GUILTY AK - Sophie Sergie, 20, UAF student, murdered, Fairbanks, 26 April 1993 *Arrest in 2019*

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Okay - this article is dated Jan. 13th - Thursday.

Trial opens into long-unsolved case of Alaska Native woman


UPDATE
Update from the courthouse in Fairbanks: The trial is not taking place for the remainder of this week so the livestream is not available. The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday, January 18, 2022.

the only thing really pertinent - is this line in the article.

Downs, now 47, is on trial for sexual assault and murder. The proceeding opened in Fairbanks on Wednesday, with a livestream from Courtroom 404 available at public.courts.alaska.gov. Each day of the trial is scheduled to start at 8:30am Alaska time before Judge Thomas Temple.


Wonder "what" happened that they stopped yesterday - and will be back on Tuesday - ??
Anyone find anything on this? TIA if you do! :)
 
No articles on what happened on 1/13, Thursday....

Tuesday, January 18th:
*Trial continues (Day 5) (@ 8:30am AKST) – AK – Sophie Sergie (20) (April 26, 1993, Fairbanks) - *Steven Harris Downs (18 @ time of crime/44/now 46) arrested (in Auburn, Maine), charged (2/15/19), indicted (3/14/19) & arraigned (8/6/19 & 8/14/19) with 1st degree intentional murder & 1st degree sexual assault. Plead not guilty. Held without bond, changed to $1M (8/6/19). Bond changed (8/16/19) to $550K.
DNA GEDMatch/Parabon Nanolabs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)). The Downs case may be the first real test of the limits of DNA forensics in criminal prosecutions — that this case may even reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trial began on 1/10/22. (will last about 4 to 7 weeks). Jurors: 10 women & 6 men (includes 4 alternates).
Court information from 2/19/19 thru 1/5/22 & Trial Days 1/10 to 1/11 (Day 1-2) reference post #199 here:
AK - Sophie Sergie, 20, UAF student, murdered, Fairbanks, 26 April 1993 *Arrest in 2019*
1/12/22 Wednesday, Trial Day 3: Opening statements by Alaska Assistant Attorney Jenna Gruenstien & defense attorney Jim Howaniec. Investigators say Sergie was shot in the back of the head, stabbed in the cheek and eye, hit with a blunt instrument, gagged & shocked with a stun gun. State witnesses: Shirley Akelkok, friend of Sophie's. No other info available. Trial continues on 1/13/22.
1/13/22 Thursday, Trial Day 4: No info available. No court on Friday, 1/14/22. Trial continues on Tuesday, 1/18/22.
 
Testimony focuses on the evening before Sophie Sergie's death in cold case murder trial

Jan. 18, 2022
The trial of Steven H. Downs continued Tuesday with prosecutors largely focusing on the evening of April 25, 1993, mere hours before 20-year-old Sophie Sergie was found raped, stabbed and shot in a dorm...


dang... need a subscription to read the rest of the article...

and also this article - can't access..

Witness says she heard sound like ‘firecrackers’ when Alaskan woman was killed

can anyone reading here access either one - and let me know "who" the witnesses were? TIA!
 
Wednesday, January 19th:
*Trial continues (Day 6) (@ 8:30am AKST) – AK – Sophie Sergie (20) (April 26, 1993, Fairbanks) - *Steven Harris Downs (18 @ time of crime/44/now 46) arrested (in Auburn, Maine), charged (2/15/19), indicted (3/14/19) & arraigned (8/6/19 & 8/14/19) with 1st degree intentional murder & 1st degree sexual assault. Plead not guilty. Held without bond, changed to $1M (8/6/19). Bond changed (8/16/19) to $550K.
DNA GEDMatch/Parabon Nanolabs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)). The Downs case may be the first real test of the limits of DNA forensics in criminal prosecutions — that this case may even reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trial began on 1/10/22. (will last about 4 to 7 weeks). Jurors: 10 women & 6 men (includes 4 alternates).
Court information from 2/19/19 thru 1/5/22 & Trial Days 1/10 to 1/12 (Day 1-3) reference post #207 here:
AK - Sophie Sergie, 20, UAF student, murdered, Fairbanks, 26 April 1993 *Arrest in 2019*
1/13/22 Thursday, Trial Day 4: No info available. No court on Friday, 1/14/22. Trial continues on Tuesday, 1/18/22.
1/18/22 Tuesday, Trial Day 5: No info available. Trial continues on 1/19/22.
 
