Last updated at 8:41 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 17
A man indicted Monday for the deaths of two people nearly a year ago has been arrested by Anchorage police.
The Anchorage Police Department announced just after 5 a.m. Saturday that Jamal Hall, who was indicted Monday for the double homicide at Point Woronzof in January, was taken into custody without incident. Department spokesperson Renee Oistad declined to answer questions about capturing Hall, but said police found him through “their investigative efforts.”
For 11 months, the families of 20-year-old Foriegnne Aubert-Morissette and 19-year-old Selena Annette Mullenax waited for answers. Finally, two days after what would have been Mullenax’s 20th birthday, her mother got a call from investigators, telling her the news: Someone had been indicted for the deaths.
“Knowing that her killer is hopefully gonna be behind bars here soon has brought a lot of relief,” Rose Mullenax said about the news.
Hall was originally a burglary suspect wanted by the Anchorage Police Department before Monday’s indictment.
Anchorage police issued a statement on Dec. 1 asking the public for helping locating him in connection to a robbery at a Walgreens store on Northern Lights Boulevard.
Along with first-degree robbery and third-degree assault, Hall now faces charges of two counts each of first- and second-degree murder for the deaths. The two were found at Point Woronzof early on the morning of Jan. 28 by a passerby. Selena Mullenax was already dead when police arrived, but Aubert-Morissette was still alive. He later died at a nearby hospital.
Selena Mullenx and Foriegnne Aubert-Morrisette. Courtesy Anchorage Police Department
“The Anchorage Police Department’s homicide unit has investigated the homicide over the last 11 months,” Anchorage District Attorney Clint Campion said in a statement. “Allegedly, Hall shot Aubert-Morrissette in the head near the beach then allegedly shot Mullenax halfway down the hill.”
Campion said bail in the homicide case has been set for $1 million, while a judge issued a no-bail warrant for Hall’s arrest in the robbery.
Hall remained at large for the rest of the week, while police urged the public for help finding him, citing concerns that the man posed a danger to public safety.
“Mr. Hall is a young man, I understand that he and those close to him might be very scared about what he could be facing and I understand and appreciate that,” Campion said in an interview. “It’s our goal and the goal of the police department to bring Mr. Hall safely into custody in connection with this warrant allow his rights to be protected and make sure no one else is harmed.”
While Rose Mullenax prepared for her first holiday season without her daughter, Hall was out living life, as evidenced by posts made on a Facebook account that appears to belong to him.
The posts are no longer accessible to the public.
Campion said investigators haven’t released much information about the case — including how they connected Hall as a suspect — because they’re protecting the investigation.
“We want to make sure that we maintain the integrity of the investigation so that we’re not putting out information into the community that would only be known by people that would be at a homicide scene or would have seen something or heard something,” he explained.
He didn’t go into details about the relationship between Hall and the victims, but said investigators do not believe the killings were random.
A former Anchorage detective said he believes the crime could be gang-related. Scott Lofthouse, once involved in gang intelligence at APD, said Hall has friends on Facebook who are known gang members, and Aubert-Morrisette — who also went by the nickname “Onie” — was a known member of a local Crips gang.
“Seeing that Jamal Hall is the one that’s been indicted and seeing his associations and knowing Onie Morrisette’s associations, I absolutely think there was some kind of gang association there,” Lofthouse said. “Whether or not it was done in the name of a gang is hard to say.”
Campion said prosecutors have developed a motive in the case but probably won’t release it until a trial gets underway.
If convicted, Hall faces up to 99 in years in prison for each murder charge, Campion said.
“A defendant’s sentence is determined by the judge who must consider the circumstances of the offense, the impact on the victims and the community, and the potential for rehabilitation of the defendant,” he added.
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