Tag Archives: Alaska True Crime

Easier than Divorce

November 19, 2025EpisodeAlaska Cold Case, Alaska True Crime, Alaska True Crime Podcast, Jane Coville, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder in Alaska, Murder Podcast, Mystery Podcast, Robin Barefield, Scott Coville, Sitka Alaska, True Crime Podcastmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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We all know married couples who seem to thrive on discord. These are the people we avoid joining for dinner and the ones in whose presence we squirm as they argue, yell, and threaten. We wonder why they got married, and if they divorce, we’re certain no one else would want either one of them. Still, I’ve met couples who not only manage to survive their contentious relationships but enjoy sparring with their partners. Marriage is hard, but most of us try, at least for a while, to make a relationship work, and if it doesn’t work, we leave and go our separate ways. Jane and Scott Coville constantly fought, even before they moved to Alaska and married, but Jane did not divorce Scott; there was no need to sever ties with him because Scott conveniently disappeared. Did he grow disillusioned with Jane, marriage, and life in Alaska? Did Scott take off on his own for an adventure somewhere else, a place far away from his current responsibilities, or did something much more sinister happen to Scott Coville?

Sources:

James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman. 11-22-2017. Small Town Murder Podcast #45. The Hottest Cold Case Around in Sitka, Alaska. https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/small-town-murder/e/52324451?autoplay=true

Scott Michael Coville. The Charley Project. http://charleyproject.org/case/scott-michael-coville

Grove, Casey. May 31, 2016. Mother in cold case describes years wondering about her son. Anchorage Daily News. https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/article/mother-cold-case-describes-years-wondering-about-her-son/2010/11/28/

Jane Reth. Murderpedia. https://murderpedia.org/female.R/r/reth-jane.htm

Sitka, Alaska. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitka,_Alaska

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Robin Barefield lives in the wilderness on Kodiak Island, where she and her husband own a remote lodge. She has a master’s degree in fish and wildlife biology and is a wildlife-viewing and fishing guide. Robin has published six novels: Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fisherman’s Daughter, Karluk Bones, Massacre at Bear Creek Lodge, and The Ultimate Hunt. She has also published two non-fiction books: Kodiak Island Wildlife and Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. She draws on her love and appreciation of the Alaska wilderness as well as her scientific background when writing.

Robin invites you to join her at her website: https://robinbarefield.com, and while you are there, sign up for her free monthly newsletter about true crime in Alaska. Robin also narrates a podcast, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. You can find it at: https://murder-in-the-last-frontier.blubrry.net

Subscribe to Robin’s free, monthly Murder and Mystery Newsletter for more stories about true crime and mystery from Alaska.
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Murder in the Bering Sea

November 5, 2025EpisodeAlaska Podcast, Alaska True Crime, Arctic Alaska Seafood, Arctic Enterprise, Bering Sea, Boat Sinking, Factory Trawlers, Fish Processors, Murder and Mystery in Alaska, Robin Barefield, True Crime Podcastmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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On March 22, 1990, the Aleutian Enterprise, a one-hundred-and-forty-three-foot factory trawler, rolled over and sank in the Bering Sea. Nine crew members died, and twenty-two others barely escaped. The incident happened because the owners and managers of Arctic Alaska Seafood put profits above safety and the crew’s lives on their processing ships. Their actions – or inactions – were nothing short of murder.

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FTA: Murder on Shuyak Island

October 22, 2025EpisodeAlaska True Crime, Alaska True Crime Podcast, Kodiak Island, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder in Alaska, Murder Podcast, Robin Barefield, Shuyak Island, Steven McCaulley, Steven Ridenour, True Crime Podcastmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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The Abduction of Mandy Lemaire

September 24, 2025EpisodeAlaska True Crime, Alaska True Crime Podcast, Mandy Lemaire, Murder Podcast, Robin Barefield, sexual abuse in Alaska, Sexual violence against children, Sexual violence against women, Tazlina Alaskamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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A family moved to a small Alaska village because the parents believed it would be a safe environment where they could raise their children. Then, the unthinkable happened. Eleven-year-old Mandy Lemaire only had to walk a short distance to her girlfriend’s house, but when she didn’t arrive, the entire village began searching for her.

