GUILTY AK - Four people stabbed to death in Sitka home, 25 March 2008

[joe jones]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,341569,00.html

no IDs on the victims yet, or if they are related to the attacker

 

[SteveHuff]

Read up on this one a lot last night. Found a MySpace I think may be his, but I'm not sure, so I won't publish it. Nothing interesting there, anyway. It's an extremely unusual crime for that town, and mass stabbings are unusual in the U.S. anyway.

 

[joe jones]

Has anything been released about the identity of any of the victims?

The only other case of note I recall from Alaska is the Rachelle Waterman trial

 

[SuziQ]

Joe Jones, thanks for starting this thread. I read up on this last night, but the info was pretty skimpy. From what I understand the household was grandma and grandpa raising grandkids. Beyond that I've seen nothing.

 

[SuziQ]

(snip)
Police did not immediately release the names of the victims. But neighbors who saw parts of the attacks recognized two of them.
The Rev. Chuck Johnson, who lives several doors away from the home at 524 Monastery St., said he stepped out of his home and saw Alice Abbott, Jason's grandmother, come out her front door covered in blood.
Two boys who seemed to know Jason Abbott were coming down the street and began talking to him, apparently trying to keep him away from her, he said.

http://www.adn.com/sports/prep/softball/southeast/story/356187.html

 

[joe jones]

I wonder where his parents are if he was living with his grandparents,

 

[Kellee]

From SusiQ's link:

"Abbott, who has a series of charges as a minor consuming alcohol in court records, was arrested Easter Sunday on a domestic violence assault charge, Schmitt said. He wouldn't say whether the assault was directed toward Abbott's grandparents, and a copy of the charging documents in Sitka was not immediately available. The Daily Sitka Sentinel reported that the address associated with that charge was not the Monastery Street location where the killings took place."

How awful if the domestic violence charge WAS related to an incident with his grandparents. I'd be interested to see that charging document!!

 

[Filly]

Jason Abbott admitted to an ER Doctor that he did stab and murder the victims. He also admitted that he used his left hand when he stabbed them. Not sure what that means.http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=8074015

 

[Alaska4959]

http://www.kinyradio.com/juneaunews/latest_juneau_news.html

A little more news and a picture of the kid. Still no identities but rumors are flying. Sitka is small enough that I am sure everyone knows who these people are. Why can't they release the names?

Note: link is to the latest news page and content will change again when they update tomorrow. I will see if I can find a more permanent link.

 

[Alaska4959]

The Anchorage news just announced the names of the deceased. Two of them are his grandparents but I did not catch the relationship, if any, of the other two. Grandmother was the one who died on the way to hospital.

 

[Alaska4959]

http://juneauempire.com/stories/032708/sta_262302333.shtml

The rest of the story is starting to appear. Sounds like this guy has been working up to this for several years. My condolences to the family.

 

[joe jones]

Thanks for the links, he sounds like he has severe problems,

this will surely be a mental health defence, and it may be one of the few that are valid, if what he was talking about when he attacked his mother are a pattern of consistent behaviours,

 

[anneinchicago]

One of the two is Mary Rickketts who, the artcle says, is Abbotts's aunt. The other is a Charles Tate whose relationship to the family is unknown.

Abbott was charged but release on bail with attaking his mother on Sunday, before all this happened.

Then there is this:

Sitka resident Kristal Hammack petitioned a Sitka court in 2004 to issue a 20-day protective order against Abbott to stay clear of her daughter. The mother said her daughter was hospitalized due to the stress of her relationship with Abbott, according to court documents.

Included in the court documents are letters apparently written by Abbott to Kristal Hammack's daughter. The letters are signed by Abbott and the signatures match those he gave during Wednesday's court appearance.
In one letter, which is partly written in rhyme, Abbott writes, "I think I wanna strangle you but I think not, maybe I'll just untangle you and let loose with our knot."


The other letter begins as a love letter but then describes Abbott's fears.
"I wanna be with you forever ..." Abbott wrote. "But with the mental problems my family is making worse, I'm afraid I might kill myself or kill someone else. I don't want to, but during traumatic times my family creates, I don't think right during them so I want you to be there for me."


Court records show that Hammack's restraining order was denied in 2004 by District Court Magistrate Bruce Horton, who presided over Abbott's arraignment on Wednesday, on grounds that there was insufficient evidence that her daughter had been a victim of domestic violence. Hammack said Wednesday she is still perplexed by the inaction of the justice system.

 

[joe jones]

http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=8081977

mother says she forgives him for killing her parents

 

[Filly]

One of the two is Mary Rickketts who, the artcle says, is Abbotts's aunt. The other is a Charles Tate whose relationship to the family is unknown.

Abbott was charged but release on bail with attaking his mother on Sunday, before all this happened.

Then there is this:

Thanks for that Anne. The kid was writing in rhyme. That scares me. Then couple that with him throwing away the "orange sign" and the "evil red" placemats he obviously got huge mental health problems. Such a shame for this entire family. In the meantime that's a bright orange jumpsuit he's wearing. Wonder how he feels about that?

 

[joe jones]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jibc85ha5vPw0aWI-D9eeYowtrYgD8VPJUQ80

all deceased victims named, the surviving victim has yet to be named

 

[OkieGranny]

From April 2010:

http://juneauempire.com/stories/040810/sta_603528947.shtml#.VhUi6LT8FWY

Jason Abbott pleaded "guilty, but mentally ill" last year to the 2008 stabbings that left four dead and a fifth in critical condition.

In February, Sitka Superior Court Judge David George sentenced Abbott to 140 years in prison. George estimated that Abbott, 20, would be eligible for parole when he is about 70 years old.