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[Music] Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at
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any time you need support, please contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers, for
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confidential support, and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this
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episode on your app or on our website. Late in the afternoon on Monday, September 30, 2019, a call came
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through to police in the city of Anchorage, Alaska, regarding a disturbing discovery in the Fair View
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neighborhood just east of downtown. A passer by who'd been near a grocery store at the corner of Gamble
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Street and 13th Avenue had noticed something lying on the ground. It was a micro SD card, a small flash memory
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device commonly used in portable electronics such as digital cameras and mobile phones. The card was labeled homicide at
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Midtown Marriott. Driven by curiosity, the person who found the card inserted it
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into a device to examine its contents. It held a series of photographs and videos, all dated earlier that month.
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The content was of amateur quality and appeared to have been recorded on a smartphone. Upon pressing play on one of
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the videos, the viewer was immediately confronted by the image of a naked woman with long dark hair sprawled on her back
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across a distinctive patented carpet. Her face was severely bruised, swollen, and bloodied.
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From behind the camera, a man spoke with a distinct accent. Though his face and body never
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appeared on screen, his hands were visible as he struck and strangled the battered woman, who reacted weakly as
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though she was barely conscious. All the while, the man mocked her in a flat, chilling
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tone. "You live, you die. You live. You die. [Music] [Music] Almost 2 weeks earlier on the night of
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Thursday, September 19, 2019, 52-year-old Valerie Castler had been standing near the grocery store at the
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corner of Gamble Street and 13th Avenue in Anchorage. Just before 2:00 a.m., a lone
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man emerged from the cold darkness. He was white with a short, solidly built frame, gray hair, and
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sharp facial features. As he spoke, Valerie noticed his voice was marked by a foreign accent
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that sounded European to her. Valerie, who performed sex work, agreed to go with the man. She got into the
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passenger seat of his black Ford Ranger pickup truck, and he drove her a few blocks south to Malay Baseball Stadium,
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then onto the neighboring Sullivan Arena. They stayed in his truck until 4:00 a.m. When the man said that he
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needed to withdraw cash to pay her, he drove to a Shell gas station and pulled in.
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The man began searching his truck for a misplaced cell phone. It wasn't his regular phone, but an older additional
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model he happened to have in the vehicle for some reason. After a brief, unsuccessful
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search, he gave up and went into the gas station to use the ATM. He returned a few minutes later and
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continued driving Valerie around until 7:00 a.m. before dropping her off at a tent in a wooded area near a church
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where she was staying at the time. Once alone in her tent, Valerie pulled out the man's
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phone. She had found it under her car seat while he was inside the gas station and had pocketed it without a word.
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Its battery was dead, so she went elsewhere to charge the device. Once it powered up, she returned
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to her tent and turned it on. Scrolling through the phone's apps, she stumbled upon a series of images and
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videos taken earlier that month. Valerie, who struggled with alcohol and drug use disorder, had spent
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the past 2 weeks on a prolonged bender. When she viewed the phone's contents, she immediately sobered
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up. A man had filmed himself violently attacking and cruy mocking a badly beaten woman inside a
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room. The patented carpet beneath the woman was instantly familiar to Valerie. It was the same one found in the guest
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rooms at the Marriott Town Place Suites in downtown Anchorage, about 2 mi south of Fairview.
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While the attacker's face never appeared on the video, his voice did. Valerie immediately recognized his distinct
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accent. It belonged to the man she had spent the previous night with, the owner of the
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phone. Valerie didn't know what to do. reporting the troubling discovery might lead to her own arrest, either for
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stealing the phone or worse for prostitution if she admitted why they were together in the first
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place. Finally, driven by the fear that the man might harm another woman, Valerie came up with a
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plan. Days after taking the phone, she transferred its incriminating images and videos to a micro SD card. She then
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labeled the card homicide at Midtown Marriott, wanting authorities to have as much information as possible about the
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crime once they got their hands on it. On Monday, September 30, Valerie went to her doctor's office with the SD
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card. She made up a story about finding the card on the ground near the grocery store where she had first encountered
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the man. The doctor called the police on Valerie's behalf and she handed the card
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over to investigators. Although Valerie initially lied about how she came into possession of the SD card, fearing legal
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repercussions, she eventually came clean and admitted to having stolen the offender's cell phone.
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By the time she spoke with police, however, she no longer had the device, explaining that she had since lost it
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somewhere in the woods. Investigators corroborated her account by reviewing CCTV footage from
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the Shell gas station, where she said the man had stopped to withdraw cash. The footage showed the man entering the
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store, browsing snacks and drinks, then spending several minutes at the ATM before returning to his truck where
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Valerie was waiting. The SD card contained 12 videos and 39 photos in total, all created over
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a 3-day period between September 3 and 6, 2019. The victim appeared to be an Alaska
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native woman, though the injuries to her face were so severe that she was unrecognizable. Neither the offender's
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face nor body were visible in any of the content, but his right hand could be seen repeatedly slapping and strangling
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the woman. She struggled to breathe, clawing at his wrist in a desperate attempt to make him stop. At intervals,
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he loosened his grip, leaving her gasping for air. before the assault resumed. Throughout the videos, the
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man's voice could be heard. Speaking with a distinctive foreign accent, he complained that his hand was getting
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tired before inflicting further harm on the woman with his foot. He verbally abused her, stating,
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"You need to [ __ ] die, [ __ ] Just [ __ ] die." At one point, he pulled out a piece of
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string and wrapped it around the woman's neck, tightening it and then releasing it. Each time he let go, he said the
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words, "You live," followed by the words, "You die" as he pulled the string toward again. Then he added, "Sadly, in
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my movies, everyone dies." The man hummed the suspenseful instrumental theme from the movie Jaws,
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made bizarre sound effects with his mouth and tongue, and sang the song Thunderruck by Australian rock band
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AC/DC. As the woman struggled to breathe, the man laughed and mocked her as he continued to torture her. He
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complained about how long she was taking to die, berating her that it was cutting
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into his drinking time. When some of her blood got onto his hand, he became upset and accused
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her of giving him hepatitis. At times, he spoke as though acknowledging an audience that might be
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watching the videos. He made remarks about trying to get the right action shot and winning an
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Oscar. At one point, he said to the victim, "Listen, you need to finish this movie because I just can't [ __ ] go on
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anymore. What are my followers going to think of me? People need to know when they are being serial
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killed. The woman appeared to be unconscious throughout with her occasional defensive reactions and
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attempts to breathe seeming more like reflexes than conscious actions. In total, the videos amounted
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to more than 35 minutes of harrowing footage. A distinct blue and black bag was occasionally visible in the frame.
