The northwest Arctic village of Selawik, Alaska.

Photo: Steve Hillebrand/USFWS

Selawik residents rescued a woman from the Selawik River after she escaped a man who allegedly kidnapped her and tried to sexually assault her aboard his boat.

Alaska State Troopers were notified of the incident around 3 a.m. Saturday, according to an online dispatch.

Their investigation led them to arrest 51-year-old Charles Myers Sr, who allegedly forced the 21-year-old victim onto his boat and threatened to sexually assault her, troopers wrote.

“The victim screamed for help and was able to get away from Myers by jumping overboard into the river,” according to troopers. “Her cries for help were heeded by other  villagers who came to her rescue and she was transported to the clinic where she was treated for hypothermia and some cuts and bruises.”

Troopers charged Myers with kidnapping, reckless endangerment and DUI. He is being held at the Kotzebue jail pending his arraignment. He has prior assault convictions, online court records show.

A 14-year-old girl is facing charges after she bit an Alaska State Trooper while intoxicated.

An online trooper dispatch said the incident occurred around 5:30 a.m. on Saturday when troopers and Selawik police responded to a home in the village for a report of a disturbance. They found the girl “highly intoxicated and assaultive.”

“Her father had first attempted to get her home when AST had to respond because other intoxicated adults were confronted by the father,” troopers explained.

While trying to get the girl to what troopers called a “safe place,” she attacked a passerby who helped them move her, then bit a trooper on the arm, causing injuries.

The wounded trooper was treated at the local clinic and released, the dispatch stated.

The girl has been charged with assault and minor consuming alcohol.

A 21-year-old man faces multiple charges of assault after he allegedly stabbed two people and beat another person in Emmonak Saturday morning.

Alaska State Troopers were alerted to the attack at 4:35 a.m., according to an online dispatch.

Troopers were told an argument took place in a home in the village, during which Wyatt Redfox allegedly stabbed a 39-year-old victim seven times, troopers said. He then hit and stabbed a 21-year-old woman, cutting her in the face. He also assaulted a 25-year-old victim with his hands.

The 39-year-old victim was flown to Anchorage with serious injuries. Redfox also required treatment for injuries caused when someone struck him with a log “to prevent him from stabbing the first victim even more,” troopers stated.

Anchorage police are investigating an early morning shooting Monday that left a man wounded.

Police say a 39-year-old man shortly after midnight was shot in the parking lot of a convenience store on Mountain View Drive near Mountain View Lions Park.

The man was speaking to the driver of a white panel van without rear windows.

Police say the driver pulled out a gun and shot the pedestrian once in the lower torso.

The shooter drove off and is at large.

The wounded pedestrian was taken to a hospital for treatment and is expected to survive.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

An Anchorage homeowner is recovering from a gunshot wound after an attempted robbery in their home early Monday morning, according to a release from the Anchorage Police Department.

Around 2 a.m. police responded to the 7700 block of Linda Lane with several officers and two police dogs, the agency said.

According to police, the injured homeowner told them that an unknown male went through their unlocked vehicle and used the garage door opener inside of the vehicle to get access to the house.

“Awakened by the noise, the homeowner confronted the man inside the garage and a physical altercation ensued,” APD wrote. “At some point, the intruder fired at least one shot from a handgun, striking the homeowner in the abdomen.”

The suspect fled on foot. Responding police officers searched for the suspect for more than two hours, but were not able to locate them.

APD provided little description of the burglar, except that the person spoke a foreign language.

Anyone with information on the incident is being asked to call APD at 907-786-8900 or Crime Stoppers at 907-561-7867.

The apartments where Eva Edwardson was found

On Monday, a grand jury indicted an Anchorage man on charges related to the stabbing death of his wife on July 27, according to a statement from District Attorney Clint Campion. Charges of first- and second-degree murder were handed down to 33-year-old Kelly “Zane” Frederick.

Anchorage police arrested Frederick the night of his wife’s murder. He was being held down by two people when police arrived at the couple’s apartment building on East 46th Court, police said. They found his wife, 33-year-old Eva Edwardson, dead inside one of the apartments, a knife lying next to her.

