", "Alaska State Troopers: Unidentified Body", "Serial Killer Robert Hansen Dies in Anchorage", "Serial Killer's Victim Exhumed In Alaska: Who Is 'Horseshoe Harriet'? 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. Suzi Pearson, executive director for the Abused Womens Aid in Crisis shelter in Anchorage, said the decision to split up or leave a relationship can be a particularly dangerous time in the life of a woman experiencing domestic violence. Her fiance was killed. 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. LOUISIANA MAN ARRESTED IN 1989 MURDER CASE: POLICE. Many questions remain unanswered Wednesday, including the identity of the woman. Denali Brehmer, 22, pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree murder in the June 2019 death of Cynthia Hoffman, the Alaska Department of Law said. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The death on Tuesday night triggered a lockdown of the 3,400-passenger ship. It did not include those deaths. All rights reserved. So far, nothing has been found. 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. "I'd say a great number of our citizens don't engage in any activity that's considered dangerous.". 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. He warned Metzger against scurrying around in district court, spending time on lesser felony cases instead of the homicide case, according to her motion. 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. He then attempted to placate her, before pulling a gun, saying: "You do exactly as I say and you won't get hurt. "Because of his knowledge other students identify him as a potential source of aid but may have been intimidated by his high level of self confidence," the letter said. Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com, Timothy Hoffman, right, father of slain teenager Cynthia Hoffman receives support from Edie Grunwald, left, who's son David Grunwald was murdered in Nov. 2016, as they entered a Superior courtroom for the arraignment of Cynthia's murder suspects in the Nesbett Courthouse on Tuesday, June 18, 2019 in Anchorage, Alaska. Shannon Duke. Of the 34 victims, 14 were under the age of 25. Early on Christmas Eve, James "Lucas" Moren became Anchorage homicide victimNo. Market data provided by Factset. New documents from Ritchie'stime at community collegein Virginiapresent a portrait of a striving engineering student whose work was so good that a professor wrote in a 2013 letter of recommendation that he gradedRitchie's exams first and used them as the test's key. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. He was returning to Anchorage, where he lives, Thim said. Deputy District Attorney Brittany Dunlop said the process calls for the case to be brought before a grand jury. Police continued to investigate and interviewed her two days later after Snapchat video appeared, in which she appeared to confess, the documents say. But the 2016 toll also reflects one extraordinary factor:a potential serial killer apparently targeting strangers. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Don't kill me!" 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. 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. But APD isnot ready to close the cases. More officers on the streets as with arecently addeddowntown foot patrol,members of which made an arrest in Moren's murder onChristmas Eve make streets safer. 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. Copyright 2021 KTUU. Fox News Flash top headlines for Oct. 17 are here. (Bob Hallinen / Alaska Dispatch News). 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. Ritchie was killed during a shootout with police officers in downtown Anchorage on November 12, 2016. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 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! Around 2010, he left Alaska and spent time in Las Vegas before moving to Virginia, where his parents now live. Slawomir Markiewicz, the Anchorage Police Department's top detective. 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. 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 . (Loren Holmes / Alaska Dispatch News). The Alaska teens are being represented by the public defenders office, which has a policy of not commenting on cases. "That's what's been fascinating.". Federal authorities allege Brehmer produced sexually explicit videos involving a minor and sent them to Schilmiller. She said he never exhibited any violent tendencies such as those she heard of from police. 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. Brehmer ultimately admitted to being solicited by Schilmiller to commit the murder and that the murder was planned once she realized she had been catfished by Schilmiller, the documents say. She disappeared without a trace. 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. Kristy Manzanares had been travelling with a large group, including her children, according to witnesses. At one June hearing, shortly before she resigned, the public defender noted she was working a double case load. 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. This years Iditarod field is the smallest in history. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. The woman, who has not yet been identified, is described as having long dark hair and possibly being Alaska Native. More than three dozenimages and 12 videos were stored on the card, according to the charging documents. Police have only definitively named him as the gunman in one killing, that of Treyveon Thompson on July 29. Skidmore said the number of prosecutors is rebounding following a reduction years earlier and now includes more than 120 attorneys. According to the charges, his mother called to report the attack and Walters fired a shotgun when two Village Police Officers attempted to approach him. Anchorage police identified the second victim as Veronica Abouchuk. The domestic violence-related cases range from amother accused of suffocating her infant daughter,to a man accused of fatally shootinghis son-in-law. 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. It's not that clear-cut, said McKinnon. His wife is not implicated in the slaying. Police have not yet pointed to any known motive in the cases where Ritchie is identified as a suspect. (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 . Lucas Moren himself had cleaned up the bloody scene of the machete attack on his mother. MacDonald denied the request, saying his findings are not an indictment of the Alaska Public Defender Agency nor its attorneys. 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. 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. Police had found Henrys remains on the side of a highway on Oct. 2. 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. 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. 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. She is the only victim of Robert Hansen to remain unidentified. Authorities were expected to announce charges on the case on Thursday. Troopers arrived hours later and interviewed Walters, who admitted to beating Queenie, his 22-year-old girlfriend, with his fists and a broom handle. MacDonald, who was appointed by then-Gov. 2023 BBC. At the sentencing hearing, the State presented video . Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. TENNESSEE COLLEGE STUDENT ACCUSED OF FATAL SHOOTING IN DORM. Born in Montana but raised in Alaska, Duke married, raised three children and worked jobs including as a teacher's aide. ", Autumn Smith. 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. In that case, her father was charged with the killing. According to Hansen, Eklutna Annie had been wearing blue jeans, a sweater, and a brown leather jacket. I don't believe it.". The department is also trying to directly ask the public for help more often. The Emerald Princess, operated by Princess Cruises, had departed from Seattle on Sunday for a week-long trip. / 61.1254; -149.5234. "Is it a greater population? What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? Police said they will release the name of the deceased woman once her identity is confirmed and family is notified. 