A woman has been charged with murder after she admitted to killing a 76-year-old man in his home on Easter Sunday and asked for help burying the body, authorities say.

April Cox, 27, of Wasilla was charged with second-degree murder after Phillip Gray, also of Wasilla, was found dead in his home on Horizon Drive.

In an outburst at her initial court appearance Monday, Cox claimed self-defense and Judge Tara Logsdon asked her to be quiet. Her bail was set at $100,000 cash performance bond plus a court-approved third-party custodian. Cox said she was unemployed and asked for a public defender.

According to a sworn affidavit signed by investigator Andrew Adams, Cox walked to a nearby house on Overlook Drive Sunday afternoon and told a homeowner and his friend she had “just killed someone and needed help burying the body.” She also had a “red substance consistent with blood on her hands.”

The Overlook Drive man called authorities at roughly 12:45 p.m. A barefoot Cox walked away, and the man tailed her in his pickup. She reportedly walked up to another residence and banged on a window, the affidavit says. The homeowner told Cox to leave and threatened to call police, but Cox “insisted that she needed to use their phone.”

Cox then allegedly barged into the home and said, “They have a gun.” The homeowner did not see anyone with a firearm, but did spot the Overlook Drive man’s truck, which he was driving back and forth in front of her home. The homeowner called 911 for help.

Cox — who reportedly had a sock wrapped around her hand and was carrying a bag — then went into a bathroom in the home. When troopers arrived, Cox came outside and told authorities she had left a gun in the bathroom and that she had killed Gray, Adams wrote.

Troopers found a gun in the bathroom, along with a cordless landline phone that belonged to Gray.

Gray’s body was discovered on the floor of his Horizon Drive home “with an apparent gunshot wound,” court documents say. His next-of-kin has been notified.

–Lauren Maxwell contributed reporting. 

–Check back for updates on this developing story.  

Two former seafood processors have pleaded guilty to fatally beating their co-worker in Unalaska.

Instead of going through another trial, Denison Soria and Leonardo Bongolto, Jr., will serve 40 to 70 months in prison for the death of Jonathan Adams. He passed away after a fight at the Bering Fisheries bunkhouse in 2012.

Defense attorneys painted Adams’ death as an accident during a trial in Unalaska last fall. The jury acquitted Soria, 43, and Bongolto, 37, of second-degree murder, but they couldn’t reach a verdict on lesser charges of assault, manslaughter, and negligent homicide. A new trial was set for this month.

But on Friday, Soria and Bongolto pleaded guilty to aggravated, criminally negligent homicide. That’s a B felony, which usually carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

The defendants could also face probation and suspended jail time under the conditions of their plea agreement.

Superior Court Judge Patricia Douglass said the deal ”sends a message to the community of Unalaska that the court is paying attention to crimes that might occur down there as a result of alcohol.”

Soria and Bongolto were allegedly drinking the night of the fight three years ago. They’ve been incarcerated ever since.

Both men will be brought to Unalaska for formal sentencing on July 9.

This story originates from KDLG Public Radio and was published with permission. 

It was an emotional day for Minesoreta Seng as she took the stand to testify against the man accused of raping her 2-year-old daughter.

Prosecutors allege 26-year-old Jerry Active broke into her family’s home in May 2013 and murdered her husband’s grandparents, 73-year-old Touch Chea and 71-year-old Sorn Sreap. Active is also charged with sexually assaulting Sreap, the toddler and a 91-year-old great-grandmother.

The night of the attacks, Minesoreta testified, she and her husband, Von Seng, had been out to a movie. When they arrived home, the couple said the door was latched shut and the windows locked. After breaking into the home, the couple found Chea and Sreap dead on the living room floor.

Minesoreta said she feared her daughter — who had been left at home with her great grandparents — was dead as well. She testified she tried to get into the bedroom where her daughter was but the door was being held shut. After pushing against the door, Minesoreta says she was able to get into the room.

“I just looked at her, and she looked at me like she was scared. She was really scared that day,” Minesoreta said.

Minesoreta told the jury a man was in the room.

“Who or what did you observe inside the room?” asked State Prosecutor Gustaf Olson.

“Jerry Active,” Minesoreta said.

Minesoreta told the court she grabbed Active, who began hitting her in an attempt to get away. He escaped into the living room, where Minesoreta said he began putting boxers on. She grabbed onto him again, and her husband began questioning him.