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The first still image had been taken at 12:59 a.m. on Wednesday, September 4. In this picture, the woman was still
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lying on the hotel room floor next to a bed, her right eye partially open, and her left eye bruised and swollen shut
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with blood along its opening. Her lips were blue and bloodied. Later images showed the woman wrapped in
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a bed sheet, posed halfway on the foot of the bed with red ligature marks visible on her
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neck. 2 hours later at 2:51 and 2:52 a.m., photos taken in a parking lot showed a rolling hotel luggage cart
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parked next to a black older model Ford Ranger pickup truck with a white topper on it.
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The woman's body lay on the luggage cart covered by a white blanket with her head
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partially exposed. Following this were seven photos of the woman lying face down in
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the back of the truck. She was covered by the white blanket as well as a blue top and
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concealed from view by the white top fitted to the truck bed. The last of these photographs was dated
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Friday, September 6 at 1:12 a.m., more than 48 hours after the first video was taken. Nothing in the photos or video
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footage immediately revealed the identities of either the victim or the offender. Valerie Castler provided a
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physical description of the man whose phone she had stolen, but the most compelling lead was his distinctive
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accent. Valerie thought the man sounded European, but some of the police officers speculated that he might be
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English. However, one detective reviewing the videos knew that it was neither of
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those. He knew because he recognized the voice as soon as he heard it. 2016 had been a difficult year for
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39year-old Alicia Young Bloodood. Over the course of two weeks, she had been laid off at work, lost her home after
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her landlady needed to sell the property, and her truck broke down. Family and friends supported
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Alicia and her six children until she could get back on her feet. But by the summer of 2017, she was ready for a
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fresh start. She decided to move north from her home in Texas to the state of Alaska.
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Alicia's warm, outgoing personality, coupled with her adventurous spirit, ensured that the change wouldn't be too
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difficult. She found a job at an engineering firm called Dell Engineering, and began making friends in
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her new city, Anchorage. One of these friends was a 46-year-old colleague named Brian Smith.
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The two got to know each other after Smith started training Allayia to perform site
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inspections. Smith was relatively new to Anchorage as well, having moved there from South Africa in
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2014. Years earlier, he had served in the South African Army before working at a software company and later managing
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guest houses. At one point, he tried to launch his own online dating site, but it
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didn't take off. However, he did have personal success in meeting someone [Music]
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online. In 2013, Brian Smith began an internet relationship with an American woman named Stephanie, whom he met
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through online gaming. Stephanie had previously worked as an administrative officer for US
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immigration in Anchorage. and Smith, who harbored dreams of one day opening an inn in Alaska, was happy to
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relocate. The pair married in 2014, and Smith had lived in Anchorage ever since. He enjoyed exploring the Alaskan
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wilderness and its remote back country, often uploading videos of his adventures
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online onto his personal YouTube channel. He also shared footage of Stephanie performing on stage as a musician along
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with clips from a trip they took to Hawaii. To those who knew him, Smith came across as someone who was meek,
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affectionate, and fond of corny dad jokes. But despite the public image he projected of a happily married man,
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Smith was privately frustrated by Stephanie. Specifically, he felt their sexual connection was
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lacking. Stephanie was two decades older than Smith and she needed time and forewarning to engage in
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intimacy. Wanting a more spontaneous sex life, Smith began to look outside of his
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marriage. In 2018, Brian Smith turned his attention to Alicia Young Bloodood and the two co-workers struck up a
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romantic relationship. As they grew closer, they began to confide increasingly personal things to
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one another. They spoke about difficult past experiences, sometimes jokingly trying
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to one up each other. Smith also shared explicit sexual fantasies with Alicia, sending her
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messages about how he wanted to tie her up, choke her, and pour vodka down her throat.
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But by the middle of August 2018, the fantasies took a troubling turn when Smith shared something deeply disturbing
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with Alicia. He told her that he had killed [Music] someone. According to Smith, about a
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week prior, in the early morning hours of Friday, August 3, 2018, he'd picked up a sex worker near the Department of
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Motor Vehicles building in Anchorage. After the woman got into his car, Smith drove them both to her small studio
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apartment, which was located just a few minutes away. Smith claimed that while they were
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there, he cut off the sex worker's underwear and removed it from her body. He then killed her before taking photos
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and videos of her corpse. Alicia was horrified by Smith's admission. She later placed a call to
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Crimestoppers and shared what she knew about Smith's claims to Anchorage police. But without the alleged victim's
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name and address, or any evidence for the detectives to verify, there was little they could do. In the meantime,
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Alicia tried to coax more information from Smith in the hopes he would give her something concrete for police to
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investigate. She contacted him via Facebook Messenger, feigning a prerient interest in his claims and demanding
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that he provide evidence of the murder. After some back and forth, Smith told Alicia, "I think I would like you
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to see those video clips." Alicia encouraged Smith to send them to her, replying, "Do you see now why I want to
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see them so badly? I need to see them." Smith responded. I acted a little bit psycho
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because I enjoyed it so much. It was a huge relief after being good for so many years. I'm still worried you will think
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I'm messed up. Although Smith never sent Alicia the videos, he did show them to her in
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person along with some photos. Alicia did her best to describe what she'd seen to the police. While the
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footage hadn't shown an actual murder, Alicia recalled seeing a light-skinned black woman who appeared to be either
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unconscious or possibly dead. In one picture, a naked Brian Smith stood over the woman who was sprawled
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out with her eyes closed. Some of the videos showed him violating her sexually. Smith told Alicia that he'd
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wanted to cut her breasts off, but hadn't. Terrified that Smith might attack another woman, Alicia kept in regular
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contact with Anchorage police over the following weeks, updating them with every new admission he
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made. She even handed over her phone so they could access the messages the two had shared, hoping they might find
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something to kickstart an investigation. One day, Smith took Alicia to a power plant in a clutner, a
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native village within the municipality of Anchorage. He claimed to have dumped the woman's
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body in the vicinity, pointing out an old mattress and a black bag he said were linked to the
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crime. Alicia later took the police to this same location. With the help of a search dog,
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they located the black bag and took it into evidence. However, this bag was later misplaced.
