A man convicted of killing two women in Hooper Bay in 2024 has been sentenced to serve 70 years in prison.
This spring, 22-year-old Shaquille Carawan pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 18-year-olds Novely Rivers and Abigail Olson. The pair were found inside a home with multiple stab wounds on Oct. 2, 2024.
Alaska State Troopers linked Carawan to the crimes through text messages indicating he planned to provide marijuana and homebrew alcohol to the women early on the morning of their deaths.
At Carawan’s home, troopers said they found bloodstained shoes and a bag of bloody clothes in a steam bath on the property, along with the knife used in the murders. Carawan ultimately waived his right to remain silent and made incriminating statements to investigators, according to court filings.
On Oct. 20, Bethel Judge Nathaniel Peters sentenced Carawan to a total sentence of 120 years in prison, with 50 years suspended. Peters said at sentencing that it was one of the most egregious homicides he had ever seen.
At the sentencing hearing, Olson's parents asked for a harsher sentence. They said they still couldn’t understand why their daughter’s life had been taken so suddenly.
Carawan declined to speak at his sentencing. He asked his publicly appointed lawyer to apologize on his behalf. Carawan had no prior criminal record at the time of the murders.
Rivers’ mother, who said she came home to discover the pair dead, asked Carawan over the phone to write a letter to the families explaining his side. She said she battles depression from reliving the horror of the day of the murders.
Carawan was initially also charged with two counts of first-degree murder. At sentencing, Bethel District Attorney Mark Clark said that a plea agreement for the lesser charges of second-degree murder was largely motivated by a desire to avoid a trial that could further traumatize the victims’ loved ones.
Clark said the 70-year prison sentence for Carawan essentially amounts to a life sentence. Clark said the chances of Carawan receiving discretionary parole that would allow him to potentially be released decades early are “virtually zero.”
