Alaska killer filmed strangling of Native American woman and saved it on drive labeled ‘Homicide at midtown Marriot’, prosecutors say

A truck driver accused of killing two Alaska Native women in 2019 recorded a video of himself strangling one victim, a prosecutor said Tuesday during opening statements in the case.

South African Brian Steven Smith, 48, was charged with the murders of Kathleen Jo Henry and Veronica Abouchuk after police discovered gruesome photos and videos on his phone that had been stolen by a third woman, the court heard.

His alleged gruesome murder plot came to light when a woman came across a lost digital memory card labeled “Homicide at Midtown Marriott,” which contained harrowing footage of him strangling Henry, who was 30 at the time.

Once in custody, he reportedly confessed to shooting 52-year-old Abouchuk and showed police where he had disposed of her body. Despite this, he pleaded not guilty to both murders in October 2019.

Smith faces 14 charges, including first-degree murder, assault and tampering with evidence.

Smith, 48, was charged with the murders of Kathleen Jo Henry (left) and Veronica Abouchuk (right) after police discovered photos and videos of the killings on his phone stolen by a third woman, court heard.

Smith is accused of killing Henry at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott (pictured), a hotel in downtown Anchorage, Alaska

Authorities said he strangled Henry in an Anchorage hotel room in September 2019, and that when they questioned him about it, he volunteered that he also killed Abouchuk after her family reported her missing in February 2019.

“After this trial, all of you will bear the burden of knowing – the burden of knowing the human tragedy that accompanied the sexual assault, murder and throwing away of two beautiful human lives,” said District Attorney Brittany Dunlop.

“These two lives are what we are here for.”

The defendant’s attorney, Timothy Ayer, questioned how the recordings came to investigators’ attention — and whether they represent what prosecutors say they do.

Smith is from South Africa and police said they recognized his distinctive voice and accent in the videos of Henry’s death from an earlier investigation, which has not been disclosed.

Ayer suggested that police had tried to “reverse engineer a crime based on what they think they saw on the video.”

The woman who provided the images, Valerie Casler, initially told police that she had found a memory card containing gruesome images while walking down an Anchorage street.

She then changed her story, saying that Smith picked her up for a “date,” that she stole a memory card when he got out of his truck to use an ATM, and that she initially lied about it because she didn’t want to being arrested for theft or attempted prostitution.

Smith (pictured) faces 14 charges, including first and second degree murder, assault and tampering with evidence

Brian Steven Smith confers with his attorneys during the opening day of his double murder trial on Tuesday, February 6, 2024 in Anchorage, Alaska

The trial of Smith, who is accused of killing two Alaska Native women, began Tuesday more than four years after a woman turned in a digital memory card that authorities said contained gruesome recordings of one of the killings.

Casler recently changed her story again, Ayer said, saying she stole Smith’s phone, copied the images to a digital memory card and then lost the phone itself, along with the original photos and videos.

“I can’t tell you what she’s going to say when she goes on the witness stand to talk about how she came to have these videos, but suffice it to say, it changed everything in four years,” Ayer said. “She lied about it several times.”

Ayer tried to prevent the videos from being shown at trial, arguing that prosecutors would not be able to verify them, but Judge Kevin Saxby disagreed.

“She had no idea what was on that phone, but that phone was the heart of this case,” Dunlop said.

Authorities said Smith recorded Henry’s death at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott, a downtown Anchorage hotel where Smith worked in maintenance, including footage of her blanket-covered body being smuggled out on a luggage cart.

Smith was registered to stay at the hotel from September 2 to 4, 2019; The first images showing Henry’s body were timestamped around 1 a.m. on September 4, police said.

Dunlop told the jury that Smith claims he has no memory of the event. “What he does say is that he found Kathleen Jo Henry’s body in his truck the next morning.

“He didn’t know what to do, so he drove it around for two days before dumping the body,” she said.

Prosecutors allege Smith lured Kathleen Henry (pictured) to a hotel room in Anchorage, Alaska in September 2019 and then filmed her torture and murder. Her body was later discovered along a highway

Rena Sapp (photo outside a courtroom in Anchorage, Alaska in October 2019) shows a photo of her sister, Veronica Abouchuk, taken during a shopping trip in 2013. Brian Steven Smith reportedly admitted to fatally shooting Abouchuk in 2017 or 2018

Brian Steven Smith is pictured with his wife, Stephanie Bissland of Anchorage. Bissland and a sister who acted as a family spokesperson in South Africa both declined to comment until after the trial

The last images on the card were taken early on Sept. 6 and show Henry’s body in the back of a black pickup truck, according to charging documents.

Location data showed that at the time the photo was taken, Smith’s phone was near Rainbow Valley Road, along the Seward Highway south of Anchorage, the same area where Henry’s body was found several weeks later, police said .

Dunlop also described Abuuchuk’s death. She said a search warrant served at Smith’s home turned up a flash drive that had been removed, but investigators were able to recover its contents — including videos of Abouchuk before and after her death.

Smith picked up Abouchuk, who was struggling with homelessness, and brought him to his home sometime in mid-August 2018, Dunlop said. She said Smith shot her when Abouchuk resisted his demand that she take a shower.

Alaska State Troopers in 2018 incorrectly identified another body as Abouchuk’s because Abouchuk’s ID was discovered with it, for reasons that remain unclear.

But with the information Smith provided, investigators reexamined the case and used dental records to confirm that a skull with a gunshot wound was found in the area Smith believed was Abouchuk’s, authorities say.

The process is expected to take three to four weeks.