Other residents of the building said they heard Edwardson screaming and saw Frederick come out of their apartment later with blood on his hands.

Frederick was initially held without bail, but then a judge granted a $250,000 cash appearance bond with a third-party custodian requirement. He will be arraigned again on Wednesday in Superior Court, Campion wrote.

Police in Anchorage are looking for a 25-year-old man who allegedly held a driver at gunpoint and took the vehicle, according to a Tuesday release.

At 9 p.m. on Sunday, a man picked up a hitchhiker, who the Anchorage Police Department has identified as 25-year-old Brendon Wesley Adam Valdez, in the area of 36th Avenue and Dorbrandt Street.

The man told APD he drove Valdez to several locations in Anchorage and the two picked up a third man. Valdez then pulled out a gun, told the driver to get into the passenger seat, and held the man at gunpoint while the three drove around. Early Monday morning, Valdez let the man go unharmed. The car, a 2006 white Ford coupe license GRK103, has not yet been found.

According to APD, a felony warrant for Brendon Valdez includes charges of robbery, assault, kidnapping, vehicle theft and theft. Police stated Valdez also has two unrelated felony warrants for probation violations.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Valdez or the car, is asked to contact APD at 907-786-8900. To give an anonymous tip, call Anchorage Crime Stoppers at 907-561-STOP or visit www.anchoragecrimestoppers.com.

The suspect, captured on a bank camera

Courtesy FBI

The suspect, captured on a bank camera

Courtesy FBI

Disguised with a fake beard, a male suspect allegedly robbed an Anchorage bank Tuesday afternoon, according to the FBI.

The robbery took place at the Gambell Street First National Bank around 1:55 p.m., according to a statement from FBI spokeswoman Staci Feger-Pellesier.

The suspect walked into the bank and handed a note to a teller, demanding cash, Feger-Pellesier wrote. She said he then left on a bicycle with an undisclosed amount of money.

Along with the fake beard, the suspect wore a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt, faded blue jeans, white tennis shows and a red or orange baseball cap, the statement said. He was roughly 5-feet-7-inches tall and is believed to weigh around 170 pounds.

Anyone with information on the suspect is asked to call the FBI at 907-276-4441 or the Anchorage Police Department at 907-786-8900.

Feger-Pellesier said she has not heard of any other robbery suspects using disguises in Alaska.

Anchorage police are investigating a possible home invasion at an East Anchorage home after a man showed up to a hospital early Wednesday morning with injuries saying he’d been robbed.

Just before 3 a.m., the man told hospital staff the incident happened at a residence on the 5900 block of E. 12th Avenue.

Hospital staff contacted the Anchorage Police Department, and when officers showed up to the home, they found signs of forced entry. The man told police electronics and other items had been taken from the home, according to an APD release.

APD says officers also found a large marijuana grow inside the residence.

“Police are working on developing suspect information,” the release states. “But it was reported that multiple people had entered the home after forcing entry.”

The man’s injuries are non-life-threatening. APD says additional information will be released as more facts are confirmed.

Anyone with information that may be helpful to APD’s investigation is asked to contact police (907-786-8900) or call Crime Stoppers (907-561-STOP).

This is a developing story.

New information shows that a 19-year-old killed in an Aug. 5 crash near Fifth Avenue and Concrete Street did not have gunshot wounds from a shooting that took place in the area around the same time.

Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Jennifer Castro confirmed in an email Wednesday that an autopsy for Chaduer Chuol showed the young man was not shot and “his injuries aligned with being involved in the collision.”

As previously reported, Chuol’s death is being investigated as a homicide because state law requires all incidents involving another person “that ultimately leads to the death of someone else” be investigated for criminal activity.

“There was another person inside that same vehicle that had a non-life-threatening gun shot wound,” Castro said at the time of the incident.

The surviving victim still has not been identified by police.

Castro wrote Wednesday detectives are still determining where the shooting started and who was involved.