“I told him this was the guy that was in the house, he was in the room with our daughter,” Minesoreta explained.

“How did Von respond when you told him that?” Olson asked.

“He was furious,” Minesoreta said.

After Minesoreta’s testimony, her husband Von was next to take the stand.

He also told the jury Active was the man inside their apartment the night of the attacks. After the attacks, Von told police it was Active who had been caught inside the apartment.

“I identified the person because I remember his tattoos. I know the man I fought,” Von said.

Both Minesoreta and Von Seng said they tried to stop Active from escaping the crime scene. They said they fought with him in their living room, and the altercation spilled out into the apartment complex’s parking lot. But Defense Attonrey Chong Yim questioned some inconsistencies in the two witnesses’ testimony.

“So you, how did you get into the residence?” Yim asked Von.

“I climbed in the window,” Von said.

“Did you go head first or feet first?” questioned Yim.

“Feet first,” Von said.

Minesoreta testified she was right behind her husband, but Von said he was alone.

“At this point, where is your wife?” Yim asked.

“She’s still somewhere. I didn’t know where she was at,” Von said.

Von also testified he didn’t see his wife in the apartment until the couple tried to stop Active from getting away. Minesoreta had a different account.

“Where is he standing by the time you go through that window?” Yim asked.

“He went to the open, he was right by his grandma,” Minesoreta said.

“By his grandmother?” continued Yim.

“Yes,” replied Von.

“And when you get into the window are you right next to each other?” Yim asked.

“Yes,” Von said.

After four hours of testimony, the court was adjourned. The trial will resume Tuesday morning at 9 a.m.

This is an ongoing story, check back for updates. 

A 35-year-old Bethel woman was indicted on manslaughter and drug charges after she allegedly injected her father with heroin at an Anchorage apartment in September 2014.

Bethel police took Shannon Cooke into custody April 3 after she was indicted March 26, according to a statement from the state Department of Law. If convicted of manslaughter, she could face a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

The charges stem from Sept. 29, 2014, when the Anchorage Police Department responded to a medic call at an apartment on LaTouche Street. Police were initially told Cooke found her father, 56-year-old Thomas Tungwenuk, unresponsive after he had consumed heroin, the DOL said. He was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

The state, however, now alleges that Cooke was the one who gave her father the drug. In addition to manslaughter, she was also charged with second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. Both of the charges are felonies.

“Cooke is alleged to have provided heroin to her father and injected him with it,” a DOL statement says. “The State Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Tungwenuk died from acute combined effects of heroin and alcohol.”

Cooke’s initial bail was set at $20,000 plus a third-party custodian. She has a hearing in Anchorage scheduled for May 13, according to Dan Shorey, assistant district attorney.

–This is a developing story. 

A 40-year-old Ketchikan man was sentenced Tuesday in connection with a 2014 explosion inside the Ketchikan Tunnel.

Joseph Duane Brown admitted that he assembled and linked together “at least 20″ one-pound explosive devices that went off inside the Ketchikan Tunnel, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office. The “seal bombing” incident happened July 4, 2014, the Associated Press reports. Brown also admitted to setting off the series of devices in the tunnel.

For receipt and possession of explosive materials by a felon, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy M. Burgess sentenced Brown to five years probation, 30 days in a halfway house and 300 hours of community work service.

The owner of a Palmer company that serves disabled clients was sentenced after a fraud investigation revealed that she altered medical records. The sentencing was announced Wednesday by the Alaska Department of Law and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Laura Sasseen, 58, is the owner of the Mat-Su Activity and Respite Center (MARC). The center suspended its services in June 2014 amid an investigation by the state. Sasseen was then charged for falsely altering medical records that were requested as part of an audit being conducted by the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) and certified public accounting firm Myers and Stauffer.

DHSS and Myers and Stauffer notified Sasseen on April 26, 2012 that the MARC had been selected for an audit to verify the claims paid by the Alaska Medicaid Program, according to a release from the Attorney General’s Office.

Mohammed Hano and Mobarak Albadawi woke up on Sunday, March 29, to discover the tires on the vehicles outside their Spenard home had been deflated, and unwelcoming messages — like “Go Home” and “Leave Alaska,” among others – had been scrawled all over their cars.

KTVA has learned that the FBI has been speaking with the men, who are refugees from Sudan. Authorities have said the crime cannot be classified as a hate crime, because it lacks specific statements regarding race, religion or sexual orientation. As of Monday, April 6, the Anchorage Police Department said they were still involved in the investigation, but no suspects have been identified.

