“There is no hope. There is no restoration. There is only preventing Mr. Smith from killing again,” the judge said in handing down the sentence
Kathleen Jo Henry (left) and Veronica Abouchuk (right).” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/TwJZL_FuqaBkAye8OhgtSw–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/people_218/a52ae868ca803df78ce181b9e5b7ff62″ class=”caas-img”>
Kathleen Henry/Facebook; Anchorage Police Department/Facebook
Kathleen Jo Henry (left) and Veronica Abouchuk (right).
An Alaska man was sentenced to 226 years behind bars for the brutal slayings of two Indigenous women, following a two murder convictions earlier this year that were secured by his own recordings of his victims.
In February, Brian Steven Smith, 53, was convicted of two counts of murder in the first degree for the killings of Kathleen Jo Henry and Veronica Abouchuk, along with another dozen charges including sexual assault in the second degree, tampering with physical evidence and misconduct involving a corpse, according to the State of Alaska Department of Law.
“There is no hope. There is no restoration,” Superior Court Judge Kevin Saxby said, delivering the sentence. “There is only preventing Mr. Smith from killing again.”
Brian Steven Smith at a hearing in Anchorage, Alaska, Oct. 16, 2019.” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/gIWX6ju5EkZDxiHv1vy7LQ–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MQ–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/people_218/70ee8026657c385d76bd48ee063b0a50″ class=”caas-img”>
AP Photo/Mark Thiessen
Brian Steven Smith at a hearing in Anchorage, Alaska, Oct. 16, 2019.
Related: Alaska Man Charged With Murder After Memory Card Found in Street Allegedly Shows Woman’s Killing
A crowd of people gathered in the courtroom, overflowing into the jury seats, with red handprints marking their faces, Alaska’s News Source reported from the two hour sentencing Friday, July 12.
Donning a red skirt and jacket, District Attorney Brittany Dunlop called Smith “pure evil,” adding, per the outlet: “Smith is a person that should never be permitted to walk among us.”
The red handprints – and the color red, more generally – symbolize the plight of missing and murdered Indigenous people, who often quietly disappear. The U.S. Department of the Interior Indian Affairs estimates that non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaska Native females experienced some of the highest rates of homicide in 2020.
Activists Joanne Sakar (left) and Natasha Gamache during a silent protest in an Anchorage, Alaska courtroom, Oct. 21, 2019.” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/BlIosjBPURW4mScQsy5xig–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MQ–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/people_218/cbba077d4ef078620c29304af28fba14″ class=”caas-img”>
AP Photo/Mark Thiessen
Activists Joanne Sakar (left) and Natasha Gamache during a silent protest in an Anchorage, Alaska courtroom, Oct. 21, 2019.
Related: A Woman Stole a Memory Card from a Man’s Truck. It Unearthed Possible Evidence of a Brutal Murder
Henry’s killing was uncovered after police were provided with a memory card, labeled “Homicide at midtown Marriott,” per Alaska’s News Source.
Brought in for questioning regarding that video, Smith admitted to police that in addition to killing Henry in 2019, he had also killed 52-year-old Veronica Abouchuk the year before, according to prosecutors.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
During his murder trial earlier this year, a graphic video of Henry’s death – who was strangled and killed at a Marriott in Anchorage, Alaska – was shown to the jury, per Alaska’s News Source. In another video shown at trial and described by prosecutors, a naked Smith – whose face is visible – is depicted leaning over an unconscious Abouchuk, who is lying on a red couch.
“In my movies, everybody always dies,” Smith says in one video obtained by law enforcement, the Associated Press previously reported.
Following the video evidence, the jury found that Smith had subjected Henry to “substantial physical torture,” per a previous press release from prosecutors and that as such he was guilty of an aggregating factor that ensured a mandatory 99-year sentence for her murder.
Outside an Anchorage, Alaska courtroom in 2019, Rena Sapp holds up her phone with a picture of her sister, Veronica Abouchuk, who was killed by Brian Steven Smith in 2018.” src=”https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/ZqH2Ad1DjaRg4aTHPLVKiQ–/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTcyMA–/https://media.zenfs.com/en/people_218/718b27f21dd478086318bc79ffe182e4″ class=”caas-img”>
AP Photo/Mark Thiessen
Outside an Anchorage, Alaska courtroom in 2019, Rena Sapp holds up her phone with a picture of her sister, Veronica Abouchuk, who was killed by Brian Steven Smith in 2018.
Multiple jurors who convicted Smith attended the Friday morning hearing, per Alaska’s News Source.
“We went and watched and witnessed the most horrible thing we will ever see in our entire life and then we would go back to the jury room, for sometimes hours on end, and just sit and just watch each other cry,” juror Matt Duncan recalled to the outlet. “It was absolutely terrible and I personally am going to therapy about it right now.”
Alaska Railroad employees found Henry’s remains in October, per the outlet. Mushroom hunters came upon Abouchuk’s bullet-ridden skull along Alaska’s Old Glenn Highway. The rest of her skeleton was never found.
Related: Alaska ‘Memory Card’ Murderer ‘Didn’t Seem Weird,’ Say Brian Smith’s Unsuspecting Colleagues
In a statement that the jury was later told to disregard, a detective testified that he had listened to a jailhouse call between Smith and his wife in which she had asked him if he had had sex with the women he murdered, per Alaska’s News Source.
“Not with those two,” Smith had replied.
Kristy Grimaldi, Abouchuk’s daughter, was the only family member to speak at the sentencing, per the outlet.
“I feel her all around me, watching over me, no one can take that away,” she said. She said that “true love never dies,” and she is relieved that Smith “will rot in prison.”
“I hope he is swarmed with guilt someday knowing he stole so many people’s joy,” she said, adding: “I will dance the day he dies.”
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
EMEA Tribune is not involved in this news article, it is taken from our partners and or from the News Agencies. Copyright and Credit go to the News Agencies, email news@emeatribune.com Follow our WhatsApp verified Channel