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Detectives gained access to Brian Smith's cell phone records to verify whether he had indeed left town on the
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night of the supposed murder. His phone had not pinged any towers in the Alutner
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area. Given that no proof of any crimes was uncovered, investigators began to suspect that Smith's story to Alicia
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Young Bloodood was nothing more than a sexual roleplay fantasy. After maintaining regular contact with
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Alicia for about a month, Anchorage police marked the case file as closed. The lead detective
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noted. Based on the investigation to date, with no possible victim identified and/or the video of the incident not
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seen by anyone other than Alicia Young Bloodood, this case is being suspended at this time unless additional
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information is obtained at a later date. After this, Alicia swiftly left Anchorage with her children and severed
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ties with Brian Smith for good. There weren't many South Africans living in Anchorage at the time. So,
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when a detective who had previously investigated Alicia Younglood's claims reviewed the cell phone footage of a
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woman being violently attacked in an Anchorage hotel room, one detail stood out. the offender's
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voice. His distinctive accent was instantly recognizable to the investigator. It belonged to 48-year-old
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Brian Smith. Even more disturbing was the date of the footage. It had been recorded in September 2019,
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ruling out the possibility that it was the same video Alicia claimed to have seen more than a year earlier in August
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2018. If Alicia had been correct about having seen a video depicting a murdered woman, did this mean Brian Smith had
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multiple victims? While Smith had worked a few different jobs following his international move,
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by the time police started investigating him in late 2019, he was employed as a maintenance worker at the Marriott Town
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Place Suites in downtown Anchorage, the same hotel where it was believed the cell phone footage was
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shot. Less than 2 weeks before the SD card was handed into police, Smith had obtained
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his US citizenship and officially became an American. His wife had been his financial sponsor.
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Following the internal tip off that the man in the video was Brian Smith, detectives checked the Marriott Town
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Place Suite records and found that Smith had booked room 323 from September 2 until September 4 using his employee
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discount. The carpet in the room also perfectly matched that shown in the images and video footage.
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Vehicle registration records revealed that Smith and his wife owned a 1999 black Ford Ranger pickup truck, which
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was consistent with the vehicle used by the asalent. When detectives zoomed in on
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the images, they could see a small portion of the truck's license plate, making out the numbers
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87. The final three numbers on Smith's license plate were 878. Armed with this evidence,
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detectives wrote up affidavit for warrants to search Brian Smith's home, truck, and cell phone
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records. Officers visited Smith's residence and workplace, but he wasn't at either location, nor was his
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truck. Detectives set up surveillance at the house while a search warrant was executed at room 323 of the Marriott
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Town Place Suites. Nothing of significance was found there, but CCTV footage from the hotel's
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parking lot had captured Smith with the luggage card loading something wrapped in a white blanket into his
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truck. Meanwhile, detectives studied the face and physical characteristics of the
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woman in the murder video to try and identify who she might be. In addition to noting her general
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appearance, race, and her likely height and weight, she had a small mole in the crease of her right
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eyelid. Case detective Brendan Lee cross-cheed these features with missing person's reports and Anchorage Police
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Department databases. Images of the woman's face were taken from the video along with
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pictures of Smith's truck and distributed to patrol officers and homeless shelters statewide. Anyone who
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recognized the woman or had recent contact with her was instructed to pass their information
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on. Among the reports of missing women shared with police was that of 30-year-old Kathleen
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Henry. She had been living in Anchorage since at least 2016, though she hadn't been in touch with her family for
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several years. Kathleen's life had been shaped by hardship. She had dropped out of high
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school, gone through a divorce, struggled with alcohol use, experienced mental health challenges, and had
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frequent interactions with law enforcement. Despite all this, she'd been immensely proud when she earned her
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GED in her early 20s. Investigators found that no one had heard from Kathleen in recent weeks.
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Detective Lee obtained a photograph of Kathleen Henry from the Department of Motor
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Vehicles. Not only did she bear an overall resemblance to the woman seen in the video, but she had a small mole in
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the crease of her right eyelid. The search for Kathleen had only just begun when the situation suddenly
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took a dark turn. Wednesday, October 2, 2019, marked just 10 days since police had received the SD
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card depicting the brutal assault and likely murder of an unidentified Alaska native
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woman. That morning, shortly after 9:00, a call came in from two railroad workers
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stationed near milepost 108 along the Seward Highway, approximately 19 mi southeast of downtown Anchorage.
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The pair had been working near the Rainbow Trail Head hiking area where the Alaska Railroad tracks run parallel to
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the highway framed by a backdrop of snowcapped mountains. The workers had made a grim
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discovery just beyond the road's guardrail. The remains of a woman lying in the fetal position beside the tracks
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in an advanced state of decomposition. It appeared she had been pushed over the guardrail and had gone undiscovered for
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nearly a month. Wildlife likely foraging ahead of winter had hastened the decomposition,
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reducing her body to a partial skeleton. Some bones were missing, but her jawbone remained
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intact. Dental records later confirmed the remains belonged to Kathleen Henry. Investigators were certain that Kathleen
00:27:42
was the woman in the murder video. Their certainty was bolstered by the records that came through for Brian Smith's cell
00:27:50
phone. Data revealed that his phone had been at the Marriott Town Place suites during the period when the videos were
00:27:57
made. Then at around 1:00 a.m. on Friday, September 6th, Smith's phone had pinged
00:28:04
off a tower along a rural stretch of the Seward Highway. This placed him in the same
00:28:10
area where Kathleen's body was dumped and was consistent with the timestamp on the final photo taken in the back of
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Smith's truck. Investigators believed that Smith had kept Kathleen's body in the back of his
00:28:24
truck beneath the white blanket and blue tar for about 48 hours before discarding
00:28:30
her on the side of the road. While police had been surveilling Brian Smith's home since honing in on
00:28:38
him as a suspect, his phone data revealed something else. He was no longer in Anchorage.
00:28:46
Smith's phone was now pinging towers almost 4,300 m away in the United States capital of Washington
00:28:54
DC. Detectives initially had no idea why he would be there, but they soon found out he was on a vacation with his
00:29:03
wife. They notified local law enforcement and FBI agents in the DC area and requested their assistance in
00:29:11
locating and surveilling Smith. By Friday, October 4, 2 days after Kathleen Henry's remains were found,
00:29:20
Smith was located and placed under covert surveillance. Homeland Security notified
00:29:28
Anchorage detectives that Smith was scheduled to fly back to Alaska a few days later on Tuesday, October
00:29:36
8. Detectives prepared to pounce as soon as his flight landed. Meanwhile, Smith's Ford Ranger was
00:29:44
located and impounded. A search of the vehicle turned up a black Adidas bag, which
00:29:50
contained duct tape, nylon rope, latex gloves, and garbage bags. Detectives also found a number of
00:29:59
receipts, including one from the retail store Walmart, marked Wednesday, September 4, hours before Smith began
00:30:07
his assault against Kathleen Henry. He'd purchased some beer and a cell phone, which was possibly the device he'd used
00:30:15
to document the murder. There was also a receipt for a bottle of Clorox bleach from Home
00:30:23
Depot. Another receipt showed that he'd purchased two burgers from a McDonald's restaurant at 1:59 a.m. on Friday,
00:30:31
September 6, less than an hour after he was believed to have dumped Kathleen's body.
