ANKERAGE, Alaska — A man accused of killing two Alaska Native women recorded images of both of his victims, and the break in the case came when a third woman stole the man’s phone and police stole photos and videos of one of the murders, a prosecutor told jurors at a news conference. opening statements in the case Tuesday.
Brian Steven Smith faces 14 charges, including first-degree murder, assault and tampering with evidence, in the deaths of Kathleen Jo Henry and Veronica Abouchuk.
Authorities said he strangled Henry, 30, in an Anchorage hotel room in September 2019, and that when they questioned him about it, he volunteered that he also killed Abouchuk, who was 52 when her family found her in February 2019 reported missing.
“After this trial, all of you will bear the burden of knowing – the burden of knowing the human tragedy associated with 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.”
Smith’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 wild. being arrested for theft or attempted prostitution.
She 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 takes the witness stand to talk about how she came into possession of these videos, but suffice it to say, the whole thing has changed 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.
The last photos 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 on 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.