A jury found a 23-year-old Fairbanks man guilty Tuesday of murdering two people at a residence in the Birchwood Homes neighborhood in August 2022. The jury’s verdict also found Joshua Bell guilty of charges related to tampering with evidence and attempting to hire someone to kill his co-defendant.
That’s according to a press release from the Alaska Department of Law.
In March of 2023, Bell and 22-year-old Kapri Willis were charged in connection with the fatal shootings of Ricardo Duperior and Rachel Wright. Duperior was 28, and Wright was 18.
A statement from the Fairbanks Police Department in 2023 said detectives had facilitated a recorded conversation between Bell and another person, and that Bell identified himself and Willis as the killers. The 2023 police statement also said Bell agreed to pay $10,000 to a detective posing as a hitman in exchange for killing Willis, his co-defendant.
Court records say Bell had also tried to dispose of two handguns by tossing them in an outhouse at Tanana Lakes Recreation Area.
Willis claimed he didn’t fire any shots the day of the killings, and a jury acquitted him after a trial in August of this year.
Bell’s conviction comes after a five-day trial that started last week. In a prepared statement Tuesday, Fairbanks District Attorney Joe Dallaire said that Bell’s “brutal execution of two innocent victims is beyond reprehensible.”
The state law department says Bell is in Alaska Department of Corrections’ custody without bail. His sentencing is scheduled for May 18.