Deaths

Alaska State Troopers said that they received a report from Akiachak tribal police just after midnight on July 6 that 37-year-old Fred Nose Jr. had stabbed his cousin, 41-year-old Randy Nose, who later died from his injuries.

Alaska State Troopers said that 36-year-old Levi Beaver gave differing accounts of the events that led to 28-year-old Byron Waska being found dead in Beaver’s home on July 1.

Bethel Director of Public Safety Jeffrey Kirkham said two officers fired shots that ultimately killed 23-year-old Neil Japhet at a home on Schwalbe Street after Japhet allegedly brandished a shotgun.

Alaska State Troopers received a report late Thursday night (April 23) from the Kuskokwim Delta community that a three-year-old boy had fallen through ice near a culvert in the village.

Jayme Watson, 27, has been sentenced to serve 1 year and 3 months in jail as part of a 5-year total sentence for an incident in Bethel that resulted in the death of Fritzerald Larson, and left Toby Jackson with permanent injuries.

Last week, a Bethel grand jury indicted Robert Alexia on murder charges in the death of 81-year-old Nick Alexia Sr., who previously served as first tribal chief in the upper Kuskokwim River community.

Jonathan Owens, 42, has been charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 15 shooting death of 54-year-old Tuluksak resident Nelson Hawk at a fish camp near the community.

Darren Hootch, 39, was sentenced for manslaughter and felony burglary after Brian Agwiak was found beaten to death in his home on Jan. 2, 2021. Another man, Rudolf Waska, received a nearly identical sentence in the case.

Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica reporter Kyle Hopkins recently wrote about Whitman’s murder and Paul’s release. He said the incident speaks to wider issues within Alaska’s justice system.

Justine Paul was accused of killing his girlfriend, Eunice Whitman. In Alaska’s slow-motion criminal justice system, he was kept behind bars even as the evidence against him fell apart.