Murder footage found on SD card | Forensic Files

[Music] Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at
any time you need support, please contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers, for
confidential support, and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this
episode on your app or on our website. Late in the afternoon on Monday, September 30, 2019, a call came
through to police in the city of Anchorage, Alaska, regarding a disturbing discovery in the Fair View
neighborhood just east of downtown. A passer by who'd been near a grocery store at the corner of Gamble
Street and 13th Avenue had noticed something lying on the ground. It was a micro SD card, a small flash memory
device commonly used in portable electronics such as digital cameras and mobile phones. The card was labeled homicide at
Midtown Marriott. Driven by curiosity, the person who found the card inserted it
into a device to examine its contents. It held a series of photographs and videos, all dated earlier that month.
The content was of amateur quality and appeared to have been recorded on a smartphone. Upon pressing play on one of
the videos, the viewer was immediately confronted by the image of a naked woman with long dark hair sprawled on her back
across a distinctive patented carpet. Her face was severely bruised, swollen, and bloodied.
From behind the camera, a man spoke with a distinct accent. Though his face and body never
appeared on screen, his hands were visible as he struck and strangled the battered woman, who reacted weakly as
though she was barely conscious. All the while, the man mocked her in a flat, chilling
tone. "You live, you die. You live. You die. [Music] [Music] Almost 2 weeks earlier on the night of
Thursday, September 19, 2019, 52-year-old Valerie Castler had been standing near the grocery store at the
corner of Gamble Street and 13th Avenue in Anchorage. Just before 2:00 a.m., a lone
man emerged from the cold darkness. He was white with a short, solidly built frame, gray hair, and
sharp facial features. As he spoke, Valerie noticed his voice was marked by a foreign accent
that sounded European to her. Valerie, who performed sex work, agreed to go with the man. She got into the
passenger seat of his black Ford Ranger pickup truck, and he drove her a few blocks south to Malay Baseball Stadium,
then onto the neighboring Sullivan Arena. They stayed in his truck until 4:00 a.m. When the man said that he
needed to withdraw cash to pay her, he drove to a Shell gas station and pulled in.
The man began searching his truck for a misplaced cell phone. It wasn't his regular phone, but an older additional
model he happened to have in the vehicle for some reason. After a brief, unsuccessful
search, he gave up and went into the gas station to use the ATM. He returned a few minutes later and
continued driving Valerie around until 7:00 a.m. before dropping her off at a tent in a wooded area near a church
where she was staying at the time. Once alone in her tent, Valerie pulled out the man's
phone. She had found it under her car seat while he was inside the gas station and had pocketed it without a word.
Its battery was dead, so she went elsewhere to charge the device. Once it powered up, she returned
to her tent and turned it on. Scrolling through the phone's apps, she stumbled upon a series of images and
videos taken earlier that month. Valerie, who struggled with alcohol and drug use disorder, had spent
the past 2 weeks on a prolonged bender. When she viewed the phone's contents, she immediately sobered
up. A man had filmed himself violently attacking and cruy mocking a badly beaten woman inside a
room. The patented carpet beneath the woman was instantly familiar to Valerie. It was the same one found in the guest
rooms at the Marriott Town Place Suites in downtown Anchorage, about 2 mi south of Fairview.
While the attacker's face never appeared on the video, his voice did. Valerie immediately recognized his distinct
accent. It belonged to the man she had spent the previous night with, the owner of the
phone. Valerie didn't know what to do. reporting the troubling discovery might lead to her own arrest, either for
stealing the phone or worse for prostitution if she admitted why they were together in the first
place. Finally, driven by the fear that the man might harm another woman, Valerie came up with a
plan. Days after taking the phone, she transferred its incriminating images and videos to a micro SD card. She then
labeled the card homicide at Midtown Marriott, wanting authorities to have as much information as possible about the
crime once they got their hands on it. On Monday, September 30, Valerie went to her doctor's office with the SD
card. She made up a story about finding the card on the ground near the grocery store where she had first encountered
the man. The doctor called the police on Valerie's behalf and she handed the card
over to investigators. Although Valerie initially lied about how she came into possession of the SD card, fearing legal
repercussions, she eventually came clean and admitted to having stolen the offender's cell phone.
By the time she spoke with police, however, she no longer had the device, explaining that she had since lost it
somewhere in the woods. Investigators corroborated her account by reviewing CCTV footage from
the Shell gas station, where she said the man had stopped to withdraw cash. The footage showed the man entering the
store, browsing snacks and drinks, then spending several minutes at the ATM before returning to his truck where
Valerie was waiting. The SD card contained 12 videos and 39 photos in total, all created over
a 3-day period between September 3 and 6, 2019. The victim appeared to be an Alaska
native woman, though the injuries to her face were so severe that she was unrecognizable. Neither the offender's
face nor body were visible in any of the content, but his right hand could be seen repeatedly slapping and strangling
the woman. She struggled to breathe, clawing at his wrist in a desperate attempt to make him stop. At intervals,
he loosened his grip, leaving her gasping for air. before the assault resumed. Throughout the videos, the
man's voice could be heard. Speaking with a distinctive foreign accent, he complained that his hand was getting
tired before inflicting further harm on the woman with his foot. He verbally abused her, stating,
"You need to [ __ ] die, [ __ ] Just [ __ ] die." At one point, he pulled out a piece of
string and wrapped it around the woman's neck, tightening it and then releasing it. Each time he let go, he said the
words, "You live," followed by the words, "You die" as he pulled the string toward again. Then he added, "Sadly, in
my movies, everyone dies." The man hummed the suspenseful instrumental theme from the movie Jaws,
made bizarre sound effects with his mouth and tongue, and sang the song Thunderruck by Australian rock band
AC/DC. As the woman struggled to breathe, the man laughed and mocked her as he continued to torture her. He
complained about how long she was taking to die, berating her that it was cutting
into his drinking time. When some of her blood got onto his hand, he became upset and accused
her of giving him hepatitis. At times, he spoke as though acknowledging an audience that might be
watching the videos. He made remarks about trying to get the right action shot and winning an
Oscar. At one point, he said to the victim, "Listen, you need to finish this movie because I just can't [ __ ] go on
anymore. What are my followers going to think of me? People need to know when they are being serial
killed. The woman appeared to be unconscious throughout with her occasional defensive reactions and
attempts to breathe seeming more like reflexes than conscious actions. In total, the videos amounted
to more than 35 minutes of harrowing footage. A distinct blue and black bag was occasionally visible in the frame.