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FTA: Guilty but Mentally Ill

August 27, 2025EpisodeAlaska Laws for the Criminally Insane, Alaska True Crime, Alaska True Crime Podcast, Charles Meach, Criminally Insane, Justice, Murder and Mystery in Alaska, Murder Podcast, Robin Barefield, True Crime Podcastmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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It took a horrible murder for Alaska to revise its statutes for the criminally insane from some of the most lenient sentencing laws in the country to the strictest laws in the U.S. for the insanity defense.

On the night of May 3, 1982, one veteran Anchorage police officer was quoted as saying, “This has got to be one of the grisliest nights I’ve ever seen.” Within an hour, seven people lost their lives. Three died in the Black Bull bar in the Muldoon section of Anchorage, and the other four were shot in Russian Jack Springs Park in East Anchorage. At first, investigators wondered if the two crime scenes were connected, but they soon learned nothing linked the two horrific events.

Sources

Ice Cold Killers Season Two, Episode One: Blood Red Sun.

Brennan, Tom. 2001. By Reason of Insanity. Murder at 40 Below. Epicenter Press.

Murderpedia, Charles L. Meach III.

New York Times (1982), New Law on Insanity Plea Stirs Dispute in Alaska.

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Did Lisa Donlon Murder Her Husband in Self-Defense?

July 2, 2025EpisodeAlaska Podcast, Alaska True Crime, Alaska True Crime Podcast, Jason Donlon, Lisa Donlon, Murder and Mystery, Murder in Alaska, Palmer Alaska, Robin Barefield, True Crime, True Crime Podcast, Violence Against Womenmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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On the morning of October 7, 2010, Lisa Donlon dialed 911 and told the dispatcher she had just shot and killed her husband. When the police arrived at the twenty-foot by twenty-foot, one-room shed where Lisa lived with her husband, Jason, and their three young sons, they found Jason lying in bed on his stomach. Lisa had shot him once in the head and five times in the back. She claimed she’d killed him in self-defense while he slept. Her two youngest sons were present in the cabin when their mother murdered their father.

Lisa’s body showed signs of abuse, and she told a horrific story about the torture she’d endured at the hands of her husband, Jason. Still, people asked the age-old question. Instead of killing Jason, why didn’t she take her children and leave?

Sources

Bottaro, Angelica. “How to recognize and end the cycle of abuse.” June 8, 2022. Verywell health.

Demer, Lisa. “Domestic-violence victim charged in spouse’s death.” December 27, 2010. Anchorage Daily News.

McKee, K.T. “Grand jury won’t indict woman in Butte shooting.” November 2, 2010. Anchorage Daily News.

Palsha, Rebecca. “Lisa Donlon, acquitted in husband’s death, speaks out.” April 3, 2013. KTUU News.

“Prudential Life Insurance Company v. Donlon.” May 7, 2015. Casetext.

Wellner, Andrew. “Donlon details abuse for jury during murder trial.” March 14, 2013. Frontiersman.

Wellner, Andrew. “Jury deliberates Donlon’s fate.” March 28, 2013. Frontiersman.

Wellner, Andrew. “Testimony: friends knew of abuse.” March 16, 2013. Frontiersman.

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FTA:: The Search for Bethany

May 7, 2025EpisodeAlaska Podcast, Alaska True Crime, Alaska True Crime Podcast, Bethany Correira, Murder in Alaska, Robin Barefield, Talkeetnamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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When Bethany Correira disappeared, the residents of her hometown of Talkeetna, Alaska, immediately responded to search for one of their own.

Sources

Klinkhart, Gle nn. 2014. Finding Bethany. A True Crime Memoir. Securus Media.

James, Daid. 2014. ‘Finding Bethany’ details detective’s quest to solve horrific murder

Mystery at Bootlegger’s Cove. Dateline. NBC.

Johnson, Greg. 2-2008. Lawson draws 99 years. MatSu Valley Frontiersman.