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Detectives requested the CCTV footage from that McDonald's for this time period. Cameras at the restaurant's
00:30:47
drive-thru window had captured Smith as he pulled up to it and placed an order. He was wearing a red polo style shirt
00:30:55
with his left elbow leaning out the open window. In the bed of his truck was the
00:31:01
white blanket and blue top shown in the SD card images. Surprisingly, sitting next to Smith in
00:31:09
the passenger seat was an unknown woman rumaging through a handbag. It appeared as though Smith had
00:31:16
driven downtown and picked up another woman right after disposing of Kathleen Henry's
00:31:22
body. Pictures of the mystery woman were distributed to Anchorage police officers, and a possible identification
00:31:29
was provided, but she was unable to be located. At 300 p.m. on Tuesday, October 8, 2019,
00:31:41
Detective Brendan Lee and his colleagues stood at Ted Stevens International Airport in
00:31:47
Anchorage. They were waiting for Brian Smith's flight from Washington DC to land. Smith was returning home solo as
00:31:56
his wife was staying in Virginia a little longer to visit family. When detectives saw the
00:32:03
48-year-old disembark his plane, they ushered him directly into an interrogation
00:32:09
room. Smith sounded slightly confused as his Miranda rights were read to him. He
00:32:15
asked if he was being interviewed about a crime he'd been the victim of a couple
00:32:19
of months earlier. His truck had been broken into and his wallet, a GoPro video camera, and some papers were
00:32:26
stolen. Detectives listened patiently as Smith detailed the break-in before informing
00:32:34
him that he wasn't there for that reason. They actually wanted to ask him about an SD card that had been handed in
00:32:41
and had pictures of his truck on it. Smith claimed to know nothing about this. Changing tac, the detectives asked
00:32:51
Smith whether he ever stayed at the Marriott Hotel where he worked. Smith said that a few weeks earlier he'd
00:32:58
stayed there after having a fight with his wife. On the first night, he stayed alone in the room getting drunk on
00:33:06
whiskey. On the second night, he brought a woman back to his room. Between us, I have been known to
00:33:15
sometimes go out and find a companion, Smith admitted. He said he sometimes cruised by homeless
00:33:22
shelters looking for vulnerable women, stating, "If you drive past, you can find easy girls. 10 bucks, 20 bucks,
00:33:32
they'll do anything." Smith said he would consume excessive amounts of alcohol with these
00:33:39
women and pay them for sex. He boasted that sometimes the women would be so drunk that he didn't even
00:33:46
need to pay. Smith claimed that on Thursday, September 5, 2019, he met a woman at a
00:33:55
shelter and took her back to his hotel room. Smith said he had sex with her that night, then dropped her back at the
00:34:02
shelter the next morning. He described the woman as having very short hair and wearing heavy
00:34:09
makeup. This did not match Kathleen Henry's appearance. Detectives showed Smith photos of Kathleen from the SD card and
00:34:20
asked if he recognized her. Smith was adamant that he didn't. This looks like someone that's
00:34:28
really been beaten up a bit, he said. Detectives then began playing some audio from the videos so Smith could hear
00:34:38
Kathleen being berated by her killer. "That sounds like me," Smith responded. "What's happening with
00:34:47
this?" The detectives informed him that the videos were made by an individual holding a phone and filming the woman
00:34:54
from above while strangling her. The footage was timestamped and confirmed to have been made in the
00:35:01
Marriott Town Place Suites room that he'd been staying in the previous month. While Smith admitted that it was
00:35:09
his voice on the recording, he claimed to know nothing about what had happened and said the woman in the video was not
00:35:17
the person he'd picked up that night. Who would record stuff like this? He exclaimed. Detectives presented Smith
00:35:27
with the phone data they'd obtained and pointed out that his shoes were clearly visible in some of the footage, but he
00:35:35
continued to deny any knowledge. Upon learning that investigators were also speaking to his
00:35:41
wife in Virginia at that very moment, Smith became upset that his infidelity would be
00:35:48
revealed. All of a sudden, he provided a new detail. According to Smith, he'd been at work on
00:35:59
Wednesday, September 4, when he'd noticed a substance dripping out of his truck. Concerned, he'd looked inside and
00:36:07
saw a woman's dead body hidden beneath a white blanket and a blue tar. Smith did not recognize the woman
00:36:15
or know how she'd come to be in his truck. He panicked about what to do. He knew that if he reported the
00:36:23
discovery, no one would believe he was innocent. So instead, he waited until after midnight on Friday, September 6,
00:36:31
when his wife was fast asleep, to dispose of the woman's body along the Sewward Highway. Smith said that after he dumped
00:36:40
the woman's body, he drove back to Anchorage and threw the blanket and tarp in a random dumpster, the location of
00:36:47
which he could not recall. When Kathleen Henry's remains were found just under a month later, Smith saw news
00:36:55
reports about it and felt relieved that she'd been discovered before the winter snow set
00:37:01
in. The detectives didn't buy this story. They asked Smith why he would take photographs of Kathleen's body at
00:37:10
the dump site if this was the case and why those pictures would be on the same SD card as the murder
00:37:17
videos. After several more hours of interrogation, Smith admitted that he and some friends occasionally talked
00:37:24
about how to commit the perfect murder. Alaska apparently is like the best place to do it. Smith said you can
00:37:34
drive a 100 miles somewhere, dump something, and no one's ever going to find it. Smith eventually changed his story
00:37:44
yet again. He said that he must have murdered Kathleen but couldn't remember doing
00:37:51
so. He blamed alcohol and then suggested he might have blocked out the memory due
00:37:56
to the horror of it. He also said that a phone had gone missing from his car and
00:38:02
he wondered if perhaps quote a girl had taken it and in turn leaked the footage. By 8:30 p.m., Smith had been
00:38:12
speaking with police for more than 5 hours. He was informed that he would be going to jail that night and his
00:38:20
clothing and phone would be taken into evidence. Yet, there was still the matter of another woman Smith had
00:38:28
confessed to killing in 2018, according to his former girlfriend and colleague, Alicia Young Bloodood.
00:38:35
Investigators were left wondering, were there more victims they had yet to uncover? Were they now face to face with
00:38:44
a serial killer they had never known existed? A detective asked Smith directly. Have you ever killed anybody
00:38:55
else? I'll just be straight up with you. Are we going to find any evidence that you're attached to any missing persons
00:39:02
either here or in South Africa? Smith flatly denied having committed any other murders. At 8:40 p.m., they paused for a
00:39:14
bathroom break, and the detectives escorted Smith to the restroom. They kept their body cams
00:39:22
switched on while he relieved himself. as Smith then went to leave without washing his hands. One of the detectives
00:39:30
directed him to the basin and told him to wash up. In response, Smith quipped, "If you know what I've been up
00:39:39
to, you would know I don't even care about this now." drying his hands under the hand dryer.