The first still image had been taken at 12:59 a.m. on Wednesday, September 4. In this picture, the woman was still
lying on the hotel room floor next to a bed, her right eye partially open, and her left eye bruised and swollen shut
with blood along its opening. Her lips were blue and bloodied. Later images showed the woman wrapped in
a bed sheet, posed halfway on the foot of the bed with red ligature marks visible on her
neck. 2 hours later at 2:51 and 2:52 a.m., photos taken in a parking lot showed a rolling hotel luggage cart
parked next to a black older model Ford Ranger pickup truck with a white topper on it.
The woman's body lay on the luggage cart covered by a white blanket with her head
partially exposed. Following this were seven photos of the woman lying face down in
the back of the truck. She was covered by the white blanket as well as a blue top and
concealed from view by the white top fitted to the truck bed. The last of these photographs was dated
Friday, September 6 at 1:12 a.m., more than 48 hours after the first video was taken. Nothing in the photos or video
footage immediately revealed the identities of either the victim or the offender. Valerie Castler provided a
physical description of the man whose phone she had stolen, but the most compelling lead was his distinctive
accent. Valerie thought the man sounded European, but some of the police officers speculated that he might be
English. However, one detective reviewing the videos knew that it was neither of
those. He knew because he recognized the voice as soon as he heard it. 2016 had been a difficult year for
39year-old Alicia Young Bloodood. Over the course of two weeks, she had been laid off at work, lost her home after
her landlady needed to sell the property, and her truck broke down. Family and friends supported
Alicia and her six children until she could get back on her feet. But by the summer of 2017, she was ready for a
fresh start. She decided to move north from her home in Texas to the state of Alaska.
Alicia's warm, outgoing personality, coupled with her adventurous spirit, ensured that the change wouldn't be too
difficult. She found a job at an engineering firm called Dell Engineering, and began making friends in
her new city, Anchorage. One of these friends was a 46-year-old colleague named Brian Smith.
The two got to know each other after Smith started training Allayia to perform site
inspections. Smith was relatively new to Anchorage as well, having moved there from South Africa in
2014. Years earlier, he had served in the South African Army before working at a software company and later managing
guest houses. At one point, he tried to launch his own online dating site, but it
didn't take off. However, he did have personal success in meeting someone [Music]
online. In 2013, Brian Smith began an internet relationship with an American woman named Stephanie, whom he met
through online gaming. Stephanie had previously worked as an administrative officer for US
immigration in Anchorage. and Smith, who harbored dreams of one day opening an inn in Alaska, was happy to
relocate. The pair married in 2014, and Smith had lived in Anchorage ever since. He enjoyed exploring the Alaskan
wilderness and its remote back country, often uploading videos of his adventures
online onto his personal YouTube channel. He also shared footage of Stephanie performing on stage as a musician along
with clips from a trip they took to Hawaii. To those who knew him, Smith came across as someone who was meek,
affectionate, and fond of corny dad jokes. But despite the public image he projected of a happily married man,
Smith was privately frustrated by Stephanie. Specifically, he felt their sexual connection was
lacking. Stephanie was two decades older than Smith and she needed time and forewarning to engage in
intimacy. Wanting a more spontaneous sex life, Smith began to look outside of his
marriage. In 2018, Brian Smith turned his attention to Alicia Young Bloodood and the two co-workers struck up a
romantic relationship. As they grew closer, they began to confide increasingly personal things to
one another. They spoke about difficult past experiences, sometimes jokingly trying
to one up each other. Smith also shared explicit sexual fantasies with Alicia, sending her
messages about how he wanted to tie her up, choke her, and pour vodka down her throat.
But by the middle of August 2018, the fantasies took a troubling turn when Smith shared something deeply disturbing
with Alicia. He told her that he had killed [Music] someone. According to Smith, about a
week prior, in the early morning hours of Friday, August 3, 2018, he'd picked up a sex worker near the Department of
Motor Vehicles building in Anchorage. After the woman got into his car, Smith drove them both to her small studio
apartment, which was located just a few minutes away. Smith claimed that while they were
there, he cut off the sex worker's underwear and removed it from her body. He then killed her before taking photos
and videos of her corpse. Alicia was horrified by Smith's admission. She later placed a call to
Crimestoppers and shared what she knew about Smith's claims to Anchorage police. But without the alleged victim's
name and address, or any evidence for the detectives to verify, there was little they could do. In the meantime,
Alicia tried to coax more information from Smith in the hopes he would give her something concrete for police to
investigate. She contacted him via Facebook Messenger, feigning a prerient interest in his claims and demanding
that he provide evidence of the murder. After some back and forth, Smith told Alicia, "I think I would like you
to see those video clips." Alicia encouraged Smith to send them to her, replying, "Do you see now why I want to
see them so badly? I need to see them." Smith responded. I acted a little bit psycho
because I enjoyed it so much. It was a huge relief after being good for so many years. I'm still worried you will think
I'm messed up. Although Smith never sent Alicia the videos, he did show them to her in
person along with some photos. Alicia did her best to describe what she'd seen to the police. While the
footage hadn't shown an actual murder, Alicia recalled seeing a light-skinned black woman who appeared to be either
unconscious or possibly dead. In one picture, a naked Brian Smith stood over the woman who was sprawled
out with her eyes closed. Some of the videos showed him violating her sexually. Smith told Alicia that he'd
wanted to cut her breasts off, but hadn't. Terrified that Smith might attack another woman, Alicia kept in regular
contact with Anchorage police over the following weeks, updating them with every new admission he
made. She even handed over her phone so they could access the messages the two had shared, hoping they might find
something to kickstart an investigation. One day, Smith took Alicia to a power plant in a clutner, a
native village within the municipality of Anchorage. He claimed to have dumped the woman's
body in the vicinity, pointing out an old mattress and a black bag he said were linked to the
crime. Alicia later took the police to this same location. With the help of a search dog,
they located the black bag and took it into evidence. However, this bag was later misplaced.