Alaska State Troopers say a Hydaburg man is facing a murder charge after he allegedly strangled his girlfriend, 27-year-old Judylee Guthrie. Ketchikan District Attorney Stephen West says the man lied to authorities, saying the woman went missing and he later found her body in the woods.

According to an affidavit signed by West, 27-year-old Albert Macasaet first told troopers his girlfriend was missing on July 31 when they found him and his mother on the side of the Craig-Klawock Highway on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska. Their vehicle, a green Mazda, was parked next to a truck that was in a ditch near the Sunnyhaye trailhead. Macasaet told troopers Guthrie had been in the vehicle when it crashed and was missing.

Macasaet had already called the Craig Police Department (CPD) an hour earlier to tell them she was missing, and later that day at around 5:30 p.m., he called again to report he was looking for her at the trailhead, according to West’s statement. Less than half an hour later, he called again, saying he’d found Guthrie’s body.

Search teams were not able to find her body easily, a point West made in charging documents. Troopers noted she had the string of a hooded sweatshirt wrapped tightly around her neck, the affidavit shows. An autopsy later confirmed the cause of her death was strangulation.

Macasaet told investigators that he, Guthrie and two other couples were at a bar the night before her body was found. He at first said that she left with one couple, then later said woman left with a different couple. The first couple told troopers they left the bar in the truck, which they said they crashed into the ditch very early in the morning on July 31. CPD had investigated that crash and stated Guthrie was not there when they were on the scene. The couple confirmed that fact, West explained.

The second couple said they left the bar with Guthrie and Macasaet, but parted ways with them earlier in the night, leaving Guthrie and Macasaet alone at his mother’s home in Klawock. West noted that that home was less than a mile away from where Guthrie’s body was found.

Macasaet has a history of arrests and convictions related to domestic violence against Guthrie, including two separate incidents where he strangled her, West wrote in the charging documents. Macasaet was also arrested for first-degree sexual assault, but was later acquitted of the charge.

After speaking with the Ketchikan District Attorney’s office, troopers planned to arrest Macasaet without a warrant, according to an online trooper dispatch. When they confronted him on Tuesday around 1:30 p.m., Macasaet resisted arrest with the help of a family member and brandished a gun at troopers. This led to an hours-long standoff, during which other adults and three children between the ages of three and 13 were in the house.

The other adults and the 13-year-old were able to leave the home around 6:30 p.m., but Macasaet and the two younger children stayed inside. Around 11:30 p.m., authorities entered the home and arrested him with anyone being injured. Macasaet appeared to be suffering from a drug overdose that occurred during the standoff, troopers said in the dispatch. He was taken to Ketchikan for medical treatment.

A Prince of Wales court clerk told KTVA Macasaet would be arraigned in Ketchikan once he is able to appear in court, and then will be brought back to Craig. He faces a single charge of first-degree murder, and troopers stated additional charges of resisting arrest and third-degree assault were also being considered.

He is scheduled to appear before a grand jury on Aug. 18 in Ketchikan, the dispatch said.

Anyone who knows or is a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault can call the AWAIC crisis line for help at 907-272-0100.

Similar make and model to suspect vehicle

Courtesy Anchorage Police Department

Memorial for Joshua Goodlataw where he was killed

Daniella Rivera/KTVA

Memorial for Joshua Goodlataw where he was killed

Daniella Rivera/KTVA

Last updated at 8:51 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 10

The Anchorage Police Department has released new information on the driver and vehicle believed to have struck and killed 22-year-old Joshua Goodlataw on the Glenn Highway on Saturday.

Goodlataw was walking along the highway when a dark-colored truck struck him and fled, according to another driver who witnessed the incident. Police were not immediately able to provide further information on the vehicle involved or its driver, but “through evidence left at the scene and eyewitness accounts” later developed a description of the suspect.

APD spokeswoman Jennifer Castro said in a statement police believe the vehicle involved is a 2003 or 2004 dark blue Chevrolet Silverado or Avalanche. She added that blue lighting was inside the cab of the truck, and it likely has damage to the headlight, hood, trim and windshield on the passenger side as a result of the collision.