In a closer look at the case, retired APD detective Glen Klinkhart’s first step was to develop a timeline of events.

“We at least have a window,” said Klinkhart. “Whoever did this had to be in the area between one o’clock in the morning and eight o’clock in the morning.”

Klinkhart spent a day examining video footage shot the day of the alleged crime. He noted the way the words were written, the type of marker used and the formation of the letters. The suspect used a washable window marker, which is easily removed with soap and water.

“You go to vandalisms, this isn’t what you see,” Klinkhart said. “This is really unusual.”

At a store close to the crime scene, Klinkhart discovered washable markers on the shelves, and then compared them to the markings on the vehicles.

As the day progressed, Klinkhart examined three possible theories. The first was that the victims had committed the crime themselves. But Klinkart says looking at Hano’s body language and how he communicated things, he feels that “Mohommed himself is fearful.”

“He seems, at this point, everything that I see, I feel he is being honest with everything he says and what he feels,” Klinkhart said.

Hano’s friend and mentor, Deborah Bok, agrees.

“They stay home, they work two jobs, and they just do everything they can to get it right,” said Bok. “They’re on their best behavior, because their dream is to, they’re going to become and American citizen, and if they do anything to mess that up, that might not happen.”

Klinkhart’s second theory is that an unknown person committed the crime.

“Somebody who is out and sees, or there’s something that draws them to say, ‘Hey, I don’t like these people,’” Klinkhart said. “This would be typical of what you’d see as a hate crime.”

But, it’s his third theory he says is the most likely scenario — a friend, an associate, coworker or neighbor. Someone, he says, that is in their circle.

“Based on everything we’ve talked about, not only looking at raw footage, going out to the scene, talking to witnesses. We looked at the physical. We looked at all the physical things, the writing on the car. We looked at the tires, we looked at the actual, whether they were deflated, which they were. Whether they were cut or not cut. What process was used to actually deflate them,” Klinkhart said. “All of this stuff and more we looked at. I believe, my opinion is what we’re looking at is number three.”

As for Hano and his roommates, they’re still grateful to be here in Alaska. But they’re looking for a new apartment.

Police say they are looking for the suspect in a late-night sexual assault on a trail near the University of Alaska Anchorage.

UAA police and the Anchorage Police Department responded to the assault, which occurred around 11 p.m. Wednesday on the Mosquito Lake trail system, according to a safety alert from UAA. The suspect fled south on Elmore Road and is believed to have left the campus area.

The suspect is described as a 5-foot-5, “heavyset” white male with freckles, university police say. He was reportedly wearing a red stocking cap and a black jacket with white checker lining.

APD reported the victim is not from Anchorage, and her attacker, who was known to the victim, had offered her a place to sleep for the night, prior to the assault.

Authorities ask anyone with information to call APD at 786-8900 or UAA police at 786-1120.

A 34-year-old Wasilla man was arrested after he led troopers on a 100-mph chase through a traffic safety corridor along the Parks Highway in the Mat-Su Valley, authorities say.

Thursday around 10 p.m., Alaska State Troopers investigated a “suspicious vehicle” at mile 52 of the highway, according to an online dispatch.

The driver of a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am, later identified as Christopher Hegener, refused to identify himself and sped away from troopers.

Troopers tailed Hegener northbound on the highway at speeds over 100 mph in the traffic safety corridor, the dispatch says. They were eventually able to arrest the 34-year-old for failure to stop at the direction of an officer, driving with a revoked license, reckless driving and driving in violation of a limitation. The dispatch did not say how the man was apprehended.

Hegener was remanded to the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility and held on $7,000 cash bail.

A man robbed a woman in Juneau Thursday evening, but she put up a fight, authorities say, chasing the man, knocking him down and swiping his bicycle.

Around 9 p.m. Thursday, a man on a bike rode up behind a woman who was leaving Little Hong Kong, a restaurant in the Mendenhall Mall, where she worked. He then snatched a bag the woman was carrying, which contained money and recipients from the Chinese restaurant, according to a statement from the Juneau Police Department.

The 5-foot-2 woman “was not an easy victim,” Juneau police say. “She chased the man, pulled him off the bike, knocked him to the ground and retained the bicycle.”

The man, described as 5-foot-8 with possible “tan” skin, then ran off with the bag, the JPD statement says. He was wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt, jeans and possibly had a white T-shirt under the sweatshirt.

