Family and friends of victims wear red, a color signifying the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement, during the Brian Steven Smith trial on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024 at the Nesbett Courthouse in Anchorage. Smith, 52, is charged with the 2019 killing and sexual assault of Kathleen Henry and the killing of Veronica Abouchuk sometime between 2017 and 2018. Both women were Alaska Native.
Then, Abouchuk’s daughter, Kristy Grimaldi, took the stand, describing a mother who was beloved by family but whose struggles with addiction led her to homelessness. In 2017, Grimaldi got a call from the police saying her mother had died and that she needed to come to the medical examiner to identify the body. She went, only to learn it had been a misidentification — a different woman had died of an overdose and Abouchuk’s identification card had been found with the body. Her mother was not dead. But she also had not been heard from.The family heard less and less from Abouchuk.
By February 2019, Grimaldi decided to report her mother missing to the Anchorage Police Department, she testified. The skull, state forensic pathologist Dr. Cristin Rolf testified Wednesday, had what was determined to be a bullet hole in the left side. There was no exit wound visible. No other remains were ever found.
Law Law Latest News, Law Law Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: nypost - 🏆 91. / 67 Read more »