A Napakiak resident has been charged with murder nearly three months after a woman died in the lower Kuskokwim River village under what Alaska State Troopers said were “suspicious circumstances.”
Twenty-eight-year-old Allen Amik faces two counts of second-degree murder and two felony counts of tampering with physical evidence for allegedly killing 27-year-old Kari Nicholai and attempting to clean up the scene.
According to a trooper affidavit in support of the charges, Amik told a health aide in Napakiak that Nicholai had died from self-inflicted wounds while at his residence on the evening of Dec. 21, 2024. Amik told troopers who responded to Napakiak the following morning that he and Nicholai had been in a relationship at the time of her death.
Results of an autopsy performed by the state medical examiner office on Nicholai’s body showed a number of serious injuries not consistent with self-harm or the account of the incident provided by Amik, according to the trooper affidavit.
During a March 21 arraignment for Amik in Bethel court, both Nicholai’s older sister and brother called in to request that the court deny bail for Amik.
Deputy Magistrate Judge Adam Moore ultimately set bail at $500,000, calling the allegations in the trooper affidavit “very disturbing.”
"The facts detail a very horrific incident that occurred for this young woman. So the charges in that case are among the most serious this state has," Moore said.
As of March 21, Amik is being held at the Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center in Bethel. A preliminary hearing in his case is scheduled for April 1 in Bethel court.