00:39:47
He added, "All I can say is that you're going to be famous." When Brian Smith was taken back
00:40:00
to the interrogation room to go through some paperwork, he asked the detectives,
00:40:05
"Are you guys in a rush to go home?" They replied that they were not. Then out of nowhere, Smith began talking
00:40:15
about how a long time ago he had been home alone for a weekend while his wife was out of
00:40:21
town. Smith had gotten drunk, found a homeless Alaska native woman, and offered her a meal and a warm place to
00:40:29
stay. The woman agreed, and Smith drove her back to his house. Upon their arrival, they went downstairs
00:40:39
to a carpeted basement living area that had a couple of couches, a television, and some
00:40:45
bookshelves. Smith said that the woman was so drunk she was slurring her words. She lay down on a red couch where she
00:40:53
alternated between watching TV and dozing off. Smith thought she smelled bad and
00:41:00
told her to go take a shower. He claimed he was nervous that his wife would be able to smell that a homeless
00:41:07
person had been in their house. The woman said no, but Smith insisted. Frustrated by her refusal to
00:41:16
do as he asked, he went to his garage and retrieved a 22 caliber pistol that he kept
00:41:23
there. Smith then went back to the basement and again demanded that the woman shower. When she continued to
00:41:31
refuse, he shot her in the head as she lay on the couch watching TV. Smith said he didn't know her name
00:41:39
or remember anything that she had been wearing, but he thought she was in her mid-40s. Smith said that the woman was
00:41:47
very nice and hadn't done anything to him. She just pissed me off, he explained.
00:41:55
After killing the woman, Smith took photos of her and did things to her body. He admitted that he later showed
00:42:03
some of these pictures to his former girlfriend and colleague Alicia Young Bloodood in August
00:42:10
2018. After documenting his crime, Smith drove the woman's body 35 mi northeast to the native village of Alutner,
00:42:19
throwing her clothing out of the car window as he drove. He left her remains near the old Glenn
00:42:26
Highway. Smith told detectives that he had lied to Alicia about some details of the crime, including that it had taken
00:42:34
place in the woman's apartment. Some of the videos he'd shown her were not things that he had
00:42:41
filmed. However, he had been telling the truth about leaving the woman's body at
00:42:46
the Alutner power plant. Detectives presented Smith with several photographs of missing women who matched
00:42:54
the general description of the woman he claimed to have killed. Upon viewing the
00:43:00
first image, Smith paused, then stated, "I think that's [Music] her." 52year-old Veronica Achark had
00:43:11
been reported missing in February of 2019. Although she was a loving and a doting
00:43:18
mother of four who was full of life and had a large family that cared for her deeply, Veronica struggled daily with
00:43:25
the lasting effects of trauma. As a child, she was sexually abused, which subsequently led to her
00:43:32
having PTSD and alcohol use disorder. In 2005, Veronica and her family suffered further when one of Veronica's
00:43:41
sisters, 35-year-old Martha Toms, was found severely beaten underneath a picnic table in an Anchorage
00:43:48
park. Martha died the next day, and her murder remains unsolved as of 2025. Veronica's struggles meant she
00:43:59
often went through transient periods, which made her hard to locate. She couch surfed between friends and family
00:44:06
members, stayed at shelters, or sometimes lived on the streets of Anchorage. Despite the lack of
00:44:14
consistency in her day-to-day life, Veronica would intermittently contact her loved ones, especially around the
00:44:20
holidays, and often showed up unannounced at her sister's home. However, by late 2017, Veronica's
00:44:29
family were hearing from her less and less. When she failed to collect her permanent
00:44:35
fund dividend check, an annual payment made to eligible Alaska residents, they knew something was
00:44:42
wrong. Then Veronica's daughter received a devastating phone call informing her mother had died of an overdose and she
00:44:50
needed to visit the medical examiner's officer to identify her body. But it turned out that the remains
00:44:58
didn't belong to Veronica after all. Another woman had died while carrying Veronica's ID card. How this woman had
00:45:08
come into possession of the card was unknown. Although Veronica's family were relieved, she was still missing and
00:45:17
their concern for her well-being remained. With the different people providing conflicting information, it
00:45:24
was difficult to pin down exactly when the last known contact with her had been.
00:45:31
As 2018 was drawing to a close, there was still some hope that Veronica might reach out during the holidays, just as
00:45:39
she always did. But Thanksgiving came and went with no sign of her. Veronica's loved ones checked
00:45:47
hospitals and various locations downtown, making inquiries with anyone who might have crossed paths with
00:45:54
her. With no confirmed sightings by February 2019, Veronica was officially reported
00:46:02
missing. Months continued to pass with no word from Veronica Achark, leaving her family with no idea where she might
00:46:11
have [Music] gone. 8 months later, in October, Brian Smith confessed to police that he had
00:46:21
callously executed Veronica in the basement of his home. The revelation solved another enduring
00:46:28
mystery that had been plaguing authorities. 6 months earlier, two mushroom pickers foraging in a clutner
00:46:35
had stumbled upon a human skull about 100 yards off the old Glenn Highway. The skull had a bullet wound on
00:46:43
its left side with no exit wound, but metal fragments lodged inside. No other remains were found
00:46:53
nearby. After Brian Smith confessed to dumping a woman in that same location, investigators compared the skull to
00:47:01
Veronica Abauchuk's dental records. It was a match. Police searched Smith's home and
00:47:09
found the 22 caliber pistol he had described as the murder weapon along with several other firearms and two
00:47:17
homemade gun silencers. They also found 10 different cell and burner phones, and a number of SD cards,
00:47:25
digital cameras, and laptops. Smith claimed he bought and sold used electronics online as part of
00:47:33
a side hustle. However, one thumb drive was found to contain some deleted video clips, which experts were able to
00:47:41
recover. The videos showed Veronica a bowarch lying on Brian Smith's couch both before
00:47:50
and after she was killed. Initially, Veronica was wearing clothes, but in the footage taken
00:47:57
postmortem, she was naked. It appeared that Smith had removed her clothing and posed her deceased
00:48:05
body. In one short video, a naked Brian Smith appeared on camera leaning over Veronica.