Detectives gained access to Brian Smith's cell phone records to verify whether he had indeed left town on the
night of the supposed murder. His phone had not pinged any towers in the Alutner
area. Given that no proof of any crimes was uncovered, investigators began to suspect that Smith's story to Alicia
Young Bloodood was nothing more than a sexual roleplay fantasy. After maintaining regular contact with
Alicia for about a month, Anchorage police marked the case file as closed. The lead detective
noted. Based on the investigation to date, with no possible victim identified and/or the video of the incident not
seen by anyone other than Alicia Young Bloodood, this case is being suspended at this time unless additional
information is obtained at a later date. After this, Alicia swiftly left Anchorage with her children and severed
ties with Brian Smith for good. There weren't many South Africans living in Anchorage at the time. So,
when a detective who had previously investigated Alicia Younglood's claims reviewed the cell phone footage of a
woman being violently attacked in an Anchorage hotel room, one detail stood out. the offender's
voice. His distinctive accent was instantly recognizable to the investigator. It belonged to 48-year-old
Brian Smith. Even more disturbing was the date of the footage. It had been recorded in September 2019,
ruling out the possibility that it was the same video Alicia claimed to have seen more than a year earlier in August
2018. If Alicia had been correct about having seen a video depicting a murdered woman, did this mean Brian Smith had
multiple victims? While Smith had worked a few different jobs following his international move,
by the time police started investigating him in late 2019, he was employed as a maintenance worker at the Marriott Town
Place Suites in downtown Anchorage, the same hotel where it was believed the cell phone footage was
shot. Less than 2 weeks before the SD card was handed into police, Smith had obtained
his US citizenship and officially became an American. His wife had been his financial sponsor.
Following the internal tip off that the man in the video was Brian Smith, detectives checked the Marriott Town
Place Suite records and found that Smith had booked room 323 from September 2 until September 4 using his employee
discount. The carpet in the room also perfectly matched that shown in the images and video footage.
Vehicle registration records revealed that Smith and his wife owned a 1999 black Ford Ranger pickup truck, which
was consistent with the vehicle used by the asalent. When detectives zoomed in on
the images, they could see a small portion of the truck's license plate, making out the numbers
87. The final three numbers on Smith's license plate were 878. Armed with this evidence,
detectives wrote up affidavit for warrants to search Brian Smith's home, truck, and cell phone
records. Officers visited Smith's residence and workplace, but he wasn't at either location, nor was his
truck. Detectives set up surveillance at the house while a search warrant was executed at room 323 of the Marriott
Town Place Suites. Nothing of significance was found there, but CCTV footage from the hotel's
parking lot had captured Smith with the luggage card loading something wrapped in a white blanket into his
truck. Meanwhile, detectives studied the face and physical characteristics of the
woman in the murder video to try and identify who she might be. In addition to noting her general
appearance, race, and her likely height and weight, she had a small mole in the crease of her right
eyelid. Case detective Brendan Lee cross-cheed these features with missing person's reports and Anchorage Police
Department databases. Images of the woman's face were taken from the video along with
pictures of Smith's truck and distributed to patrol officers and homeless shelters statewide. Anyone who
recognized the woman or had recent contact with her was instructed to pass their information
on. Among the reports of missing women shared with police was that of 30-year-old Kathleen
Henry. She had been living in Anchorage since at least 2016, though she hadn't been in touch with her family for
several years. Kathleen's life had been shaped by hardship. She had dropped out of high
school, gone through a divorce, struggled with alcohol use, experienced mental health challenges, and had
frequent interactions with law enforcement. Despite all this, she'd been immensely proud when she earned her
GED in her early 20s. Investigators found that no one had heard from Kathleen in recent weeks.
Detective Lee obtained a photograph of Kathleen Henry from the Department of Motor
Vehicles. Not only did she bear an overall resemblance to the woman seen in the video, but she had a small mole in
the crease of her right eyelid. The search for Kathleen had only just begun when the situation suddenly
took a dark turn. Wednesday, October 2, 2019, marked just 10 days since police had received the SD
card depicting the brutal assault and likely murder of an unidentified Alaska native
woman. That morning, shortly after 9:00, a call came in from two railroad workers
stationed near milepost 108 along the Seward Highway, approximately 19 mi southeast of downtown Anchorage.
The pair had been working near the Rainbow Trail Head hiking area where the Alaska Railroad tracks run parallel to
the highway framed by a backdrop of snowcapped mountains. The workers had made a grim
discovery just beyond the road's guardrail. The remains of a woman lying in the fetal position beside the tracks
in an advanced state of decomposition. It appeared she had been pushed over the guardrail and had gone undiscovered for
nearly a month. Wildlife likely foraging ahead of winter had hastened the decomposition,
reducing her body to a partial skeleton. Some bones were missing, but her jawbone remained
intact. Dental records later confirmed the remains belonged to Kathleen Henry. Investigators were certain that Kathleen
was the woman in the murder video. Their certainty was bolstered by the records that came through for Brian Smith's cell
phone. Data revealed that his phone had been at the Marriott Town Place suites during the period when the videos were
made. Then at around 1:00 a.m. on Friday, September 6th, Smith's phone had pinged
off a tower along a rural stretch of the Seward Highway. This placed him in the same
area where Kathleen's body was dumped and was consistent with the timestamp on the final photo taken in the back of
Smith's truck. Investigators believed that Smith had kept Kathleen's body in the back of his
truck beneath the white blanket and blue tar for about 48 hours before discarding
her on the side of the road. While police had been surveilling Brian Smith's home since honing in on
him as a suspect, his phone data revealed something else. He was no longer in Anchorage.
