During the initial 911 call, Doubek reportedly had slurred, garbled speech and admitted to shooting his wife, according to the affidavit. "What we're seeing is that when we ask the community for assistance, they really respond to us," he said. Passengers describe learning woman died aboard Alaska cruise ship All rights reserved. All rights reserved. (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News). James Dale Ritchie - Wikipedia (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News via AP), Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Witness memories fade, Skidmore said. Theres a new fight over Bering Sea black cod. Her fiance was killed. The final images on the card show the womans body face down in the bed of a pickup, and were time-stamped Sept. 6. Months before the alleged hit . Police had found Henrys remains on the side of a highway on Oct. 2. 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. 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.. Shannon Duke. Brehmer and McIntosh used Leylands pickup on June 2 to take Hoffman on a hike at Thunderbird Falls, a popular location about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Anchorage. [sic] A manwith some sort of English accent can be heard in the video as well. More than three dozenimages and 12 videos were stored on the card, according to the charging documents. 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. According to Hansen, he persuaded Eklutna Annie to help him winch his pickup free from the mud, although when he began to drive his vehicle free, Eklutna Annie attempted to run. A man charged with murder is accused of fatally stabbing his 23-year-old daughter Friday in Anchorage's Fairview neighborhood. Detectives arrested Smith at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to APD. But the 2016 toll also reflects one extraordinary factor:a potential serial killer apparently targeting strangers. 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. [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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Her eldest daughter Chloe was killed with her. Sarah Palin in 2007, admonished public defenders for specific professional failures in their handling of Walters case. 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. Market data provided by Factset. He has since been released, now in the custody of authorities, and is charged with first- and second-degree murder. Anna Bill, a former Mountain Village police officer honored by the Alaska Federation of Natives for her advocacy on behalf of Alaska Native women and children, said the homicide was devastating for the victims family. ThatFriday, she dropped him off for an evening out downtown. On Sept. 30, someone called Anchorage police claiming to have found an SD card containing video of a homicide. Cruise Ship Killers | True Crime Network Man accused of killing woman, recording it is charged in 2nd Alaska murder The year's final tally surpasses even the 29 deathsthat occurred in 1995, at the time attributed by officials to gang and drug activity. What science tells us about the afterlife. [Here are the most-read Alaska Dispatch News stories of 2016]. Her body was found along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage on Oct. 2. She was aged between 16 and 25 at the time of her death, and her body was discovered several months after her murder. Published: Jul. His wife is not implicated in the slaying. Last week, 23-year-old Darla Velador of Anchorage was stabbed to death. "That's what's been fascinating.". He worked in construction and kitchens, said Marcy, a paralegal. 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. 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. They were all going to spend Christmas together the next day. 2022 Anchorage Daily News. At 41, he was a bachelor. APD officer Arn Salao was wounded and the suspect, James Dale Ritchie, was killed in the early-morning shootout. Copyright 2021 KTUU. The Alaska Public Defender Agencys longtime director, Quinlan Steiner, announced his resignation in April. 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.. He has not yet entered a plea. "I'd say a great number of our citizens don't engage in any activity that's considered dangerous.". Anchorage police: Homicide video victim - Alaska Public Media "That's our plan to create a better police presence," McKinnon said. 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. Parents would be wise to monitor the activity of their children online.. 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. Making the decision to leave, to start the processes for divorce or anything like that, that definitely would escalate the situation and increase lethality for that victim, Pearson said. Veronica Abouchuck, left, and Kathleen Henry. 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. He stepped out of the car and said goodbye to his mom and Marcy. "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. Alaska woman pleads guilty to killing 'best friend' after man catfished Denali Brehmer, 22, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the June 2019 death of Cynthia Hoffman, the Alaska Department of Law said. Such delays typically benefit defendants and make it harder for prosecutors to secure convictions, said Alaska Deputy Attorney General John Skidmore. In response, he chased after her, grabbed her by the hair and tripped her to the ground. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Authorities were expected to announce charges on the case on Thursday. An Alaskan murder mystery has been solved thanks to a SD card found laying in the street. 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. she said. APD provided a recent photograph of Ritchie. There has been some suggestion by family members out-of-state that he had recently showed signs of mental illness, McKinnon confirmed, but added, "I don't think we have any concrete evidence to support that.". Digital evidence and statements show Brehmer was communicating with and sending videos and/or photographs of the events surrounding the incident to Schilmiller at his directive through the duration of the event, documents say. 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. Human remains found along Seward Highway near Rainbow trailhead. Anchorage police identified thesecond victim as Veronica Abouchuk. In the Lower 48, gangs are more organized and act as outside-the-law businesses, pushing drugs and weapons in defined territories. 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 . 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. The organization had previously released a digital reconstruction, and a clay bust of Eklutna Annie had also been created in the past. Police said the body was found near milepost 108 of Seward Highway on Oct. 2. 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. MacDonald, who was appointed by then-Gov. Together, the homicides pose a question for Anchorage: What made 2016 so deadly? MacDonald serves as the presiding judge for the Fairbanks-based Fourth Judicial District. The Newman Family Murders. Who brutally assaulted and killed Nancy [16], Hansen was sentenced to 461 years in prison without the possibility of parole for her murder and three others. But detectives had gotten video of the homicide days prior to finding the victims body, police said. 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. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Her family was not contacted and her items were removed from her cabin. Gardner was shot four times, according to the charging documents. (In addition to the 75 criminal attorneys, about 25 more work on appeals and childrens cases.) Kyle Hopkins and Nat Herz, Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. Police do not believe Ritchie was involved with any otherunsolved slayingsin 2016. Could a bigger prize and more races boost interest? He told Anchorage District Court Judge Brian Clark that he had about $2,000 in total saved. All rights reserved. Doubek did not attend his scheduled arraignment Thursday. "We haven't found evidence that anyone other than Ritchie is involved.". In February 2017, 37-year-old Brandy Sullivan, an Alaska Airlines customer-service agent who lived in an upscale Anchorage suburb, was allegedly shot and killed by her estranged husband.. Warming water may be to blame. McIntosh, who is being tried as an adult in the case, was the gunman, prosecutors say. Prosecutors: Anchorage cold case murder started with gunfire, ended in But I feel that in the air.". Time stamps on the images at the hotel showed they were taken in the early hours of Sept. 4, the affidavit said. Rodgers went on to kill another man in Anchorage and shoot two others who survived before his 26-hour rampage ended. [5][3], This unidentified decedent became known as Eklutna Annie due to the location in which her body was discovered. Published: Jan. 27, 2022 at 4:27 PM PST. 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.