00:48:13
In another photograph, Veronica's body had been moved to the floor and covered with a
00:48:18
blanket. The television in the background was still turned on with President Donald Trump visible on
00:48:27
screen. Investigators scoured Smith's entire home, including the basement area where he said he'd committed the
00:48:35
murder. There, they noticed some suspicious stains on an area of the blue carpet.
00:48:42
These stains tested positive for blood, prompting investigators to remove a 9x10
00:48:47
ft segment of the carpet for forensic testing. The blood was found to belong to Veronica. Although investigators
00:48:58
couldn't pin down the exact date of Veronica's murder, they estimated it had been in early August
00:49:05
2018, shortly before Smith had bragged to Alicia Young Bloodood about the crime.
00:49:13
Investigators repeatedly asked Smith why he had filmed his crimes. In particular, why had he talked
00:49:20
about followers while murdering Kathleen Henry as though he had an audience? They wanted to know if he had
00:49:28
been asked to create violent content or whether he'd uploaded any of it online. Smith said he hadn't. The only
00:49:38
content he'd shared online had been made consensually with another woman who had
00:49:43
given her permission for Smith to post it on an adults only website. Brian Smith's two confirmed
00:49:51
victims, Kathleen Henry and Veronica Abauchark, were both Alaska Native women. When asked whether he was
00:49:59
prejudiced against the group, Smith said he'd asked himself that same question. He'd ultimately decided that he only
00:50:08
prayed on these women because they were homeless and therefore to his mind easy targets. However, Smith was known to
00:50:17
harbor racist thoughts. He maintained two Facebook accounts under false names that he used
00:50:24
to air views he knew his wife wouldn't approve of, including bigoted opinions. He also had an account on the social
00:50:33
media question and answer site Quora. When one user asked whether white people automatically assumed all black
00:50:41
people were criminals, Smith replied, "White people don't assume it. Everyone assumes it when they look at
00:50:49
police crime statistics. Wherever black people go in the world, there is an immediate rise in
00:50:55
crime. It is a statistical fact that blacks are more than 600% more likely to violate the
00:51:03
law. This figure cited by Brian Smith was not a statistical fact, instead appearing to be one he himself
00:51:12
concocted. Brian Smith was ultimately indicted on 14 felony charges for killing Kathleen
00:51:22
Henry and Veronica Abauark, including one count of first-degree murder, two counts of secondderee murder, two counts
00:51:30
of secondderee sexual assault, and three counts of tampering with physical evidence. Despite his confessions to
00:51:38
detectives, Smith pleaded not guilty to all charges. A grand jury was held and Smith's
00:51:46
ex-girlfriend Alicia Youngblood was one of the witnesses who testified against him. However, Smith's trial was
00:51:54
subsequently delayed by the CO 19 pandemic. In July 2021, Alicia Younglood died by suicide 2 and 1/2 years before
00:52:05
Brian Smith faced court. Brian Smith's trial finally began in February 2024. His defense team fought against
00:52:17
having the footage from the SD card and Smith's interrogation admitted into evidence, but the judge
00:52:24
disagreed. Jurors were shown extensive portions of Smith's police interview, as well as some of the footage of Kathleen
00:52:32
Henry's murder. While care was taken to ensure that only the jury could see the screen
00:52:38
displaying the videos, the disturbing audio could be heard throughout the courtroom. Some individuals in
00:52:46
attendance believed that Smith appeared to look smug and smirked at certain points while listening attentively to
00:52:53
the audio. His wife Stephanie sat in the front row of the public gallery, clutching her hands.
00:53:02
She attended the trial consistently, sitting near the family members, loved ones, and supporters of Smith's
00:53:10
victims. Stephanie told the South African publication I Well, that after learning what her husband had done, she
00:53:17
had grieved, but was choosing to support the part of the man I married. Case detective Brendan Lee gave
00:53:28
testimony that he'd listened to a recorded jailhouse phone call between Smith and Stephanie in which Stephanie
00:53:35
asked Smith if he'd had sex with the women he'd killed. Smith apparently replied, "Not
00:53:43
with those two." This statement caused a stir in the public gallery. "She's only worried about the
00:53:52
ones he did sleep with," one woman retorted. The judge later told the jury to dismiss
00:53:59
Detective Lee's comments about the phone call. Valerie Castler, whose theft of Smith's phone had kickstarted the entire
00:54:09
investigation, played a crucial role as a prosecution witness, testifying about her discovery of the harrowing footage
00:54:16
of Kathleen Henry's murder. It was later revealed that Valerie had actually known Kathleen, but she hadn't
00:54:24
recognized her in the footage due to the severity of Kathleen's facial injuries. Valerie expressed her desire
00:54:32
to testify, saying she considered Kathleen her friend and she just wanted her to go
00:54:39
home. The defense team sought to undermine Valerie's credibility by highlighting inconsistencies in her
00:54:46
story. They pointed out how she'd initially claimed to have found the footage on a
00:54:52
discarded SD card, only to later admit she had stolen Smith's cell phone from his
00:54:58
car. The defense implied that Valerie had a hidden agenda. Perhaps she was seeking public attention or even
00:55:06
attempting to hide some secret of her own. They even insinuated that she might have adopted the footage to wrongfully
00:55:13
implicate Smith. When asked by the prosecution if she had access to video editing software that
00:55:20
could have been used to manipulate the footage, Valerie responded with a simple laugh, saying, "No."
00:55:32
In addition to the videos Smith had taken of his victims and the phone data placing him at various crime scenes at
00:55:39
pertinent times, the prosecution also shared a series of highly suspicious messages sent by and to
00:55:47
him. Of particular interest was an exchange between Smith and a friend of his named Ian Calhoun.
00:55:56
Although the now 27year-old Calhoun was two and a half decades younger than Smith, the pair had become friends after
00:56:03
meeting at work. At the time of Kathleen Henry's murder, Calhoun was 22 and a drummer in a heavy metal band called
00:56:12
Atonement Denied. Smith had occasionally gone to the band's shows. At 12:54 a.m. on Wednesday,
00:56:22
September 4, 2019, the same time that Kathleen Henry's murder was being filmed, Smith sent Calhoun a Facebook
00:56:31
message asking, "He you up? I'm having fun." Calhoun hadn't replied until more than 6 hours later at 7:08 a.m.,
00:56:45
responding, "I was not up. Sounds like you were having a lot of fun. At 9:16 a.m., Smith wrote back,
00:56:55
"Hi, I did have fun. Wanted to share." Calhoun replied quickly, "We need to have a drink
00:57:05
soon." Smith then told him, "I have something to show you, something I can't keep for too long."
