Brian Steven Smith. Photo Credit: Alaska’s News Source/YouTube
According to a report by Daily Beast on Friday, February 23, 2024, a man who recorded himself torturing and killing two Alaska Native women was found guilty of first-degree murder on Thursday.
Brian Steven Smith, a 52-year-old immigrant from South Africa, will face at least 129 years in prison for the deaths of Kathleen Henry and Veronica Abouchuk.
Smith was arrested in 2019 after a woman who stole his cellphone from his truck discovered horrifying videos and images of him abusing and killing Henry, 30, in a hotel room.
The woman, Valerie Casler, alerted the police and handed over the evidence, which also included a memory card labeled "Murder at the Midtown Marriott".
The police then linked Smith to another unsolved murder case of Abouchuk, 52, who had been reported missing by her family in 2018.
Smith confessed to shooting Abouchuk in the head and dumping her body in a remote area, where the police later found a skull with a bullet wound.
The jury also heard the chilling audio from Smith's videos, in which he can be heard taunting and mocking Henry as he strangled and beat her to death.
He also spoke to an imaginary audience, saying things like "In my movies, everybody always dies" and "People need to know when they are being serial-killed".
Prosecutor Heather Nobrega said that Smith was a "sadistic" and "narcissistic" killer who enjoyed inflicting pain and humiliation on his victims.
She said that he had shown no remorse and had even bragged to his girlfriend and another man about his crimes.
Smith's defense attorney argued that Casler was an unreliable witness who had changed her story several times and had a motive to frame Smith.
He also suggested that Smith was mentally ill and had a history of substance abuse. He asked the jury to consider a lesser charge of second-degree murder.
However, the jury rejected the defense's arguments and found Smith guilty of 14 counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of sexual assault, and two counts of misconduct with a corpse.
They also agreed that Smith had subjected Henry to "substantial physical torture", which is an aggravating factor that will increase his sentence.
Smith is scheduled to be sentenced on May 24. He faces a mandatory 99-year sentence for Henry's murder and another 30 to 99 years for Abouchuk's murder.
He also faces additional time for the other charges.
The verdict was welcomed by the families and friends of the victims, who said that they hoped Smith would never see the light of day again.
They also expressed their gratitude to Casler for her courage and cooperation with the police.
Henry and Abouchuk were both members of the Alaska Native community, which has been disproportionately affected by violence and murder.
According to a 2018 report by the Urban Indian Health Institute, Alaska had the fourth-highest number of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in the U.S.
The report also found that many of these cases were poorly investigated and documented by the authorities, and that the media coverage was often inadequate or insensitive.
The report called for more awareness and action to address this crisis.
Smith's case has drawn attention to the plight of the Alaska Native women and the need for justice and protection.
It has also raised questions about how Smith was able to enter and stay in the U.S. despite having a criminal record in South Africa, where he was convicted of fraud and theft in 2006.
Smith came to the U.S. in 2011 on a student visa and married an American woman in 2014, which allowed him to obtain a green card.
He worked as a mechanic and a handyman in Anchorage. He had no prior arrests or convictions in the U.S. before his murder charges.
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