Ah - this is why they stopped last Wed. & continued back on 1/18/22.

Fairbanks murder trial delayed by COVID-19

Jan. 14, 2022

The trial of a Maine man charged with murder and sexual assault of an Alaska woman in 1993 was postponed after the first day of testimony Wednesday due to COVID-19 exposure.

The assistant to Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Thomas Temple explained Thursday that two trial participants had been exposed to the virus.
[.....]
The trial is expected to resume Tuesday with cross-examination of a friend of the victim who may have been the last one to see her alive, besides her assailant.

So - I corrected my Trial Days. Today, Wed. the 19th is Trial Day 5 not 6 since there was no trial on Thurs. the 14th:


and this article:

Testimony focuses on the evening before Sophie Sergie's death in cold case murder trial

Jan. 18, 2022
The trial of Steven H. Downs continued Tuesday with prosecutors largely focusing on the evening of April 25, 1993, mere hours before 20-year-old Sophie Sergie was found raped, stabbed and shot in a dorm...

that's all I can read on this article. Need a subscription.... If someone can give a 10% synopsis on the 2nd article - it would be appreciated. And TIA! :)
 
Niner said:
Testimony focuses on the evening before Sophie Sergie's death in cold case murder trial

Jan. 18, 2022
The trial of Steven H. Downs continued Tuesday with prosecutors largely focusing on the evening of April 25, 1993, mere hours before 20-year-old Sophie Sergie was found raped, stabbed and shot in a dorm...


dang... need a subscription to read the rest of the article...

and also this article - can't access..

Witness says she heard sound like ‘firecrackers’ when Alaskan woman was killed

can anyone reading here access either one - and let me know "who" the witnesses were? TIA!
Click to expand...
From the 2nd link,

Vanessa Allen had been a first-year student at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks when the body of Sophie Sergie, 20, of Pitkas Point, Alaska, was discovered later in the day on April 26, 1993, in the tub area of that bathroom where Allen had been showering.
[...]
Allen testified Tuesday via videoconference that she was the only one in the woman’s bathroom when she started taking her shower.
[...]
(Shirley) Wasuli, whose married name is Akelkok, testified Tuesday that she had seen two men...
[...]
Other friends of Sergie testified Tuesday about spending time with her before she was killed.

Eric Newlin and Jolene Nanouk said they went to see the movie “Indian Summer” with Sergie that Sunday night, just hours before she was slain.
[...]
Another friend, Joann Sundown, said Sergie had visited her at her dorm room that Saturday night...
 
Thank you very much @Via Marple ! Much appreciated!
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Thursday, January 20th:
*Trial continues (Day 6) (@ 8:30am AKST) – AK – Sophie Sergie (20) (April 26, 1993, Fairbanks) - *Steven Harris Downs (18 @ time of crime/44/now 46) arrested (in Auburn, Maine), charged (2/15/19), indicted (3/14/19) & arraigned (8/6/19 & 8/14/19) with 1st degree intentional murder & 1st degree sexual assault. Plead not guilty. Held without bond, changed to $1M (8/6/19). Bond changed (8/16/19) to $550K.
DNA GEDMatch/Parabon Nanolabs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)). The Downs case may be the first real test of the limits of DNA forensics in criminal prosecutions — that this case may even reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trial began on 1/10/22. (will last about 4 to 7 weeks). Jurors: 10 women & 6 men (includes 4 alternates).
Court information from 2/19/19 thru 1/5/22 & Trial Days 1/10 to 1/12/22 (Day 1-3) reference post #207 here:
AK - Sophie Sergie, 20, UAF student, murdered, Fairbanks, 26 April 1993 *Arrest in 2019*
1/13/22 Thursday, no trial day: Due to Covid trial was continued to Tuesday, 1/18/22.
1/18/22 Tuesday, Trial Day 4: State witnesses: Shirley Akelkok, Sophie’s friend on cross-examination. Vanessa Allen testified via videoconference that she was the only one in the woman’s bathroom when she started taking her shower. Eric Newlin, Sophie's friend. Jolene Nanouk, Sophie's friend. Joann Sundown, Sophie's friend. Trial continues on 1/19/22.
1/19/22 Wednesday, Trial Day 5: No info available. Docket: 1/19/22: Letter to Judge Temple re: Media access to trial proceedings & documents. Trial continues on 1/20/22.
 
