Page 7 - Thomas Temple News Today

  “The current posture of that is that we are not connected to the internet, intentionally, and this may exist for another few days to a couple of weeks,” Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Thomas Temple said Wednesday in a teleconference call from his courtroom. “I don’t know what the result is,” he said, but noted, “we will not be able to have a Zoom hearing this week” as planned. Aside from a week’s worth of hearings in February in which the attorneys appeared in the courtroom, ...

The bullet that killed Sophie Sergie in 1993 could have been fired by a pistol owned by Steven Downs — and possibly a million other guns — according to testimony heard Tuesday. Two firearms experts testified via videoconference in the rape and murder trial against Downs, 46, who had been a student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks at the time of the brutal crime. On Tuesday, Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Thomas Temple heard testimony from witnesses presented by prosecutors and th...

Gillis said she tested three guns taken from Downs’ Auburn home during a February 2019 police search. She ruled out a rifle as being the possible murder weapon. She said she couldn’t eliminate a Ruger and an H & R pistol owned by Downs as the gun that fired the lethal bullet, but said the Ruger was less likely. Asked by Assistant Attorney General Chris Darnall whether the H & R pistol could have fired the bullet, Gillis said, “Yes, the individual characteristics and class characteristics ...

The genetic information derived by Parabon from the crime scene DNA evidence was provided to a Florida company called GEDmatch, which uses DNA information submitted by genealogy DNA testing services.

increase font size DNA expert says she found suspect Steven Downs through profile matching in 1993 Alaska murder case The murder trial for Steven Downs, an Auburn man accused in a 1993 murder case out of Fairbanks, Alaska, continues. Steven Downs appears in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn in March 2019 for an extradition hearing. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal A self-described professional genetic genealogist testified Thursday that she was the one who identified an Auburn man as a...

The murder trial for Steven Downs, an Auburn man accused in a 1993 murder case out of Fairbanks, Alaska, continues.

Read Article Steven Downs, right, leaves the courtroom with his attorney, James Howaniec, after bail was denied in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn in March. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal file photo The former girlfriend of an Auburn man charged in the rape and murder of an Alaska native woman in 1993 said Thursday that Steven H. Downs never owned a gun in the four years they dated while students at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. Attorneys for Downs, 46, called Katherine de...

2:38 20-year old Sophie Sergie (SUR-ghee) was found dead in a dormitory at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1993. Her case went cold for many years as suspect after suspect was ruled out. However, in 2018, DNA from the crime scene was matched through a commercial database to a former student who had moved back to Maine. Alaska State Troopers went to Maine to arrest him in February, 2019. After a months-long trip to extradite him to Fairbanks, Stephen Downs has been waiting his day in court...