ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The suspect in a torture killing in Alaska’s biggest city ended up leading police right to him, first by losing a digital memory card labeled “Homicide at midtown Marriott” that contained video of the dying woman.
Then came an even more innocuous blunder: He spoke on the tape in his distinctive, very un-Alaska accent.
When a woman found the memory card on the street and turned it over to police, what detectives saw was horrific. At one point, the suspect complained to the victim, whose face was swollen and bloodied: “My hand’s getting tired.” He then stomped her throat with his right foot.
Amid the footage, a clue: The man spoke in an “English sounding accent,” and detectives recalled Brian Steven Smith, a 48-year-old South African, from another investigation, the details of which they have not disclosed.
They arrested Smith, who has pleaded not guilty to the September killing of 30-year-old Kathleen Henry, an Alaska Native woman. During his interrogation, police say he confessed to shooting another Alaska Native woman. Police won’t say if there may be other victims.