Smith's phone was now pinging towers almost 4,300 m away in the United States capital of Washington
DC. Detectives initially had no idea why he would be there, but they soon found out he was on a vacation with his
wife. They notified local law enforcement and FBI agents in the DC area and requested their assistance in
locating and surveilling Smith. By Friday, October 4, 2 days after Kathleen Henry's remains were found,
Smith was located and placed under covert surveillance. Homeland Security notified
Anchorage detectives that Smith was scheduled to fly back to Alaska a few days later on Tuesday, October
8. Detectives prepared to pounce as soon as his flight landed. Meanwhile, Smith's Ford Ranger was
located and impounded. A search of the vehicle turned up a black Adidas bag, which
contained duct tape, nylon rope, latex gloves, and garbage bags. Detectives also found a number of
receipts, including one from the retail store Walmart, marked Wednesday, September 4, hours before Smith began
his assault against Kathleen Henry. He'd purchased some beer and a cell phone, which was possibly the device he'd used
to document the murder. There was also a receipt for a bottle of Clorox bleach from Home
Depot. Another receipt showed that he'd purchased two burgers from a McDonald's restaurant at 1:59 a.m. on Friday,
September 6, less than an hour after he was believed to have dumped Kathleen's body.
Detectives requested the CCTV footage from that McDonald's for this time period. Cameras at the restaurant's
drive-thru window had captured Smith as he pulled up to it and placed an order. He was wearing a red polo style shirt
with his left elbow leaning out the open window. In the bed of his truck was the
white blanket and blue top shown in the SD card images. Surprisingly, sitting next to Smith in
the passenger seat was an unknown woman rumaging through a handbag. It appeared as though Smith had
driven downtown and picked up another woman right after disposing of Kathleen Henry's
body. Pictures of the mystery woman were distributed to Anchorage police officers, and a possible identification
was provided, but she was unable to be located. At 300 p.m. on Tuesday, October 8, 2019,
Detective Brendan Lee and his colleagues stood at Ted Stevens International Airport in
Anchorage. They were waiting for Brian Smith's flight from Washington DC to land. Smith was returning home solo as
his wife was staying in Virginia a little longer to visit family. When detectives saw the
48-year-old disembark his plane, they ushered him directly into an interrogation
room. Smith sounded slightly confused as his Miranda rights were read to him. He
asked if he was being interviewed about a crime he'd been the victim of a couple
of months earlier. His truck had been broken into and his wallet, a GoPro video camera, and some papers were
stolen. Detectives listened patiently as Smith detailed the break-in before informing
him that he wasn't there for that reason. They actually wanted to ask him about an SD card that had been handed in
and had pictures of his truck on it. Smith claimed to know nothing about this. Changing tac, the detectives asked
Smith whether he ever stayed at the Marriott Hotel where he worked. Smith said that a few weeks earlier he'd
stayed there after having a fight with his wife. On the first night, he stayed alone in the room getting drunk on
whiskey. On the second night, he brought a woman back to his room. Between us, I have been known to
sometimes go out and find a companion, Smith admitted. He said he sometimes cruised by homeless
shelters looking for vulnerable women, stating, "If you drive past, you can find easy girls. 10 bucks, 20 bucks,
they'll do anything." Smith said he would consume excessive amounts of alcohol with these
women and pay them for sex. He boasted that sometimes the women would be so drunk that he didn't even
need to pay. Smith claimed that on Thursday, September 5, 2019, he met a woman at a
shelter and took her back to his hotel room. Smith said he had sex with her that night, then dropped her back at the
shelter the next morning. He described the woman as having very short hair and wearing heavy
makeup. This did not match Kathleen Henry's appearance. Detectives showed Smith photos of Kathleen from the SD card and
asked if he recognized her. Smith was adamant that he didn't. This looks like someone that's
really been beaten up a bit, he said. Detectives then began playing some audio from the videos so Smith could hear
Kathleen being berated by her killer. "That sounds like me," Smith responded. "What's happening with
this?" The detectives informed him that the videos were made by an individual holding a phone and filming the woman
from above while strangling her. The footage was timestamped and confirmed to have been made in the
Marriott Town Place Suites room that he'd been staying in the previous month. While Smith admitted that it was
his voice on the recording, he claimed to know nothing about what had happened and said the woman in the video was not
the person he'd picked up that night. Who would record stuff like this? He exclaimed. Detectives presented Smith
with the phone data they'd obtained and pointed out that his shoes were clearly visible in some of the footage, but he
continued to deny any knowledge. Upon learning that investigators were also speaking to his
wife in Virginia at that very moment, Smith became upset that his infidelity would be
revealed. All of a sudden, he provided a new detail. According to Smith, he'd been at work on
Wednesday, September 4, when he'd noticed a substance dripping out of his truck. Concerned, he'd looked inside and
saw a woman's dead body hidden beneath a white blanket and a blue tar. Smith did not recognize the woman
or know how she'd come to be in his truck. He panicked about what to do. He knew that if he reported the
discovery, no one would believe he was innocent. So instead, he waited until after midnight on Friday, September 6,
when his wife was fast asleep, to dispose of the woman's body along the Sewward Highway. Smith said that after he dumped
the woman's body, he drove back to Anchorage and threw the blanket and tarp in a random dumpster, the location of
which he could not recall. When Kathleen Henry's remains were found just under a month later, Smith saw news
reports about it and felt relieved that she'd been discovered before the winter snow set
in. The detectives didn't buy this story. They asked Smith why he would take photographs of Kathleen's body at
the dump site if this was the case and why those pictures would be on the same SD card as the murder
videos. After several more hours of interrogation, Smith admitted that he and some friends occasionally talked
about how to commit the perfect murder. Alaska apparently is like the best place to do it. Smith said you can
drive a 100 miles somewhere, dump something, and no one's ever going to find it. Smith eventually changed his story
yet again. He said that he must have murdered Kathleen but couldn't remember doing
so. He blamed alcohol and then suggested he might have blocked out the memory due
to the horror of it. He also said that a phone had gone missing from his car and
he wondered if perhaps quote a girl had taken it and in turn leaked the footage. By 8:30 p.m., Smith had been
speaking with police for more than 5 hours. He was informed that he would be going to jail that night and his
clothing and phone would be taken into evidence. Yet, there was still the matter of another woman Smith had
confessed to killing in 2018, according to his former girlfriend and colleague, Alicia Young Bloodood.
