A man who recorded the violent death of an Alaska Native woman on his cell phone was found guilty Thursday of two counts of first-degree murder in her death and the death of another Alaska Native woman.
Brian Stephen Smith, 52, from South Africa, showed no reaction in court and stared straight ahead as the judge read the jury’s verdict. He was arrested after a woman stole his cellphone from his truck and discovered gruesome footage from 2019. A female sex worker who was a key witness in the Anchorage trial copied the footage onto a memory card, which she eventually saved. She turned herself over to police, prosecutors said.
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Smith later confessed to killing another Alaska Native woman whose body had been previously discovered but misidentified.
Smith was found guilty on all 14 charges, including two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Kathleen Henry in 2019 and Veronica Abchuk in 2018 or 2019. If convicted, he faces life in prison. Alaska does not have the death penalty.
The violent killing of an Alaska Native woman caught on camera was key to a murder trial in Anchorage this week. (Fox News)
During the three-week trial, a graphic and violent video was shown to the jury only, but audio was played to spectators.
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The jury deliberated for less than two hours.
