller. Months before the alleged hit . She was aged between 16 and 25 at the time of her death, and her body was discovered several months after her murder. If you or someone you know is struggling with a substance use disorder, help is available. 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. Rodgers went on to kill another man in Anchorage and shoot two others who survived before his 26-hour rampage ended. The death on Tuesday night triggered a lockdown of the 3,400-passenger ship. The caller told police the memory card had been found laying in the middle of the street of an Anchorage neighborhood. 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. 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. A corrections officer told the court Doubek was on suicide protocols and unable to participate.
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