Investigators were left wondering, were there more victims they had yet to uncover? Were they now face to face with
a serial killer they had never known existed? A detective asked Smith directly. Have you ever killed anybody
else? I'll just be straight up with you. Are we going to find any evidence that you're attached to any missing persons
either here or in South Africa? Smith flatly denied having committed any other murders. At 8:40 p.m., they paused for a
bathroom break, and the detectives escorted Smith to the restroom. They kept their body cams
switched on while he relieved himself. as Smith then went to leave without washing his hands. One of the detectives
directed him to the basin and told him to wash up. In response, Smith quipped, "If you know what I've been up
to, you would know I don't even care about this now." drying his hands under the hand dryer.
He added, "All I can say is that you're going to be famous." When Brian Smith was taken back
to the interrogation room to go through some paperwork, he asked the detectives,
"Are you guys in a rush to go home?" They replied that they were not. Then out of nowhere, Smith began talking
about how a long time ago he had been home alone for a weekend while his wife was out of
town. Smith had gotten drunk, found a homeless Alaska native woman, and offered her a meal and a warm place to
stay. The woman agreed, and Smith drove her back to his house. Upon their arrival, they went downstairs
to a carpeted basement living area that had a couple of couches, a television, and some
bookshelves. Smith said that the woman was so drunk she was slurring her words. She lay down on a red couch where she
alternated between watching TV and dozing off. Smith thought she smelled bad and
told her to go take a shower. He claimed he was nervous that his wife would be able to smell that a homeless
person had been in their house. The woman said no, but Smith insisted. Frustrated by her refusal to
do as he asked, he went to his garage and retrieved a 22 caliber pistol that he kept
there. Smith then went back to the basement and again demanded that the woman shower. When she continued to
refuse, he shot her in the head as she lay on the couch watching TV. Smith said he didn't know her name
or remember anything that she had been wearing, but he thought she was in her mid-40s. Smith said that the woman was
very nice and hadn't done anything to him. She just pissed me off, he explained.
After killing the woman, Smith took photos of her and did things to her body. He admitted that he later showed
some of these pictures to his former girlfriend and colleague Alicia Young Bloodood in August
2018. After documenting his crime, Smith drove the woman's body 35 mi northeast to the native village of Alutner,
throwing her clothing out of the car window as he drove. He left her remains near the old Glenn
Highway. Smith told detectives that he had lied to Alicia about some details of the crime, including that it had taken
place in the woman's apartment. Some of the videos he'd shown her were not things that he had
filmed. However, he had been telling the truth about leaving the woman's body at
the Alutner power plant. Detectives presented Smith with several photographs of missing women who matched
the general description of the woman he claimed to have killed. Upon viewing the
first image, Smith paused, then stated, "I think that's [Music] her." 52year-old Veronica Achark had
been reported missing in February of 2019. Although she was a loving and a doting
mother of four who was full of life and had a large family that cared for her deeply, Veronica struggled daily with
the lasting effects of trauma. As a child, she was sexually abused, which subsequently led to her
having PTSD and alcohol use disorder. In 2005, Veronica and her family suffered further when one of Veronica's
sisters, 35-year-old Martha Toms, was found severely beaten underneath a picnic table in an Anchorage
park. Martha died the next day, and her murder remains unsolved as of 2025. Veronica's struggles meant she
often went through transient periods, which made her hard to locate. She couch surfed between friends and family
members, stayed at shelters, or sometimes lived on the streets of Anchorage. Despite the lack of
consistency in her day-to-day life, Veronica would intermittently contact her loved ones, especially around the
holidays, and often showed up unannounced at her sister's home. However, by late 2017, Veronica's
family were hearing from her less and less. When she failed to collect her permanent
fund dividend check, an annual payment made to eligible Alaska residents, they knew something was
wrong. Then Veronica's daughter received a devastating phone call informing her mother had died of an overdose and she
needed to visit the medical examiner's officer to identify her body. But it turned out that the remains
didn't belong to Veronica after all. Another woman had died while carrying Veronica's ID card. How this woman had
come into possession of the card was unknown. Although Veronica's family were relieved, she was still missing and
their concern for her well-being remained. With the different people providing conflicting information, it
was difficult to pin down exactly when the last known contact with her had been.
As 2018 was drawing to a close, there was still some hope that Veronica might reach out during the holidays, just as
she always did. But Thanksgiving came and went with no sign of her. Veronica's loved ones checked
hospitals and various locations downtown, making inquiries with anyone who might have crossed paths with
her. With no confirmed sightings by February 2019, Veronica was officially reported
missing. Months continued to pass with no word from Veronica Achark, leaving her family with no idea where she might
have [Music] gone. 8 months later, in October, Brian Smith confessed to police that he had
callously executed Veronica in the basement of his home. The revelation solved another enduring
mystery that had been plaguing authorities. 6 months earlier, two mushroom pickers foraging in a clutner
had stumbled upon a human skull about 100 yards off the old Glenn Highway. The skull had a bullet wound on
its left side with no exit wound, but metal fragments lodged inside. No other remains were found
nearby. After Brian Smith confessed to dumping a woman in that same location, investigators compared the skull to
Veronica Abauchuk's dental records. It was a match. Police searched Smith's home and
found the 22 caliber pistol he had described as the murder weapon along with several other firearms and two
homemade gun silencers. They also found 10 different cell and burner phones, and a number of SD cards,
digital cameras, and laptops. Smith claimed he bought and sold used electronics online as part of
a side hustle. However, one thumb drive was found to contain some deleted video clips, which experts were able to
recover. The videos showed Veronica a bowarch lying on Brian Smith's couch both before
and after she was killed. Initially, Veronica was wearing clothes, but in the footage taken
postmortem, she was naked. It appeared that Smith had removed her clothing and posed her deceased
body. In one short video, a naked Brian Smith appeared on camera leaning over Veronica.
In another photograph, Veronica's body had been moved to the floor and covered with a
blanket. The television in the background was still turned on with President Donald Trump visible on
screen. Investigators scoured Smith's entire home, including the basement area where he said he'd committed the
murder. There, they noticed some suspicious stains on an area of the blue carpet.
