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In the early morning hours of Monday, April 26, 1993, someone brutally raped, stabbed and shot Sophie Sergie in a college dorm on the University of Alaska campus in Fairbanks. Several hours later, a janitor discovered Sophie’s body stuffed in a bathtub in a second-floor bathroom in the dorm. No one saw or heard anything. Sophie’s case soon went cold and remained cold for the next 18 years. Would her murder ever be solved? 
Sources:
Alaska Department of Public Safety, State Troopers: Alaska Bureau of Investigation. “Cold Case Investigation Unit.” n.d. https://dps.alaska.
gov/ast/abi/cold case
Associated Press. “AST cold-case unit faces elimination.” April 10, 2015. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Bohman, Amanda. “New theory revives old murder case.” April 25, 2009. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Farneski, Anna. “Sergie was target of opportunity.” May 8, 1993. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Farneski, Anna. “While troopers hunt Sophie’s killer, family tries to cope.” July 8, 1993. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
Nolan, Caitlin. “Genealogy DNA leads to arrest in 1993 murder of Alaska student found dead in dorm bathtub.” February 18, 2019. Inside Edition.
https://www.insideedition.com/genealogy-dna-leads-arrest-1993-murder-alaska-student-found-dead-dorm-bathtub-50844
Williams, Tess. “Jury finds Maine man guilty in Fairbanks cold-case murder.” February 10, 2022. Anchorage Daily News.
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Robin Barefield is the author of five Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fisherman’s Daughter, Karluk Bones, and Massacre at Bear Creek Lodge. She has also written two non-fiction books: Kodiak Island Wildlife and Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. Sign up to subscribe to her free monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.
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to stay afloat in massive seas. Rescuing them seemed like an impossible task.
Linda Skeek had three beautiful children and an excellent job, but she did not have a good marriage. However, Linda’s relationship with her husband, Thomas, seemed somewhat improved on New Year’s Eve, 2015. They loaded their kids in their new Navigator SUV and drove to downtown Anchorage to see the fireworks. They watched the movie Minions on the Navigator’s DVD player until the New Year’s festivities began. Linda texted with her sisters and posted photos of her family on Facebook. However, not long after midnight and at the beginning of 2016, Linda’s texts and Facebook posts stopped, and no one saw or heard from her again.
Boots, Michelle T. “Domestic violence, personal disputes behind many deaths.” January 1,2017. Alaska Dispatch News.
With the nickname “Blueberry Tommy,” Thomas Johnson sounds like a harmless and even friendly historical figure, but nothing could be further from the truth. Historians don’t know much about Johnson except that he was a serial killer.
9-13-1987. We Alaskans. Anchorage Daily News.
As the 40-ft. waves crashed down upon him and threatened to wash him and his charge, Captain Singh, off the deck of the sinking ship, Petty Officer Aaron Bean knew the helicopter would not return to rescue them for several hours. Would the freighter remain afloat? Could he survive the relentless pounding by the freezing North Pacific waves? Would Captain Singh, who wore only street clothes, survive? Bean shook off his doubts and concentrated. As long as he could, he would do his job to the best of his ability, and he would give his life if necessary to save Captain Singh.