00:57:15
The pair arranged to meet after work later that day in a secluded park near Ian Calhoun's home in Anchorage's
00:57:23
hillside neighborhood. Phone information indicated both men were at this park together for about 10 minutes between
00:57:31
4:46 and 5:56 p.m. on Wednesday, September 4, 2019. Investigators believed that Smith had
00:57:41
been showing Calhoun Kathleen Henry's body inside his truck. One month later, at 12:55 p.m. on
00:57:50
Wednesday, October 2, the day that Kathleen Henry's remains were found, Calhoun sent Smith a link to an article
00:57:57
about the discovery. Smith replied with one word. Oops. Calhoun wrote back, "As soon as I saw
00:58:09
it, I knew I should send you a text." The pair then exchanged a flurry of messages. "Smith, I'm surprised it took
00:58:20
so long. In a few weeks, snow would have covered it." Calhoun, I was kind of hoping that it
00:58:27
would hurry and snow. Smith, me, too, from what was said. LOL. Calhoun. But that means I'll be in the
00:58:40
clear. At the time these messages were exchanged, Smith was on vacation with his wife in Washington,
00:58:48
DC. He told Calhoun they would talk properly upon his return. Writing, "There is something else I must
00:58:57
tell. I will talk next week, but keep an eye on this about any leads. Can't talk.
00:59:04
not alone. Everyone is upset that I am carrying my phone around on vacation. Smith was arrested when he
00:59:13
arrived back in Anchorage one week later before he had a chance to speak with Anne Calhoun
00:59:19
again. Calhoun did not appear as a witness in court with his attorney asserting his client's fifth amendment
00:59:26
right against self-inccrimination. The court found this claim valid, meaning Calhoun could not be compelled
00:59:35
to testify unless the prosecution granted him immunity, which they refused to do. The revelation that another person
00:59:44
could have had knowledge of and was even possibly involved in Smith's crimes was
00:59:49
yet another twist in a case that had already shocked Alaska. The defense didn't present any
00:59:59
witnesses, and Brian Smith chose not to testify. In closing arguments, Smith's attorney focused on undermining the
01:00:08
state's witnesses and evidence. However, the jury deliberated for less than 2 hours before convicting Smith on all
01:00:16
counts. They also found there were aggravating factors in Smith's murder of Kathleen
01:00:23
Henry, namely the substantial physical torture he had subjected her to. While Smith was awaiting sentencing,
01:00:32
it was announced that federal prosecutors had also charged him with unlawfully obtaining US citizenship on
01:00:38
the grounds that he had lied in his application. When asked whether he had ever committed
01:00:44
a crime he hadn't been arrested for, or if he'd been involved in killing, hurting, or sexually assaulting someone,
01:00:51
Smith had answered no. Whether or not his citizenship will be revoked remains to be seen, but in
01:00:59
July 2024, 53-year-old Brian Smith was sentenced to 226 years in prison with a mandatory 99-year sentence for each
01:01:10
murder. As Alaska does not have the death penalty, capital punishment was never an
01:01:17
option. In handing down his sentence, the judge said that Smith was one of the worst offenders he had ever encountered
01:01:25
due to the joy he took in torturing and murdering vulnerable women. He added, "There is no hope.
01:01:34
There is no restoration. There is only preventing Mr. Smith from killing again. Veronica Abachuk's sister said she was
01:01:46
grateful the jury had convicted Brian Smith, stating, "It was pretty hard on all of us, but we tried to be strong in
01:01:54
our hearts, but it still hurts a lot." Veronica's daughter described the period where her mother was missing as a
01:02:03
complete nightmare. When the police had first informed her that her mother had been murdered, she'd
01:02:10
hoped it was a mistake, just as it had been when a deceased woman was found carrying Veronica's ID
01:02:16
card. Finding out that it was true was devastating. Veronica's son told news outlet KTO that his family's tragedy was
01:02:29
shared by far too many Alaska Native families whose loved ones were either missing or murdered.
01:02:36
The stigma of homelessness and addiction had made his mother and Kathleen Henry faceless to broader society and easy
01:02:43
targets for a man like Brian Smith. Quote, "We're one piece of that puzzle. Everyone has their own
01:02:53
peace. You never know what someone is going through and what baggage they're carrying."
01:03:02
Despite Smith's desire to target vulnerable women he believed were overlooked and uncared for by society,
01:03:09
both Kathleen Henry and Veronica Abauchuk were deeply loved and profoundly missed by their
01:03:16
families. Kathleen had a passion for writing poetry and her Facebook posts revealed a thoughtful young woman who
01:03:23
often reflected on her life and struggles. One post read, "I live daily with a whole lot of soft-hearted, not hatred
01:03:33
feelings unless someone treats me with the disrespect. Treat others the way you want to be
01:03:41
treated." Another post stated, "I got to fly because I am light as a feather." Veronica found joy in teaching her
01:03:52
younger relatives how to cook, often sharing a signature dish she made with chicken and corn
01:03:58
flakes. She was also known for her artistic skills, particularly the beautiful grass baskets and dolls she
01:04:06
handcrafted. Both women left behind lasting memories of love, creativity, and resilience,
01:04:14
serving as a reminder of the individuals they were beyond the tragic circumstances of their
01:04:21
deaths. Advocates for missing and murdered indigenous people attended Brian Smith's trial in support of the
01:04:28
two women and their families. In a symbolic statement of solidarity, many painted red handprints over the
01:04:36
lower half of their faces covering their mouths. This red handprint has come to represent the plight of missing and
01:04:45
murdered indigenous people or MMIP. In the United States, four in five Native American and Alaskan Native women
01:04:54
have experienced violence in their lifetime. More than 56% have experienced sexual
01:05:03
violence. Despite making up just 1.1% of the US population, Native American and Alaskan Native women are murdered at 10
01:05:13
times the national average. Anchorage ranks third in the US for the city with the highest number of
01:05:21
cases. According to data for Indigenous Justice, an Alaska nativeled nonprofit, 5,712 cases of missing and murdered
01:05:31
indigenous women and girls were reported in 2016. Only 116 of these were logged in
01:05:39
the US Department of Justice database. Given that Brian Smith deliberately targeted members of this
01:05:50
vulnerable group and spoke about serial killing in his videos, there has been speculation that he may have more
01:05:57
victims either in Alaska, other states he was sent to for work, or his home country of South
01:06:04
Africa. Authorities are aware of at least two other Alaskan native women Smith might have harmed.
01:06:13
One week before his sentencing, the state released a sentencing memorandum which included some shocking
01:06:20
information. While going through one of Smith's cell phones, investigators had found three images of an unidentified
01:06:28
Alaska Native woman clearly beaten and lying either unconscious or deceased on the ground.