These stains tested positive for blood, prompting investigators to remove a 9x10
ft segment of the carpet for forensic testing. The blood was found to belong to Veronica. Although investigators
couldn't pin down the exact date of Veronica's murder, they estimated it had been in early August
2018, shortly before Smith had bragged to Alicia Young Bloodood about the crime.
Investigators repeatedly asked Smith why he had filmed his crimes. In particular, why had he talked
about followers while murdering Kathleen Henry as though he had an audience? They wanted to know if he had
been asked to create violent content or whether he'd uploaded any of it online. Smith said he hadn't. The only
content he'd shared online had been made consensually with another woman who had
given her permission for Smith to post it on an adults only website. Brian Smith's two confirmed
victims, Kathleen Henry and Veronica Abauchark, were both Alaska Native women. When asked whether he was
prejudiced against the group, Smith said he'd asked himself that same question. He'd ultimately decided that he only
prayed on these women because they were homeless and therefore to his mind easy targets. However, Smith was known to
harbor racist thoughts. He maintained two Facebook accounts under false names that he used
to air views he knew his wife wouldn't approve of, including bigoted opinions. He also had an account on the social
media question and answer site Quora. When one user asked whether white people automatically assumed all black
people were criminals, Smith replied, "White people don't assume it. Everyone assumes it when they look at
police crime statistics. Wherever black people go in the world, there is an immediate rise in
crime. It is a statistical fact that blacks are more than 600% more likely to violate the
law. This figure cited by Brian Smith was not a statistical fact, instead appearing to be one he himself
concocted. Brian Smith was ultimately indicted on 14 felony charges for killing Kathleen
Henry and Veronica Abauark, including one count of first-degree murder, two counts of secondderee murder, two counts
of secondderee sexual assault, and three counts of tampering with physical evidence. Despite his confessions to
detectives, Smith pleaded not guilty to all charges. A grand jury was held and Smith's
ex-girlfriend Alicia Youngblood was one of the witnesses who testified against him. However, Smith's trial was
subsequently delayed by the CO 19 pandemic. In July 2021, Alicia Younglood died by suicide 2 and 1/2 years before
Brian Smith faced court. Brian Smith's trial finally began in February 2024. His defense team fought against
having the footage from the SD card and Smith's interrogation admitted into evidence, but the judge
disagreed. Jurors were shown extensive portions of Smith's police interview, as well as some of the footage of Kathleen
Henry's murder. While care was taken to ensure that only the jury could see the screen
displaying the videos, the disturbing audio could be heard throughout the courtroom. Some individuals in
attendance believed that Smith appeared to look smug and smirked at certain points while listening attentively to
the audio. His wife Stephanie sat in the front row of the public gallery, clutching her hands.
She attended the trial consistently, sitting near the family members, loved ones, and supporters of Smith's
victims. Stephanie told the South African publication I Well, that after learning what her husband had done, she
had grieved, but was choosing to support the part of the man I married. Case detective Brendan Lee gave
testimony that he'd listened to a recorded jailhouse phone call between Smith and Stephanie in which Stephanie
asked Smith if he'd had sex with the women he'd killed. Smith apparently replied, "Not
with those two." This statement caused a stir in the public gallery. "She's only worried about the
ones he did sleep with," one woman retorted. The judge later told the jury to dismiss
Detective Lee's comments about the phone call. Valerie Castler, whose theft of Smith's phone had kickstarted the entire
investigation, played a crucial role as a prosecution witness, testifying about her discovery of the harrowing footage
of Kathleen Henry's murder. It was later revealed that Valerie had actually known Kathleen, but she hadn't
recognized her in the footage due to the severity of Kathleen's facial injuries. Valerie expressed her desire
to testify, saying she considered Kathleen her friend and she just wanted her to go
home. The defense team sought to undermine Valerie's credibility by highlighting inconsistencies in her
story. They pointed out how she'd initially claimed to have found the footage on a
discarded SD card, only to later admit she had stolen Smith's cell phone from his
car. The defense implied that Valerie had a hidden agenda. Perhaps she was seeking public attention or even
attempting to hide some secret of her own. They even insinuated that she might have adopted the footage to wrongfully
implicate Smith. When asked by the prosecution if she had access to video editing software that
could have been used to manipulate the footage, Valerie responded with a simple laugh, saying, "No."
In addition to the videos Smith had taken of his victims and the phone data placing him at various crime scenes at
pertinent times, the prosecution also shared a series of highly suspicious messages sent by and to
him. Of particular interest was an exchange between Smith and a friend of his named Ian Calhoun.
Although the now 27year-old Calhoun was two and a half decades younger than Smith, the pair had become friends after
meeting at work. At the time of Kathleen Henry's murder, Calhoun was 22 and a drummer in a heavy metal band called
Atonement Denied. Smith had occasionally gone to the band's shows. At 12:54 a.m. on Wednesday,
September 4, 2019, the same time that Kathleen Henry's murder was being filmed, Smith sent Calhoun a Facebook
message asking, "He you up? I'm having fun." Calhoun hadn't replied until more than 6 hours later at 7:08 a.m.,
responding, "I was not up. Sounds like you were having a lot of fun. At 9:16 a.m., Smith wrote back,
"Hi, I did have fun. Wanted to share." Calhoun replied quickly, "We need to have a drink
soon." Smith then told him, "I have something to show you, something I can't keep for too long."
