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

New Posts

OkieGranny

OkieGranny

Retired WS Staff
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
21,516
Reaction score
1,536
d54c9b12-f379-4067-b668-6f4825ebfa1d_zpsnaxo2ihj.jpg


http://www.uafsunstar.com/unsolved-murder/

In 1993, the murder of a young woman in Bartlett Hall shook UAF’s students and faculty to their core.Sophie Sergie, a 20-year-old Marine Biology student, was found by a janitor on April 26, murdered in a bathtub in the second floor women’s restroom. The cause of death was a gunshot wound.

While detectives searched for leads, many details of Sergie’s case continued to refute possible suspects. Her body was discovered at 2 p.m. that fateful Monday, forensic testing later revealed that her body had been sitting in the bathtub for up to 13 hours before discovery.

Due to the high traffic of students in the dorm, including those who didn’t actually live in Bartlett, a pool of suspects created based on the location of the crime was almost impossible.

None of the witnesses interviewed recalled hearing a gunshot...
Click to expand...

http://www.adn.com/article/20090425/cold-case-review-finds-new-lead-1993-slaying

On a cool spring night exactly 16 years ago, UAF's Bartlett Hall was alive with life, with classes almost out for summer and students watching movies, sipping beers, smoking cigarettes and packing bags for home.

In the midst of it all, a 20-year-old student named Sophie Sergie stepped outside and posed for a picture snapped by a friend. The image showed her arms outstretched in the dark, eyes lit in a smile.

In just a few hours she was dead, brutally raped and murdered in the crowded campus dorm at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Her body was left in a bathtub in a common area bathroom...

"It's been one of the larger mysteries," Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said. "This is a true whodunit."
Click to expand...

UAF journalism department's feature on the case:

http://uafjournalism.com/extreme/in...sergiemurderrder-of-sophiesophie-sergiemurder
 
Feb 16 2019
New testing helps nab nurse, 44, in brutal Alaska killing from 25 years ago, authorities say
"A relatively new type of genetic testing was credited Friday with helping authorities in Alaska solve a case in which a 20-year-old woman was found brutally murdered in the bathroom of a university dorm room more than 25 years ago.

On Friday, a 44-year-old man working as a nurse across the country in Auburn, Maine, was arrested in connection with the 1993 cold case killing of Sophie Sergie, who was found to have been sexually assaulted, stabbed multiple times and shot in her head, according to Alaska State Troopers."
"The suspect, identified as Steven Downs, was 18 at the time of the slaying. He is charged with sexual assault and murder in the death of Sergie and is expected to be extradited to Alaska. No motive was given for the killing and it was unclear if Downs and Sergie knew each other prior to her death"
 
bakersfield3 said:
Court documents tell you all you need to know

https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.tow...-11e9-abff-2718b5a307b2/5c677b9a8a5d1.pdf.pdf
Click to expand...
Horrible, horrible- that poor young woman was brutalized before she was shot.
To think the son of a gun alleged to have committed this ugly rape and murder, is a nurse- is unfathomable!
Was that his first rodeo, wondering/ doubting that it was his last?
speculation, imo.
From link..
"After attending college at UAF from 1992 to 1996, Downs lived for a time in Arizona;he ultimately returned to Maine."
 
dotr said:
Horrible, horrible- that poor young woman was brutalized before she was shot.
To think the son of a gun alleged to have committed this ugly rape and murder, is a nurse- is unfathomable!
Was that his first rodeo, wondering/ doubting that it was his last?
speculation, imo.
From link..
"After attending college at UAF from 1992 to 1996, Downs lived for a time in Arizona;he ultimately returned to Maine."
Click to expand...

I think probably one and done. The fact his roommate was a security officer on campus is quite fascinating. He had inner knowledge of the criminal investigation right away.
 
In the years since Sergie’s slaying, DNA public databases emerged as potent investigative tools. Until recently, DNA samples were passively checked against other records and produced matches only when two sets from the same person were linked.

Today, public databases like GEDmatch are filled with genetic codes volunteered by people with hopes of building out their family trees.

That helped authorities find “Golden State Killer” suspect Joseph James DeAngelo, accused of killing 12 people and raping 45 in California in the 1970s and ′80s.

The publicity of the feat, state troopers said, sparked the idea for investigators in the Sergie case. Why not try the same?

A forensic genealogist prepared a report on Dec. 18, comparing the suspect’s genetic material from the crime scene to likely relatives. A woman’s DNA profile emerged in the search.

A suspected killer eluded capture for 25 years. Then investigators got his aunt’s DNA.
 
Steven Downs: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Feb 18, 2019

"A 44-year-old nurse from Maine has been arrested in the murder of a 20-year-old woman on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks nearly 26 years after she was killed, authorities say. Steven Downs is facing murder, sexual assault and other charges in the death of Sophie Sergie after DNA obtained through a genealogical database linked him to the case, investigators say.

Downs was an 18-year-old freshman at the Alaska college when Sergie was killed, according to court documents. Downs was interviewed briefly by police at the time of the murder, but denied any knowledge of what happened, investigators said in charging documents. Sergie, a Native Alaskan from the western village of Pitkas Point, was visiting a friend at the University of Alaska Fairbanks when she was brutally sexually assaulted and killed inside a dormitory there....

Here’s what you need to know about Steven Downs and the Sophie Sergie murder case:..."

https://heavy.com/news/2019/02/steven-downs-sophie-sergie/
 
sophie-sergie-513.jpg


Officials in Alaska say they used relatives’ DNA to track down a suspect in a murder nearly 26 years ago at a college dorm.

Steven Downs, 44, was arrested Friday in the brutal killing of Sophie Sergie — whose body was found in April 1993 at the University of Alaska Fairbanks,according to state troopers.

She was sexually assaulted, stabbed multiple times and shot in the head, authorities said.

Decades passed without movement in the case. But then last year authorities saw genetic profiling technology used to make an arrest in the “Golden State Killer” case in California.

Investigators created a DNA profile in July 2018 which led them to an aunt of Downs, officials said.

Downs — a one-time student who lived at the dorm where Sergie’s body was found — was arrested Friday without incident from his home in Auburn, Maine.

Charges were filed against him for first-degree murder and sexual assault. He is being held in Androscoggin County Jail without bond pending extradition to Alaska, according to court records.

https://nypost.com/2019/02/18/dna-technology-leads-to-arrest-in-20-year-olds-1993-murder/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 99 more.
Total: 3,428 (members: 100, guests: 3,328)

Online statistics

Members online
100
Guests online
3,328
Total visitors
3,428
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
591,530
Messages
17,954,011
Members
228,522
Latest member
Cabinsleuth
Back
Top