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The Strange Downward Spiral of Actor Teddy Kyle Smith

April 9, 2025UncategorizedAlaska Podcast, Alaska True Crime, Enukins, Kiana, Murder Podcast, Mystery Podcast, Northwest Alaska, On the Ice, Robin Barefield, Teddy Kyle Smith, True Crime, True Crime Podcastmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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When testifying at his trial, Teddy Kyle Smith said he thought he was shooting Enukins in self-defense when he fired his rifle at Chuck and Paul Buckel. Few believed him, but his testimony highlighted the inequalities of jury selection in rural Alaska.

Sources

My primary source for this article was the Audible Original production of Midnight Son by James Dommek Jr. I highly recommend this three-hour audiobook. James Dommek Jr. does a fantastic job of telling this story from the viewpoint of a Native man from northwestern Alaska. It is a first-class production and a thought-provoking story.

Anderson, Ben. “Kiana man found guilty of attempted murder in remote Alaska.” November 26, 2014. Anchorage Daily News.

Demer, Lisa. “Troopers hunt for resident of Kiana – Teddy K. Smith should be considered armed and dangerous.” September 11, 2012. Anchorage Daily News.

Dommek, James Jr. Midnight Son. 2019. Audible Original.

D’Oro, Rachel. Alaska actor arrested, charged in shooting of 2 men near Kiana.” September 20, 2012. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

D’Oro, Rachel. “Inupiaq thriller ‘On the Ice’ arrives in theaters today.” February 17, 2012. Anchorage Daily News.

Grove, Casey. “Appeal challenges Alaska’s exclusion of village residents from juries.” May 24, 2018. Alaska Public Media.

Grove, Casey. “Troopers nab Kiana shooting suspect – Teddy Smith is arrested on river without incident.” September 21, 2012. Anchorage Daily News.

Hopkins, Kyle. “Movie actor from Kiana still missing after mother’s death – Gun-wielding man hasn’t been heard from since Friday.” September 13, 2012. Anchorage Daily News.

Hopkins, Kyle. “Village locked down after two hunters shot – The shooter is still on the loose after stealing the pair’s boat.” September 20, 2012. Anchorage Daily News.

“In the Court of Appeals in the State of Alaska: Teddy Kyle Smith v. State of Alaska.” April 2, 2021. JUSTIA US Law.

“The ‘Enukins’ – Little people of NW Alaska.” n.d. Bigfoot Encounters.

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FTA: Web of Seduction

March 26, 2025EpisodeAlaska Podcast, Alaska True Crime, George Carlin III, Great Alaskan Busj Company, Kent Leppink, Mechele Hughes, Mechele Linehan, Mystery Podcast, True Crime, True Crime Podcastmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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When a beautiful, intelligent, young woman pitted her three fiancés against each other, someone would die.

Sources

Brennan, Tom. 2015. Dead Man’s Dancer. Epicenter Press.

https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Mans-Dancer-Mechele-Linehan/dp/1935347160/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Dead+Man%27s+Dancer%2C+Tom+Brennan&qid=1591316098&s=books&sr=1-1

Mechele K. Linehan. Murderpedia.

https://murderpedia.org/female.L/l/linehan-mechele.htm

Former Olympia mom wins appeal in Alaska murder case.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/former-olympia-mom-wins-appeal-in-alaska-murder-case/

Love and Death in Alaska. 48 Hours. CBS News.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-presents-love-and-death-in-alaska-leppink-murder/

Holland, Megan. 5-15-2010. Freed from prison, Linehan sets up a new life. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

http://www.newsminer.com/news/alaska_news/freed-from-prison-linehan-sets-up-a-new-life/article_50e3b67c-53e4-50cf-9255-9f115c89adaa.html]

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Is Brian Steven Smith Alaska’s Latest Serial Killer

March 12, 2025EpisodeAlaska Serial Killer, Alaska True Crime, Brian Steven Smith, Cassandra Boskofsky, Kathleen Henry, Murder and Mystery in Alaska, Murder Podcast, Mystery Podcast True Crime Podcasts, Robin Barefield, Serial Killer, Shirley Skeek, True Crime, Veronica Abochukmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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Alaska has spawned a long list of serial killers from the gold rush era in the early 1900s to the present day. Is Brian Steven Smith the latest member of this notorious fraternity?