The pair arranged to meet after work later that day in a secluded park near Ian Calhoun's home in Anchorage's
hillside neighborhood. Phone information indicated both men were at this park together for about 10 minutes between
4:46 and 5:56 p.m. on Wednesday, September 4, 2019. Investigators believed that Smith had
been showing Calhoun Kathleen Henry's body inside his truck. One month later, at 12:55 p.m. on
Wednesday, October 2, the day that Kathleen Henry's remains were found, Calhoun sent Smith a link to an article
about the discovery. Smith replied with one word. Oops. Calhoun wrote back, "As soon as I saw
it, I knew I should send you a text." The pair then exchanged a flurry of messages. "Smith, I'm surprised it took
so long. In a few weeks, snow would have covered it." Calhoun, I was kind of hoping that it
would hurry and snow. Smith, me, too, from what was said. LOL. Calhoun. But that means I'll be in the
clear. At the time these messages were exchanged, Smith was on vacation with his wife in Washington,
DC. He told Calhoun they would talk properly upon his return. Writing, "There is something else I must
tell. I will talk next week, but keep an eye on this about any leads. Can't talk.
not alone. Everyone is upset that I am carrying my phone around on vacation. Smith was arrested when he
arrived back in Anchorage one week later before he had a chance to speak with Anne Calhoun
again. Calhoun did not appear as a witness in court with his attorney asserting his client's fifth amendment
right against self-inccrimination. The court found this claim valid, meaning Calhoun could not be compelled
to testify unless the prosecution granted him immunity, which they refused to do. The revelation that another person
could have had knowledge of and was even possibly involved in Smith's crimes was
yet another twist in a case that had already shocked Alaska. The defense didn't present any
witnesses, and Brian Smith chose not to testify. In closing arguments, Smith's attorney focused on undermining the
state's witnesses and evidence. However, the jury deliberated for less than 2 hours before convicting Smith on all
counts. They also found there were aggravating factors in Smith's murder of Kathleen
Henry, namely the substantial physical torture he had subjected her to. While Smith was awaiting sentencing,
it was announced that federal prosecutors had also charged him with unlawfully obtaining US citizenship on
the grounds that he had lied in his application. When asked whether he had ever committed
a crime he hadn't been arrested for, or if he'd been involved in killing, hurting, or sexually assaulting someone,
Smith had answered no. Whether or not his citizenship will be revoked remains to be seen, but in
July 2024, 53-year-old Brian Smith was sentenced to 226 years in prison with a mandatory 99-year sentence for each
murder. As Alaska does not have the death penalty, capital punishment was never an
option. In handing down his sentence, the judge said that Smith was one of the worst offenders he had ever encountered
due to the joy he took in torturing and murdering vulnerable women. He added, "There is no hope.
There is no restoration. There is only preventing Mr. Smith from killing again. Veronica Abachuk's sister said she was
grateful the jury had convicted Brian Smith, stating, "It was pretty hard on all of us, but we tried to be strong in
our hearts, but it still hurts a lot." Veronica's daughter described the period where her mother was missing as a
complete nightmare. When the police had first informed her that her mother had been murdered, she'd
hoped it was a mistake, just as it had been when a deceased woman was found carrying Veronica's ID
card. Finding out that it was true was devastating. Veronica's son told news outlet KTO that his family's tragedy was
shared by far too many Alaska Native families whose loved ones were either missing or murdered.
The stigma of homelessness and addiction had made his mother and Kathleen Henry faceless to broader society and easy
targets for a man like Brian Smith. Quote, "We're one piece of that puzzle. Everyone has their own
peace. You never know what someone is going through and what baggage they're carrying."
Despite Smith's desire to target vulnerable women he believed were overlooked and uncared for by society,
both Kathleen Henry and Veronica Abauchuk were deeply loved and profoundly missed by their
families. Kathleen had a passion for writing poetry and her Facebook posts revealed a thoughtful young woman who
often reflected on her life and struggles. One post read, "I live daily with a whole lot of soft-hearted, not hatred
feelings unless someone treats me with the disrespect. Treat others the way you want to be
treated." Another post stated, "I got to fly because I am light as a feather." Veronica found joy in teaching her
younger relatives how to cook, often sharing a signature dish she made with chicken and corn
flakes. She was also known for her artistic skills, particularly the beautiful grass baskets and dolls she
handcrafted. Both women left behind lasting memories of love, creativity, and resilience,
serving as a reminder of the individuals they were beyond the tragic circumstances of their
deaths. Advocates for missing and murdered indigenous people attended Brian Smith's trial in support of the
two women and their families. In a symbolic statement of solidarity, many painted red handprints over the
lower half of their faces covering their mouths. This red handprint has come to represent the plight of missing and
murdered indigenous people or MMIP. In the United States, four in five Native American and Alaskan Native women
have experienced violence in their lifetime. More than 56% have experienced sexual
violence. Despite making up just 1.1% of the US population, Native American and Alaskan Native women are murdered at 10
times the national average. Anchorage ranks third in the US for the city with the highest number of
cases. According to data for Indigenous Justice, an Alaska nativeled nonprofit, 5,712 cases of missing and murdered
indigenous women and girls were reported in 2016. Only 116 of these were logged in
the US Department of Justice database. Given that Brian Smith deliberately targeted members of this
vulnerable group and spoke about serial killing in his videos, there has been speculation that he may have more
victims either in Alaska, other states he was sent to for work, or his home country of South
Africa. Authorities are aware of at least two other Alaskan native women Smith might have harmed.
One week before his sentencing, the state released a sentencing memorandum which included some shocking
information. While going through one of Smith's cell phones, investigators had found three images of an unidentified
Alaska Native woman clearly beaten and lying either unconscious or deceased on the ground.
Amber Bats is an activist from Community United for Safety and Protect or CASSP,
which advocates for the safety of sex workers. She has visited Brian Smith a number of times and corresponded with
him in an attempt to gain further information. Amber's personal nickname for Brian Smith is BS, a nod to his
initials and the shorthand term for the word [ __ ] When talking to Amber, Smith claimed the
unidentified woman in the grizzly photos was just a friend who had fallen over while the pair were out and laughing
together uporiously. He told a similar story to the police. The state included these three
images in their sentencing memorandum along with the forensic artists sketch of the woman.
When MMIP advocates saw these images, they immediately recognized the woman as 38-year-old Cassandra
Buskovski. Cassandra was reported missing in August 2019, the month before Kathleen Henry was
murdered. When Cassandra's family were shown the photos found on Brian Smith's phone, they confirmed the woman was her.