The bag he stole is blue and rectangle-shaped with an NBA logo on the outside.

The bike, police say, is a Trek brand, “higher-end” bicycle and is possibly stolen.

Courtesy JPD

Juneau police are looking for anyone who may have been riding the bike, which also has a luggage carrier on the back and a bell.

Police ask anyone who has spotted the bike, the bag or receipts associated with Little Hong Kong to call 586-0600. People can also submit an anonymous report on the JPD website by clicking on the “Crime Line” link under the menu on the left side of the screen. Information leading to suspect identification may result in a reward, JPD says.

Photo courtesy Katie Schrooten

Anchorage police are investigating a case of early-morning vandalism in Anchorage that has left more than 50 vehicles with their tires slashed around town.

There have been reports of slashed tires in in East Anchorage ,off of Boundary Avenue, and in South Anchorage, where Katie Schrooten lives.

Just after 4 a.m. Saturday, Schrooten — who lives in the Huffman-O’Malley neighborhood of Anchorage — was notified of what the Anchorage Police Department is calling a “massive vandalism.” Three of the tires on her Honda Pilot had been slashed. Schrooten’s neighbor came running over to their door before she called police. By then, she says, what appeared to be multiple suspects had all driven away in a vehicle.

Schrooten and her neighbor were joined by other residents in the area waiting for APD to respond to the call. When officers arrived in the area, “they found that 36 tires had been slashed on 34 vehicles that were parked on Sebring Circle, Silver Spruce Circle, Woodward Drive and Meander Drive off of Huffman Road,” a release from APD says.

“It seems so random,” Schrooten says of the vandalism, adding that though she is shaken up, the crime doesn’t seem targeted.

APD spokesperson Anita Shell agrees. She says that since about 10 a.m. Saturday, Anchorage could be looking at between 50 to 75 cases of vandalism.

“We’ve found that multiple pockets of town have been targeted by vandalism last night, not just the Huffman area,” said Shell. “We’ve had calls off of Stanford Street, off of Boundary, Elmrich, Glenn Abbey, so there’s areas all over town that look like they’ve been hit last night.”

Shell says APD hopes that those with home surveillance will be able to assist in the apprehension of the suspect(s).

“We will send an officer out to collect that evidence,” she said. “Hopefully, we can determine who is what that committed these crimes last night that affected so many people.”

Police are encouraging anyone who was a victim of this vandalism to file a report online at www.muni.org/apd, or residents can call 786-8801 to report their vandalism over the phone.

APD says no arrests have been made at this time, and no suspect information is available. Anyone with information as to the person(s) responsible for this early-morning vandalism is encouraged to call APD at 786-8900 or, to remain anonymous, go to www.anchoragecrimestoppers.com.

An Anchorage business is recovering after being burglarized for the second time in one week.

Someone broke into South Anchorage’s 907 Vapes – Electronic Cigarettes Monday night and then again on Saturday.

Owner Jesse James said thieves stole almost all of the store’s products the first time. In a video on the company’s Facebook page, James thanked members of the community for donating replacement product, saying between $10,000 and $12,000 of product, at retail value, was stolen.

Everything that had been donated to the store after the first incident was stolen during the second burglary, and the suspected burglar(s) left a broken window, a damaged television and a bullet hole in the front counter.

James says he has no idea who did it or why.

“The first time was really surreal; it was almost like it never happened. It never really sank in the first time,” James said. “The second time…I’m devastated.”

The Anchorage Police Department has opened an investigation and has begun collecting evidence, including blood samples from the broken window. James says he plans to install a security system.

The Juneau Police Department has released footage showing who it believes is the suspect in an alleged robbery that occurred Thursday, during which the victim fought back and took the suspect’s bicycle.

JPD spokesperson Kris Sells says the suspect shown in the video robbed an employee of the Little Hong Kong restaurant in Juneau as she was leaving. He managed to ride up on his bicycle behind the woman and take a bag of receipts and money from her. She reportedly chased him and knocked him to the ground, taking the bike. He can be seen fleeing the scene in the video, police say.

The suspect is described as a 5-foot-8-inch male with “possibly ‘tan’ skin,” Sells said in a statement. Besides a clothing description, no other information was available for his appearance.

“While he does not look at the camera, we are hoping someone who knows the individual might be able to recognize the clothing and movement of the subject,” Sells said.