I did an episode on this case several months ago, but a great deal has happened with it since then. Smith’s first two murder cases have moved through the court system, and the police have released information suggesting he has more victims.

Sources

Batts, Amber. “Anchorage police ignored warnings, let Brian Steven Smith keep killing.” August 18, 2024. This is How We Rise.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Anchorage jury sees horrific video evidence of woman’s slaying.” February 13, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Are you guys in a rush?: Smith interrupted police interview to confess to second killing.” February 15, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “As Smith murder trial begins, a new explanation of how digital card showing killing got to police.” February 6, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Daughter of homicide victim testifies in Smith trial.” February 8, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Defendant in hotel killing indicted on additional charges: FBI ‘actively’ assisting investigation – Court documents filed this week indicate an active, wide-ranging investigation that may extend beyond Alaska.” October 15, 2019. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Homemade silencers, Clorox and latex gloves: what police found in Brian Smith’s home and truck.” February 21, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “’I have something to show you’: Murder suspect texted Anchorage man in hours after hotel room killing, met him at Hillside park.” February 22, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Judge rules graphic video of killing can’t be shown to Smith trial jurors — yet.” February 9, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Jurors see interrogation video in which Smith admits to dumping body.” February 14, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Jury in Smith trial hears how railroad workers discovered body.” February 16, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriaul. “Family of missing Alaska woman believes she may be Brian Smith’s third victim.” July 28, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Prosecutor says he ‘targeted the most vulnerable, and videos will prove it.’ His defense says the evidence isn’t so clear-cut.” February 7, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Smith found guilty on all charges in double murder trial.” February 22, 2024. Anchorage Daily News.

Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Victim’s family members and activists pack court hearing of man accused of killing two Alaska Native women – Veronica Abouchuk’s family members filled the courtroom as Brian Steven Smith pleaded not guilty to her murder.” October 22, 2019. Anchorage Daily News.

Brown, Lee. “Wife of ‘memory card’ murder suspect Brian Smith shocked at his ‘dark’ side.” October 24, 2019. New York Post.

Deliso, Meredith, and Dhanika Pineda, “How a stolen phone led to a murder trial for deaths of 2 Alaska Native women.” February 9, 2024. ABC News.

Hollander, Zac. “Anchorage man accused of hotel killing charged in the death of another woman – Brian Steven Smith, 48, now faces murder charges in the deaths of two women.” October 17, 2019. Anchorage Daily News.

Hollander, Zac and M.T. Boots. “Videos and photos show brutal attack of woman in Anchorage hotel room by man charged in her death, charges say – A 48-year-old Anchorage man was charged with murder in the death of a woman whose body was found along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage last week.” October 9, 2019. Anchorage Daily News.

Kuhn, Jonson. “APD says photos do not prove Alaska Native woman was murdered by Brian Smith.” July 29, 2024. KTUU.

Ortiz, Aimee. “Memory card found with brutal videos and photos leads to murder arrest.” October 9, 2019. The New York Times.

Palsha, Rebecca, “Convicted killer Brian Smith sentenced for double murders.” July 12, 2024. KTUU News.

Shapiro, Emily. “Memory card found on the street labeled ‘Homicide’ leads to arrest of alleged killer.” October 11, 2019. ABC News.

Staff Reporter. “Police identify 30-year-old woman as victim in video slaying – Kathleen J. Henry was beaten and killed in a Midtown hotel room last month, police say. Her killer allegedly captured the events in a video.” October 11, 2019. Anchorage Daily News.

Staff Reporter. “What we know about the Anchorage man accused in the brutal hotel-room killing of a woman – Charging documents say Brian Steven Smith shot video as he beat and choked Kathleen Jo Henry.” October 11, 2019. Anchorage Daily News.

Wieber, Aubrey. “Anchorage woman whose remains were found earlier this year was slain, troopers say – Family described 27-year-old Shirley Skeek, born in Kake as the youngest of six kids, as a kind, smart and outgoing woman who was in a vulnerable state at the time of her disappearance.” December 30, 2019. Anchorage Daily News.

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