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. 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. Police said the body was found near milepost 108 of Seward Highway on Oct. 2. The . 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. The card was also labeled homicide at midtown Mariott. 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. He worked in construction and kitchens, said Marcy, a paralegal. She was aged between 16 and 25 at the time of her death, and her body was discovered several months after her murder. Mike Dunleavy named Steiners replacement Tuesday: Samantha Cherot of Anchorage, who has worked both as a public defender and a private criminal defense and family attorney. 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 caller told police the memory card had been found laying in the middle of the street of an Anchorage neighborhood. The year'shomicides include at least seven domestic violence killings, where the victim is believed to have beenslain by an intimate partner or someone in their immediate family. A woman in Alaska was walking her dog when a moose charged her from behind and kicked her in the head, according to shocking video captured by a bystander. Then, on Wednesday, Oct. 2, the womans body was found along Turnagain Arm, near the Rainbow trailhead. Police were able to identify Smith, a native of South Africa, from the video after recognizing him from a separate, unspecified investigation, in part because of his accent. 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. He isnow charged with murder. Smith appeared in court Wednesday, where a judge said he'd be appointed a public defender. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Could a bigger prize and more races boost interest? This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Brehmer agreed to commit the murder for him.. But detectives had gotten video of the homicide days prior to finding the victims body, police said. Schauer shot Moren several times, police say, though they have not said why. MacDonald declined to be interviewed, saying that Walters case is still open. 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. APD asked morning commuters to avoid the area. "She championed any child. Thim said the arrest hinged on two aspects of the investigation: the citizen who chose to call police when they found that card, and the coordination between law enforcement agencies handling the separate cases of the videos and the body. 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. Smith was taken into custody on an arrest warrant for first-degree murder Tuesday afternoon at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, police said in an online release announcing the arrest Wednesday. Or are people just angrier?" He moved back to Alaska in the spring of 2016. Ritchie is considered the main suspect in those killings, said Markiewicz. The show Very Scary People profiled Robert Hansen in "The Butcher Baker". She said she was not a police officer in the village at the time of the killing. "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. 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. 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. "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. Human remains found along Seward Highway near Rainbow trailhead. Marcy keeps running over the questions in her mind: Why is this happening in Anchorage? data the agency has presented to the Legislature. "In the fog and the white light, I saw him walking down the alley," Marcy said. Published: Jul. He was unable to "remember whether she was a prostitute or [a] dancer", although he did state he believed she was from Kodiak, Alaska. 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. 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. Her body was found along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage on Oct. 2. 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. "Same exactly happens to homicide cases. [9] A box of Salem matches were found in a pocket of her jacket, indicating she may have been a smoker. An Alaskan murder mystery has been solved thanks to a SD card found laying in the street. Schilmiller admitted to federal agents and Indiana State Police his role in the plot, saying he chose Hoffman as the victim and he told Brehmer to kill her, according to the court documents. APDsays when Moren left the Gaslight Lounge later that night,he was followedby Roy Schauer, 46. Princess Cruises said 39-year-old Kristy Manzanares of Utah. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Reporter Jeff Parrott contributed to this story. Two days later, both Brehmer and McIntosh were interviewed. All rights reserved. An economic thing happening? Legal Statement. Read about our approach to external linking. 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. The majority of victims were killed by someone they knew. ' said APD communications director MJ Thim. In January 2013, an associate professor wrote a letter of recommendation for Ritchie, who was apparently applying for an internship. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Many of the victims were young. The State Medical Examiner Office is working to confirm her identity and manner of death. McIntosh was arrested, but Brehmer denied any involvement in the death. 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. They are unwilling to share details of crimes in which charges have not been filed. 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. 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. Time stamps on the images at the hotel showed they were taken in the early hours of Sept. 4, the affidavit said. Police say the majority of the deaths fall into the same tragic but predictable circumstances that thread through homicides every year: domestic violence, personal disputes escalated by a weapon, robberies gone bad. has been charged with first- and second-degree murder, and was taken to Anchorage Jail. 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. Our salaries up here used to be the draw, an attorney for the agency said. The case marks the second killing in less than six months involving a video. Brian . Contact her at zhollander@adn.com. 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. Born in Montana but raised in Alaska, Duke married, raised three children and worked jobs including as a teachers aide. die.". Online court records did not list an attorney for Schilmiller. Legal Statement. 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. She covers breaking news, the Mat-Su region, aviation and general assignments. 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. According to court documents, Denali Brehmer, 18, confessed to killing Cynthia Hoffman on June 2 at the . 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. Days later, on Oct. 2, police officers found human remains on the side of a highway. We still dont know who she is and we dont know much about her," said Thim. 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. Her eldest daughter Chloe was killed with her. In September 2020, a revised facial reconstruction of the victim was released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Other witnesses described seeing a bloody man threatening to jump off the ship. Legal Statement. The FBI is investigating the death because it occurred in US waters. This years Iditarod field is the smallest in history. James Dale Ritchie was a senior at East High School in 1994. 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. In some villages, city and tribal leaders say they have no choice but to hire convicted criminals as cops. Published: Jan. 27, 2022 at 4:27 PM PST. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. In court Wednesday, Smith appeared in handcuffs, wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit. 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.