Page 14 - Steven Downs News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Read Article The defense was seeking Monday to cast doubt on the guilt of an Auburn man who is charged with the rape and murder of an Alaskan woman in 1993 by introducing half a dozen alternative suspects. A judge in the case heard arguments from Lewiston defense attorney James Howaniec in support of a motion allowing him to present evidence to a jury at trial that at least six other men may have been involved somehow in the rape and murder of 20-year-old Sophie Surgie. Each of those men was viewed by investigators as a person of interest, Howaniec told Fairbanks Alaska Superior Court Judge ...

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. His attorney, James Howaniec, (hoh-WAH-nik) is glad the evidentiary hearing has started this week....