01:06:36
Amber Bats is an activist from Community United for Safety and Protect or CASSP,
01:06:42
which advocates for the safety of sex workers. She has visited Brian Smith a number of times and corresponded with
01:06:50
him in an attempt to gain further information. Amber's personal nickname for Brian Smith is BS, a nod to his
01:06:59
initials and the shorthand term for the word [ __ ] When talking to Amber, Smith claimed the
01:07:07
unidentified woman in the grizzly photos was just a friend who had fallen over while the pair were out and laughing
01:07:14
together uporiously. He told a similar story to the police. The state included these three
01:07:23
images in their sentencing memorandum along with the forensic artists sketch of the woman.
01:07:29
When MMIP advocates saw these images, they immediately recognized the woman as 38-year-old Cassandra
01:07:38
Buskovski. Cassandra was reported missing in August 2019, the month before Kathleen Henry was
01:07:46
murdered. When Cassandra's family were shown the photos found on Brian Smith's phone, they confirmed the woman was her.
01:07:55
Despite this, the woman was still officially marked as unidentified with prosecutors stating they could not
01:08:02
verify her name or whether she was even deceased. In September 2024, Cassandra Boskovsky's family went to court to
01:08:13
request a presumptive death hearing. They wanted to obtain a death certificate for Cassandra while also
01:08:20
setting the story straight about what had likely happened to her. Cassandra's family wore red
01:08:27
t-shirts printed with a photo of a young Cassandra on them along with the words,
01:08:32
"Where is Cassandra? Justice for Cassandra, and we want answers." Like Veronica Abauchuk and Kathleen
01:08:41
Henry, Cassandra Boskovski was vulnerable and struggled with addiction, but her relatives knew her to have a
01:08:48
great capacity for love. At Cassandra's presumptive death hearing, Detective Brendan Lee testified
01:08:56
that Brian Smith's foot was visible in the photographs. During their search of Smith's home, police had also found
01:09:05
shoes that matched the pair Cassandra was wearing in the pictures. Navy Adidas hightops with three stripes in different
01:09:13
shades of pink. The sixperson jury found that Cassandra had been a victim of homicide
01:09:21
and there was enough information to grant a death certificate. Although this provided some relief for
01:09:29
Cassandra's loved ones, they along with MMIP advocates remain angry that Anchorage police discovered these
01:09:36
photographs in 2019, yet didn't make them public until Smith's sentencing almost 5 years
01:09:45
later. During that time, Cassandra's loved ones had endured torment, not knowing what had happened to her.
01:09:53
Michael Livingston, a retired police officer and MMIP activist, told Alaska Public Media,
01:10:01
quote, "This story really is a microcosm of a bigger challenge that we have in Alaska." How many other pictures did the
01:10:10
Anchorage Police Department or other law enforcement agencies in Alaska have who
01:10:15
may in the pictures appear to be deceased? And we're wondering why it's the policy of the Anchorage Police
01:10:23
Department to not reach out to the families and say, could this possibly be your
01:10:31
daughter? Cassandra's family were able to hold a memorial service for her, but they still want to bring her remains
01:10:38
home and have Smith held responsible for Cassandra's murder. While Anchorage police have
01:10:44
indicated that the investigation is ongoing, as of mid 2025, there are no further
01:10:52
updates. In the meantime, MMIP advocates are offering a $500 reward for information leading to Cassandra's
01:11:00
remains. They are also offering a $500 reward for information that leads to the arrest of
01:11:10
Ian Calhoun, the friend of Brian Smith, who appeared to be complicit in Kathleen
01:11:15
Henry's murder. Some speculate that Calhoun may have played a more active role in this
01:11:22
crime and possibly Smith's other crimes than is currently known. MMIP activists say there is enough
01:11:31
evidence to charge Calhoun with failure to report a violent crime committed against an adult and/or hindering
01:11:38
prosecution. However, prosecutors have said that they will not be charging Calhoun unless new evidence comes to
01:11:46
light. Activists have staged several protests in downtown Anchorage in front of police
01:11:52
headquarters and the district attorney's office as well as outside of Ian Calhoun's home. They have also started a
01:12:01
change.org petition titled Arrest Ian Calhoun. Now, as of the writing of this episode,
01:12:10
the petition has 5,500 signatures. In an interview with KNBA radio station, MMIP activist Antonia
01:12:21
Comarmac said it was important to speak out against Calhoun's apparent complicity. As silence allows society to
01:12:29
ignore the ongoing dehumanization of native women, "We need to set a precedent with
01:12:36
Ian Calhoun and have him arrested," she stated. Standing in stark contrast to Ian Calhoun were the two women who
01:12:48
reported Brian Smith's crimes to the authorities, Alicia Young Bloodood and Valerie
01:12:54
Castler. After Smith showed Alicia videos of Veronica Abauchark's body, she contacted the police multiple times
01:13:03
trying to prevent him from harming anyone else. Despite her repeated attempts, Smith went on to kill Kathleen Henry and
01:13:12
likely Cassandra Boskovski as well. The news of Smith's crimes was devastating to Alicia, who took her life
01:13:21
less than 2 years after Smith was arrested. Her family and friends remember her as a
01:13:28
passionate listener and trusted friend with a beaming personality and an indescribable love for her
01:13:35
children. In her obituary, they wrote, "Alicia graced our world, but those of us who knew and loved her, she
01:13:45
graced our lives." Valerie Castler has been hailed as a hero for turning over evidence of Brian
01:13:53
Smith's crimes despite fears of facing misdemeanor charges for theft and prostitution. In a piece for the Alaska
01:14:01
Beacon, activist Amber Bats emphasized that it's important for sex workers to know that in the state of Alaska, they
01:14:10
have immunity from prostitution charges when reporting heinous crimes. Bats explained that fear of legal
01:14:18
repercussions for so-called moral crimes can deter sex workers from cooperating with authorities, even when they possess
01:14:27
vital information about far more serious offenses such as murder. One of Veronica Abachark's sisters has
01:14:36
said she will always be grateful for what Valerie did, stating, "If it wasn't for that, we
01:14:44
wouldn't have known what he did to my sister and Kathleen." Amber Bats told Alaska Public
01:14:52
Media that Valerie is a brave, amazing woman, adding, "Rather than just saying, "Oh,
01:14:59
it's too difficult. I don't know what to do. I'm just going to leave this the way
01:15:04
it is and go on with my life. She chose to go above and beyond to get that information to
01:15:12
police. Amber was the one to inform Valerie Castler that Brian Smith had been found guilty the day after the
01:15:20
verdict came down. It was Valerie's birthday and she smiled upon hearing the news,
01:15:28
stating, "I'd do it again cuz those ladies needed to cross over and their souls make it to heaven.
01:15:50
[Music]