Despite this, the woman was still officially marked as unidentified with prosecutors stating they could not
verify her name or whether she was even deceased. In September 2024, Cassandra Boskovsky's family went to court to
request a presumptive death hearing. They wanted to obtain a death certificate for Cassandra while also
setting the story straight about what had likely happened to her. Cassandra's family wore red
t-shirts printed with a photo of a young Cassandra on them along with the words,
"Where is Cassandra? Justice for Cassandra, and we want answers." Like Veronica Abauchuk and Kathleen
Henry, Cassandra Boskovski was vulnerable and struggled with addiction, but her relatives knew her to have a
great capacity for love. At Cassandra's presumptive death hearing, Detective Brendan Lee testified
that Brian Smith's foot was visible in the photographs. During their search of Smith's home, police had also found
shoes that matched the pair Cassandra was wearing in the pictures. Navy Adidas hightops with three stripes in different
shades of pink. The sixperson jury found that Cassandra had been a victim of homicide
and there was enough information to grant a death certificate. Although this provided some relief for
Cassandra's loved ones, they along with MMIP advocates remain angry that Anchorage police discovered these
photographs in 2019, yet didn't make them public until Smith's sentencing almost 5 years
later. During that time, Cassandra's loved ones had endured torment, not knowing what had happened to her.
Michael Livingston, a retired police officer and MMIP activist, told Alaska Public Media,
quote, "This story really is a microcosm of a bigger challenge that we have in Alaska." How many other pictures did the
Anchorage Police Department or other law enforcement agencies in Alaska have who
may in the pictures appear to be deceased? And we're wondering why it's the policy of the Anchorage Police
Department to not reach out to the families and say, could this possibly be your
daughter? Cassandra's family were able to hold a memorial service for her, but they still want to bring her remains
home and have Smith held responsible for Cassandra's murder. While Anchorage police have
indicated that the investigation is ongoing, as of mid 2025, there are no further
updates. In the meantime, MMIP advocates are offering a $500 reward for information leading to Cassandra's
remains. They are also offering a $500 reward for information that leads to the arrest of
Ian Calhoun, the friend of Brian Smith, who appeared to be complicit in Kathleen
Henry's murder. Some speculate that Calhoun may have played a more active role in this
crime and possibly Smith's other crimes than is currently known. MMIP activists say there is enough
evidence to charge Calhoun with failure to report a violent crime committed against an adult and/or hindering
prosecution. However, prosecutors have said that they will not be charging Calhoun unless new evidence comes to
light. Activists have staged several protests in downtown Anchorage in front of police
headquarters and the district attorney's office as well as outside of Ian Calhoun's home. They have also started a
change.org petition titled Arrest Ian Calhoun. Now, as of the writing of this episode,
the petition has 5,500 signatures. In an interview with KNBA radio station, MMIP activist Antonia
Comarmac said it was important to speak out against Calhoun's apparent complicity. As silence allows society to
ignore the ongoing dehumanization of native women, "We need to set a precedent with
Ian Calhoun and have him arrested," she stated. Standing in stark contrast to Ian Calhoun were the two women who
reported Brian Smith's crimes to the authorities, Alicia Young Bloodood and Valerie
Castler. After Smith showed Alicia videos of Veronica Abauchark's body, she contacted the police multiple times
trying to prevent him from harming anyone else. Despite her repeated attempts, Smith went on to kill Kathleen Henry and
likely Cassandra Boskovski as well. The news of Smith's crimes was devastating to Alicia, who took her life
less than 2 years after Smith was arrested. Her family and friends remember her as a
passionate listener and trusted friend with a beaming personality and an indescribable love for her
children. In her obituary, they wrote, "Alicia graced our world, but those of us who knew and loved her, she
graced our lives." Valerie Castler has been hailed as a hero for turning over evidence of Brian
Smith's crimes despite fears of facing misdemeanor charges for theft and prostitution. In a piece for the Alaska
Beacon, activist Amber Bats emphasized that it's important for sex workers to know that in the state of Alaska, they
have immunity from prostitution charges when reporting heinous crimes. Bats explained that fear of legal
repercussions for so-called moral crimes can deter sex workers from cooperating with authorities, even when they possess
vital information about far more serious offenses such as murder. One of Veronica Abachark's sisters has
said she will always be grateful for what Valerie did, stating, "If it wasn't for that, we
wouldn't have known what he did to my sister and Kathleen." Amber Bats told Alaska Public
Media that Valerie is a brave, amazing woman, adding, "Rather than just saying, "Oh,
it's too difficult. I don't know what to do. I'm just going to leave this the way
it is and go on with my life. She chose to go above and beyond to get that information to
police. Amber was the one to inform Valerie Castler that Brian Smith had been found guilty the day after the
verdict came down. It was Valerie's birthday and she smiled upon hearing the news,
stating, "I'd do it again cuz those ladies needed to cross over and their souls make it to heaven.
[Music]

In late September 2019, a woman reported that she had discovered evidence of a brutal crime. A discarded memory card she’d found on a street in Downtown Anchorage, Alaska, had video and image files depicting the torture and murder of an Alaska Native woman. The investigation that followed revealed the stories of three women – Kathleen Henry, Veronica Abouchuk and Cassandra Boskofsky – who had all fallen victim to a serial killer…

CREDITS Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Creative direction – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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RESOURCES

For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-320-veronica-abouchuk-kathleen-henry

Brief Summary

Brian Smith was convicted of murdering two Alaska Native women after evidence was discovered on a micro SD card.

Key points

Disturbing Discovery in Anchorage. A passerby finds a micro SD card labeled 'homicide at Midtown Marriott'.
Valerie's Troubling Find. Valerie discovers a phone containing videos of a brutal attack.
Brian Smith's Dark Confession. Brian Smith admits to Alicia that he killed someone, shocking her.
Discovery of Kathleen's Remains. Investigators confirm the remains found belong to Kathleen Henry, matching the woman in the murder video.
Smith's Alibi Unravels. Brian Smith's phone data places him at the scene of Kathleen's body disposal, contradicting his alibi.
Confession of a Serial Killer. Brian Smith admits to the murder of Kathleen and hints at another victim, Veronica Achark.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You live, you die. You live. You die.

A chilling taunt from the attacker in the video.

2:15WatchMay 24, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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