Authorities say Crocs plastic shoes left tread marks that helped link a 22-year-old Fairbanks man to downtown burglaries.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner newspaper (http://is.gd/K5ETu0) reports Roland Huntington Grace faces charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief in connection with the burglaries reported earlier this month.

Grace is accused of breaking into The Crepery, Church of Christ and the 2 St. Gallery.

The owner of a building where some break-ins occurred provided surveillance footage to police, who posted it on the department’s Facebook page.

Authorities say Grace’s name was among several mentioned by tipsters.

Charging documents say Grace admitted to the burglaries during an interview with police.

According to the court documents, Grace was wearing Crocs during the police interview and the shoes matched the tread pattern found at the scene.

___

Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Anchorage police have arrested a man for sexual abuse of a minor after a 14-year-old girl was found dead outside a Muldoon church Sunday.

Stewart W. Emery, Jr., 45, was arrested for one count of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor, according to a statement from the Anchorage Police Department. His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.

Emery was with Megan Sophie Johnson when she was reported dead at the Muldoon Road Baptist Church Sunday afternoon. According to witnesses, she had also been hanging out with her 15-year-old boyfriend.

Alcohol is believed to be a factor in the case, police say. Exact cause of death will be determined when toxicology results come in, which could take about eight weeks.

–Check back for updates on this developing story. 

Courtesy Anchorage Police Department

A teen suspected of a burglary in the Hillside area was arrested Monday thanks to citizens’ reports of a suspicious person, according to police.

Around 10:15 a.m., the Anchorage Police Department began receiving calls about a suspicious person in the Upper O’Malley Road area knocking on doors, ringing doorbells and running away when someone answered.

A responding officer spotted a male teenage driver matching the description of the suspicious person, and pulled the vehicle over. As the officer began walking toward the sedan, it took off, according to APD spokeswoman Jennifer Castro.

Castro says the vehicle crashed and flipped over near the intersection of Schuss Drive and Upper O’Malley Road. The driver ran away, but police found him a short while later in a nearby yard. A stolen firearm was also discovered when police arrested him.

Initial investigation revealed the teen had been involved in a burglary at a nearby home, during which he stole a vehicle. Police have not confirmed if the vehicle the suspect crashed was the same vehicle.

The suspect, a 17-year-old male, was taken to McLaughlin Youth Center on multiple charges, including two counts of second-degree theft, third-degree criminal mischief, fifth-degree weapons misconduct, first-degree vehicle theft, fourth-degree theft, failure to stop at the direction of an officer and first-degree burglary, according to Castro.

The suspect’s name was withheld because he is a minor.

As soon as University of Alaska Anchorage police learned of a sexual assault on a trail bordering campus late last Wednesday night, they sent out an alert via text message and email, warning students of the attack. Nearly a week later, no arrests have been made, and the attack still weighs on the minds of some students.

“We discuss, isn’t that kind of scary? Like, that happened. We’re thankful it’s nobody we know, but we feel like, we think about these people. We feel bad for them,” said UAA student Makenna Wyatt.

UAA police were the first to respond to the call for help the night of the attack. Once it became clear the victim wasn’t a student, the investigation was turned over to the Anchorage Police Department. UAA Police Chief Rick Shell says the two departments work closely together.

“Certainly the assaults and some of these things that have occurred on our borders are some of those things that these students have anxiety over and we help deal with that,” Shell said.

Chief Shell says their department currently has 13 officers. They patrol the campus in cars, on bikes and by foot. And, since the attack last week, he says they’re hitting the pavement more often.

“We’re just like any other police department, just a little more compact,” Shell said.

Shell says they’re hoping students keep their eyes and ears open when walking or traveling on campus. He recommends students remove ear buds, walk in pairs or groups and if they do have to walk alone, call a friend and let them know where they are, where they’re going and keep the phone on speaker if possible.

UAA student Rebecca Anderson says she’s paying attention to the warnings.

“I have pepper spray on my keychain. I just park under lights and I figure out good class times that I can either walk out with a friend, or either, just stay safe,” Anderson said.

With more than 15,000 students and another 2,000-plus staff members, UAA police have their work cut out for them. Fortunately, Chief Shell says violent crimes like this latest attack are rare. He says students are much more likely to be the victims of theft, as those occur regularly on campus.