Three people are believed to have been in the vehicle, Castro wrote. She described the driver as a white man who was approximately 5-feet-4-inches tall with a thin build. He was unshaven and last seen wearing a white baseball cap, gray jacket and beige sweatpants.

One passenger was a white woman believed to be in her 20s. She was roughly 5-feet-5-inches tall with a thin build and long strawberry blond hair, Castro said. She was wearing gray or white sweat pants and a white oversized shirt.

Castro said the other passenger is an Asian man, also believed to be in his 20s. He was the same height as the woman, but with a heavyset build. He was wearing a black shirt and gray pants.

The above photo was included in the release, which police believe is similar to the vehicle involved.

Samuel Johns, the founder of the group Forget Me Not, said he knew “Josh” because they’re both from Copper Center. He said Goodlataw was very proud of the fact that he was about to graduate from his apprenticeship with Laborers Local 341. The union posted a photo of Goodlataw, calling him a “kind young man” and a “good worker.” They joined forces with the president of AHTNA and the local IBEW to raise at least $8,500 as a reward for information that leads to an arrest.

“I want people to know he was a really good person you know, he didn’t deserve this at all I mean nobody does,” Johns said.

There’s a bike trail that runs along the Glenn Highway near where Goodlataw was hit. When KTVA asked police why he might not have been using it, a spokesperson said he lives nearby and they believe he was crossing the highway to go home.

Johns said he’s hoping anyone who knows something will come forward so the family can have some closure. He had this message for the driver and anyone who might have information, “If you are out there holding onto something like this, you’ll never find peace.”

Anyone with information on the vehicle or those believed to be in it at the time of the hit-and-run is asked to call APD at 907-786-8900. An anonymous tip can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers at 907-561-7867.

KTVA 11′s Daniella Rivera contributed to this report. 

Anchorage police say they are looking for a male suspect who allegedly robbed a Brown Jug store on Fireweed Lane early Sunday morning.

Multiple callers reported the robbery around 12:30 a.m., according to a statement from police spokeswoman Renee Oistad.

“According to witnesses, a black male entered the store with a long gun, and ordered the clerk to give him money from the cash register,” Oistad wrote. “The suspect left with an undisclosed amount of cash.”

At least two people were in the store at the time of the robbery, including a customer. Oistad said no one was hurt.

The suspect left the area on foot, and a K9 search for him was unsuccessful, she said.

He was wearing dark clothing and had a bandana covering his face. Oistad said at this time, images from surveillance cameras at the store will not be made public.

Anyone with any information about the robbery or the suspect is asked to call Anchorage police at 907-786-8900. An anonymous tip can be submitted through Crime Stoppers by calling 907-561-7867.

Six Anchorage residents have been indicted on 30 counts related to numerous vehicle thefts and burglaries that occurred in late-March of this year.

The announcement was made Monday at a joint press conference between the Anchorage Police Department and the Anchorage District Attorney’s office.

Four men and two women are named in the indictment. The men named, Usugafono Palauni, 23, a.k.a ”Shalom” or “Baloney”; Faamolemole Uiese, 26, a.k.a. “Smokey”; David Ekeroma Fatialofa, 26, a.k.a. “Tavita”; and Fale Junior Moevao, 30, a.k.a. “Mako,” are currently in custody.

The two women named, Desiree Osburn, 32, and Joslyn Pagaduan, 32, face first-degree charges of hindering the prosecution and are wanted by police.

Joslyn Pagaduan (L) and Desiree Osburn (R)

APD is asking anyone with information related to the women wanted in the case to call  907-786-8900.

The men in custody face multiple counts related to vehicle theft and burglary. Prosecutors allege the men stole four vehicles over 11 days in late-March and used them to rob multiple businesses in Anchorage and Eagle River.

“They are charged with using the vehicles to drive to and burglarize 12 different businesses in Anchorage and Eagle River, and with stealing thousands of dollars of property in the burglaries,” police wrote in a Monday release.

After noticing an increase in vehicle thefts, the district attorney’s office began working alongside APD to come up with an explanation.

