Witness testimony from former residents of Bartlett Hall continues this week in the trial of Steven Downs. KUAC’s Robyne reports that the long list of witnesses begins with people close to Sophie Sergie, who was found dead in the dormitory in 1993. The court has applied strict rules to media recording, giving permission on a case-by-case basis. The court granted prior permission for KUAC to record.
Prosecutors sought to establish if anyone who was up late on a Sunday night before final exams saw anything in the hallway or the bathroom on the second floor of the dorm. That was where Sophie Sergie was found Monday afternoon. She had been shot in the back of the head, stabbed in the face and raped.
Steven Downs, who is now 47, is charged with her murder and sexual assault.
Over the last two days of the trial, prosecutors called on people who are now in their 50’s who were undergraduates in 1993.
Vanessa Allen was a freshman living in the dorm that semester. In her testimony on Tuesday, she described feeling uneasy late the night of April 25, as she entered the bathroom on the east side of the building, because she saw a light on in the tub room, which she thought no one ever used.
“It was a bathtub area, and it had a door. And I remembered the door was closed and the light was on. And that light is never on.”
She had a final exam the next morning and wanted to take a shower. She described noises she heard coming through the wall.
“I don’t know if it was, like, firecrackers, or – that’s what it kind of sounded like.”
Allen also described a rustling sound she heard while showering.
Jennifer Roy was also up late that night. In her testimony on Wednesday, she said she was a graduating senior and wanted to keep studying in preparation for an exam the next day.
“I was really tired, and was trying to wake myself up, so I decided a shower might help.”
On the second floor of the dormitory, there are two bathrooms with showers, one on each hallway of the dorm. The bathrooms are in the middle of the floor, and share a common wall.
Roy says while she was in the bathroom on the west side, at about 1:30 Monday morning, she heard noises through the wall in the other bathroom.
"Because it was the middle of the night, it was quiet. And then all of a sudden I heard someone enter into the bathroom on the other side and then enter into the bath tub room. And then suddenly there was a loud thud against the wall."
Roy described hearing murmuring through the wall, but could not discern distinct voices, nor tell how many people were in the bathtub room.
"Now I assumed it was a male and a female, just because of the time of evening. And, you know, sneaking into that little room."
Later that day, Roy was returning from class and met a janitor in the hallway.
"Yes. I had taken my final. I was coming back to my dorm to sleep, and a janitor, she was running out of the bathroom. Really upset, said she couldn't tell me what was happening. I couldn't understand her. So she sort of pulled me into show me. She pulled me into the bathroom room.
Roy told the jury she and the janitor saw Sergie’s body in the bath tub. She ran to get a Resident Assistant on the first floor, who summoned law enforcement.
Former UAF Police Officer James French got to the scene about the same time as medics from the University Fire Department.
I walked into the bathroom first and make sure the scene was safe, not realizing exactly what we had at that point, besides a student that needed medical attention. And so I had them then respond into the bathroom, once I cleared it, which only took a second.
Also earlier this week the jury heard Sophie’s brother, Alexie Sergie, describe getting a phone call from Sophie’s dentist on Monday, saying she did not show up for her morning appointment – the reason she flew to Fairbanks that spring.
Another friend, Joann Sundown, told the jury Sergie had visited her on that Saturday night, and they looked through the college catalog together.
Sundown took a snapshot of Sophie.
And her former roommate, Jolene Nanouk, and friend Eric Newlin told the jury they drove with Sophie and another friend out to see a movie and then up to Murphy Dome on Sunday evening, to see a late April Sunset, and take the photo of Sophie that is the image through which many Alaskans know her.
A lot more witness testimony is expected as the trial continues.
