A man named Brian Steven Smith was sentenced to 226 years in prison for killing two Alaska Native women. He recorded the torture and death of one of them, saying in the video that “everybody always dies” in his movies.
Smith got two 99-year sentences for killing Kathleen Henry, 30, and Veronica Abouchuk, 52. Abouchuk had been missing since February 2019. The judge, Kevin Saxby, said that both women were treated horribly and called the crimes “the stuff of nightmares.”
The remaining 28 years of Smith’s sentence were for other crimes like se*ual assault and tampering with evidence. Alaska does not have the death penalty.
Smith, originally from South Africa, became a U.S. citizen shortly before killing Henry in an Anchorage hotel in September 2019. He showed no emotion during the trial and sentencing. During the trial, the victims were referred to by their initials, but the judge used their full names during sentencing to honor them.
Smith was arrested in 2019 after a se* worker stole his cellphone and found the footage of Henry’s murder. She gave the evidence to the police. Smith confessed to killing both women. Abouchuk’s body had been found earlier but was not correctly identified at first.
Both women were from small villages in western Alaska and were homeless in Anchorage. Henry’s death was recorded at TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Anchorage, where Smith worked. He stayed there from September 2-4, 2019. The first images on the memory card showed Henry’s body, time-stamped around 1 a.m. on September 4. The last image showed her body in the back of a truck on September 6. Smith’s phone was tracked to the area where Henry’s body was later found.
During the trial, the videos were shown to the jury but not to the public. Smith’s face was not visible, but his South African accent was recognized. He was heard urging Henry to die and saying, “In my movies, everybody always dies.” He also mentioned needing an audience for his actions.
In a police interrogation, Smith admitted to killing Abouchuk after picking her up in Anchorage. He shot her in the head at his home and dumped her body north of Anchorage. He told police where to find her body, and they later found a skull with a bullet wound.