“In February, March in particular our office noticed that we had seen double the number of cases, either referred or charged, in our office for vehicle theft,” District Attorney Clint Campion stated at the press conference. “We understood at that point that we needed to take a different approach to vehicle thefts.”

Police and prosecutors said “hundreds of hours” were spent on the investigation. Assistant District Attorney James Klugman was assigned to the case and presented the 30-count indictment to the Anchorage Grand Jury last week.

The four men named in the indictment were arrested on separate charges “sometime in early May” and have additional charges pending, according to Klugman.

Officials thanked local business owners who were burglarized for coming forward, sharing surveillance video and working with police and prosecutors on the case.

Docs say several stores around town were robbed. Fix Auto trimmed down bushes to make security footage clearer @ktva pic.twitter.com/7GiYilxYLa

— Eric Ruble (@e_ruble) August 15, 2016

Access to Police Scanners

Tolley also addressed the decision to turn off public access to police scanners.

“Originally, the scanner was turned off because of events like this,” said Tolley, referring to the string of vehicle thefts and burglaries earlier this year. “We knew that criminals were using the scanner for tactical advantage.”

He also cited the possible release of a victim’s private information as reason for turning off the feed. Tolley said he challenged information technology personnel at APD, the municipality and major news organizations in Anchorage to come up with a way to broadcast the scanner without sending out personal information.

“It’s a bit frustrating, you know, we want the community to be informed and well aware of what’s going on each and every day, because ultimately we want their help. But we have to protect victims’ rights and we have to abide by the law,” added Tolley.

The scanners have been turned off multiple times since January. Police have cited maintenance as well as “ongoing investigations” as reason for the outages. In a letter sent to major Anchorage news outlets on Aug. 5, municipal manager Mike Abbott announced the municipality would “fully encrypt all public safety radio communications.”

“We’ve yet, together as a community, come up with a solution,” said Tolley.

This is a developing story; please check back for updates. 

James Baker

A 34-year-old Anchorage man accused of killing one person and attempting to kill four others has pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of first-degree murder and a consolidated count of attempted murder.

According to a statement from Deputy District Attorney Christina Sherman, James Baker agreed to a plea deal that would require him to admit to shooting at June McCarr and four others on March 8, 2015, resulting in McCarr’s death.

Baker drove the victims to Mile High Drive in Eagle River, where the group did drugs, according to court documents. Baker then got out of the vehicle and began firing at them for an undisclosed reason. McCarr died inside the vehicle, but the other four were able to flee. Two of the surviving witnesses suffered gunshot wounds.

Baker called 911 to report his vehicle had been stolen. He was later arrested and charged with first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree attempted murder and one count of third-degree assault.

A 34-year-old male victim was hospitalized after police found him suffering from a gunshot wound early Monday morning. Police said he was uncooperative and they are now asking the public for additional information about the shooting.

The victim was found on the 1200 block of East 13th Avenue around 1:20 a.m., according to a statement from police spokeswoman Renee Oistad. He was transported to a hospital, and it was determined his wound was not life-threatening, she said.

“The victim was very uncooperative with police,” Oistad wrote. “He revealed only enough information for officers to ascertain the shooting was a targeted event.”

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Anchorage police at 907-786-8900. Witnesses wishing to remain anonymous can submit a tip by calling 907-561-7867.

The Anchorage Police Department arrested a couple after they allegedly robbed a man who tried to pay for sex with one of the suspects on Saturday.

The victim made arrangements to meet with 25-year-old Sadie Saechao and pay her to have sex with him, police said in a statement. He picked her up and took her to his home on Kathy Place, but was followed by Saechao’s boyfriend, 25-year-old Daniel Hart.

Once inside, Saechao allegedly tried to take money from the victim, at which point they began to physically struggle, police wrote. Saechao screamed and Hart began banging on the door in an attempt to get inside. When no one answered the door, Hart broke in through a window and pointed a gun at the victim, stopping the fight.

Hart broke the victim’s phone and then he and Saechao left with the victim’s television and money, according to police.

The victim called police and reported the robbery and the vehicle the couple left in, a green Jeep Cherokee. An APD officer spotted the Jeep near the Glenn Highway and Muldoon Road and pulled them over, police said. The couple was then taken to APD headquarters for questioning.