As for the investigation into the sexual assault last week, APD says they’re working on putting together a sketch of the suspect. The victim, who is not a UAA student, told police she met her attacker before the attack, and he had offered her a place to sleep for the night. Police say the victim is not from Anchorage, and believed the man was leading her to his house when he wandered into the woods near the campus. After he assaulted the woman, he fled the scene.

Contact Jacquie Slater at jslater@ktva.com and @JacquieSlater

One suspect was arrested and another remains at large after two masked men robbed a gas station in East Anchorage and pepper sprayed three people, police say.

Just after midnight Wednesday, the Anchorage Police Department was dispatched to a Tesoro on Boniface Parkway, located near the Glenn Highway. When officers arrived, they found that two masked men had entered the gas station and that one of them had demanded money from the clerk “while displaying a knife and pepper spray,” according to a statement from APD spokeswoman Anita Shell.

Although the clerk complied with the robbers’ demands, the suspects pepper sprayed two employees and a customer before fleeing the scene, Shell wrote. The release did not state how much money or items were stolen.

The men ran across Boniface into a nearby yard. The owner of the property, who was armed, exited his home and confronted the two suspects. One of them ran away, but police were able to nab 20-year-old Brion M. Brown.

Brown was arrested for third-degree assault, robbery and three counts of fourth-degree assault, police say.

“One of them did have a knife that was visible and was running in the direction of an other customer who was pumping gas into their vehicle,” said APD spokesperson Renee Oistad. “And that person was in fear seeing a masked man come running towards them with a knife. So, the fear that resulted from that action is what the other assault charge is for.”

Brown was arraigned Wednesday.

–This is a developing story. 

Nolan Youngmun - University of Alaska Fairbanks/Alaska Nanooks

Nolan Youngmun, University of Alaska Fairbanks student and hockey player, has been charged with sexually assaulting a woman on campus April 5.

The charges of first- and second-degree assault were brought against Youngmun after a woman living on the UAF campus reported the incident to university police on April 10.

Youngmun and another male were reportedly visiting another female at the victim’s apartment around 3 a.m. April 5, according to court documents. At some point during the visit, Youngmun allegedly entered the victim’s room naked, woke her and proceeded to sexually assault her, ignoring her requests to stop.

Shortly after, Youngmun allegedly “raised his finger to his lips and said, ‘shhhh,’” an action the victim told police felt threatening to her, according to court documents.

University police obtained a warrant to record conversations between the victim and Youngmun, during which he initially denied the encounter, but later said, “OK, well if we did I did not force you to do anything.” The insistence that the encounter was consensual carried over to Youngmun’s interview with UAF campus police, despite his claim that “he didn’t remember many portions of the night,” court documents stated.

Campus police also collected DNA evidence from the victim’s room.

Youngmun was arraigned Wednesday in Fairbanks. He was also suspended from playing for the Alaska Nanooks, UAF’s hockey team, and trespassed from campus, meaning he will face up to one year imprisonment and a fine of up to $10,000 if found on campus.

When allegations of sexual assault or harassment are brought to the attention of university officials, the first step is ensure the victim’s safety and access to necessary mental and physical care, UAF spokeswoman Marmian Grimes said. An investigation into the reported incident would follow, and if a break in university policy was confirmed, the Dean of Students would take over in deciding how the accused would be dealt with by campus, including and up to expulsion. Throughout the process, Grimes said, local law enforcement agencies off-campus are included in sharing of evidence and testimony.

Grimes says witnesses and victims of sexual assaults are encouraged to come forward with information, in order to help “build a culture against violence of all forms on campus.”

University police are asking anyone with information on the April 5 assault to contact them at 907-474-7721.

A 24-year-old convicted of kidnapping and murdering his girlfriend was sentenced to 140 years in prison with 30 suspended.

Jurors convicted Bukurim  Miftari of murder, kidnapping and tampering with physical evidence in December. Miftari kidnapped his girlfriend, Kristen Reid, from a friend’s home at gunpoint during the early morning hours of Sept. 17, 2012. Anchorage police found Reid naked in a ditch along Fairbanks Street near International Airport Road, barely breathing, and with a gunshot wound to the head. She later died at the hospital.

Miftaris lawyers claimed throughout the trial someone else killed Reid. Kasey Malay, Reid’s sister, spoke up for Miftari by phone at the sentencing.

“I think you have the wrong man,” Malay cried. “I think you’re letting whoever did it go! I feel like you are tearing more families apart!”

Miftari did not speak at his sentencing.

He may be eligible for parole in 20 years.