Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:35 — 20.7MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More
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?
Sources:
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. “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.
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.
Ortiz, Aimee. “Memory card found with brutal videos and photos leads to murder arrest.” October 9, 2019. The New York Times.
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.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Read More Alaska Murder and Mystery
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Karluk Bones Audiobook Narrated by Beth Chaplin
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Join the Murder and Mystery in the First Frontier Facebook Group!
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
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.
Subscribe to Robin’s free, monthly Murder and Mystery Newsletter for more stories about true crime and mystery from Alaska.
Join her on:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
Visit her website at http://robinbarefield.com
Check out her books at Author Masterminds
___________________________________________________________________________________
If you would like to support Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier? Become a patron and join The Last Frontier Club.
Each month Robin will provide one or more of the following to club members.
· An extra episode of Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier available only for club members.
Behind-the-scenes glimpses of life and wildlife in the Kodiak wilderness.
· Breaking news about ongoing murder cases and new crimes in Alaska
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Merchandise! Visit the Store
The brutal murders in 1987 of a mother and her two daughters terrified the residents of Anchorage. Who would commit such a barbaric act, and would he strike again?
Robert Hansen is Alaska’s most notorious serial killer. Several television shows have portrayed Hansen’s life; numerous books have detailed his horrific deeds; and a 2013 movie, The Frozen Ground, starring John Cusack as Hansen and Nicholas Cage as an Alaska State Trooper, chronicles Hansen’s crimes and dramatizes the police investigation and apprehension of Hansen.
showcases the time during the construction and early operation of the trans-Alaska pipeline when thousands of people flocked to the state for jobs, and crime soared. Second, this case represents the beginning of the change in the criminal justice system in Alaska when investigative techniques, evidence processing, and in particular, dealing with sexual assault crimes and victims moved out of the dark ages and into the present.
Christian Klengenberg greatly impacted Inuit settlements in the Arctic from Nome to central Canada. Many of his descendants are community leaders and active in Canadian politics. However, not all stories about Christian Klengenberg are good. He returned from one fateful voyage with only five of his nine crew members on board, and according to the remaining crewmen, Klengenberg murdered the four who were missing.
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? 
Alaska Department of Public Safety, State Troopers: Alaska Bureau of Investigation. “Cold Case Investigation Unit.” n.d. https://dps.alaska.
The scattered residents of the McCarthy area were not prepared for the horrors of mail day on February 29, 1983, when one of their neighbors attempted to murder them all.
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.