Police charged Saechao with first-degree robbery, third-degree theft and prostitution. Hart faces charges of first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, third-degree assault, third-degree theft and fifth-degree criminal mischief. They were both taken to the Anchorage Correctional Complex to await their arraignments on Monday afternoon.

Police said the victim did not have sexual contact with Saechao. Police spokeswoman Renee Oistad said he will not face charges of soliciting prostitution because investigators need his cooperation in prosecuting the more serious offenses related to the robbery.

KTVA 11′s Manny Creech contributed to this report.

Clifford Lee

An Anchorage man accused of sexually assaulting at least eight women between 2001 and 2014 has agreed to plead guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual assault. As part of his plea deal, he will also have to admit to all of the assaults.

Clifford Lee was first arrested in 2014 after a string of sexual assaults in Anchorage that summer. Five women initially reported being sexually assaulted by a man matching his description, threatening to hurt them with a stun gun or kill them if they did not comply. His arrest led to the discovery of his involvement in other sexual assault cases dating back to 2001.

“The Anchorage Police Department investigated sexual assaults in 2001 and 2005 which were not initially solved,” Assistant District Attorney Jenna Gruenstein wrote in a statement on the case. “The Anchorage Police Department collected Lee’s DNA in 2014, which led to his identification as the suspect in the 2001 and 2005 sexual assaults through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).”

The case against Lee is being touted by the Alaska Department of Law as an example of why sexual assaults should be reported even when prosecution seems unlikely. Gruenstein noted that law enforcement agencies preserve evidence collected in sexual assault investigations, including rape kits, until the crime is solved. Because of the DNA collected after Lee’s arrest in 2014, the Anchorage Police Department’s Special Victims Unit was able to reopen the earlier sexual assault cases and connect them to Lee.

Bethel Court House

Photo: Adrian Wagner / KYUK

A Quinhagak man facing multiple felony charges escaped from custody outside the Bethel courthouse Tuesday morning, leading to a multi-agency manhunt in the town.

A court service officer (CSO) transporting 21-year-old Brenton White and other inmates reported the escape at 8:25 a.m. White had slipped out of his restraints, which were connecting him to another inmate, an online Alaska State Trooper dispatch explained. Troopers said the CSO did not chase after him because of the other inmates in his custody.

Brenton White. Photo: Bethel Police Department

Troopers, Bethel police, other CSOs and adult probation officers (APO) began searching for White immediately after the report came in, the dispatch said. An hour later, he was spotted running across the highway near the courthouse and tried to hide in an abandoned home nearby. A trooper and an APO attempted to arrest him, but White physically resisted, troopers wrote.

“Both officers received minor injuries in the form of bruises and scratches,” the dispatch noted. “White complained of pain to one of his legs.”

After he was cleared by medical staff, authorities took him to the Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center, where he was booked on charges of second-degree escape and resisting arrest, as well as two counts of fourth-degree assault on a police officer, troopers said.

Online court records show he was brought back to court that afternoon to be arraigned as originally scheduled for the morning on two counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor and three counts of furnishing alcohol to a minor, all of which are felonies. That case stems from an incident that occurred in Quinhagak on July 16 when White allegedly gave alcohol to three young children and then tried to sexually touch two of them, KYUK Public Media reported.

The Anchorage Police Department is looking for a man who broke into a vehicle parked in the Mountain View neighborhood Wednesday, then fled on foot when confronted.

At around 2:30 p.m. police received a call from someone who said a man had broken into his car on the 800 block of North Bliss Street, then pointed a gun at him when he approached, according to a release from APD.

The suspect is described by police as a Samoan or Polynesian male in his early twenties, about five-foot eleven weighing 210 pounds with a small afro. He was last seen in the area of North Bliss St. and McPhee Avenue wearing a sweatband and a grey jacket, police said.

Police believe he has a handgun in his possession.

Police are asking anyone with information to call Crimestoppers at 907-561-7867 or make an anonymous tip online.

This is a developing story; please check back for details.