Naturally I can't find out what happened at the 2/19 & yesterday's trial hearings - anyone?

Friday, January 21st:
*Trial continues (Day 7) (@ 8:30am AKST) – AK – Sophie Sergie (20) (April 26, 1993, Fairbanks) - *Steven Harris Downs (18 @ time of crime/44/now 46) arrested (in Auburn, Maine), charged (2/15/19), indicted (3/14/19) & arraigned (8/6/19 & 8/14/19) with 1st degree intentional murder & 1st degree sexual assault. Plead not guilty. Held without bond, changed to $1M (8/6/19). Bond changed (8/16/19) to $550K.
DNA GEDMatch/Parabon Nanolabs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)). The Downs case may be the first real test of the limits of DNA forensics in criminal prosecutions — that this case may even reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trial began on 1/10/22. (will last about 4 to 7 weeks). Jurors: 10 women & 6 men (includes 4 alternates).
Court information from 2/19/19 thru 1/5/22 & Trial Days 1/10 to 1/18/22 (Day 1-4) reference post #214 here:
AK - Sophie Sergie, 20, UAF student, murdered, Fairbanks, 26 April 1993 *Arrest in 2019*
1/19/22 Wednesday, Trial Day 5: No info available. Docket for 1/19/22: Letter to Judge Temple re: Media access to trial proceedings & documents. Trial continues on 1/20/22.
1/20/22 Thursday, Trial Day 6: No info available. Trial continues on 1/21/22.
 
@Niner
Ancheta testified Thursday in the trial of Steven Downs, who is charged with Sergie’s murder and sexual assault.

She testified by video conference from Anchorage, telling the Fairbanks Superior Court that she was cleaning the bathroom on the second floor of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Bartlett Hall Monday afternoon, April 26, 1993. She said that while her work partner cleaned the toilets, she usually cleaned the shower and bathtub room.

“Some shower room is curtain just open, and some shower room is usually open, but that time was closed,” she said. “And then when I open curtain and then I saw — I was screaming — when I open and then there’s a bathtub, and then I saw a young lady lying down.”

Ancheta said she ran screaming from the tub area. She said her work partner joined her and then went to report what they had seen.
Former University of Alaska Fairbanks janitor testifies in 1993 cold-case murder trial


61eb75bfe8c77.image.jpg

Former major crimes investigator Timothy Hunyor testifies Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Fairbanks Superior Court in the murder trial of Steven H. Downs, who is charged in the 1993 death of Sophie Sergie. The court granted prior permission to use this screenshot for this purpose.
Troopers take the stand in Sophie Sergie cold case trial
 
@PommyMommy - thank you for that info. But the 2nd article for Friday doesn't work for me. Was there anyone else besides Hunyor testifying?

And anything on Wednesday's hearing - that was my first article in my post #217.

Can you read the Fairbanks Daily News articles? Or do you have to subscribe also?

TIA! :)
 
Niner said:
Hey!

Since I can not access these articles - I was wondering if someone here could - and give me the names of the people who are witnesses for these days? TIA if you can! :)

for Wednesday, 1/19

Testimony continues in 28-year-old cold case murder trial


for Thursday, 1/20

Steven Downs trial: Testimony largely focuses on aftermath of discovering Sophie Sergie's body


I couldn't find any article on Friday's hearing.
Click to expand...
Both of these articles require subscription unfortunately.
 
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