Missing and Murdered Indegenous Women and Girls

A rally to remember five recently-missing persons in Fairbanks was held at the J.P. Jones Center on Thursday. It was organized to remember four people who have not been seen since 2020. But shortly before the event, a fifth person disappeared near town.

Steven Downs was convicted on circumstantial evidence, say his lawyers, who are asking for acquittal or a new trial. They filed a motion in Fairbanks Superior Court last week. It is attached here.

A Fairbanks jury convicted Steven H. Downs, 47 guilty of raping and killing Sophie Sergie in a dormitory bathroom in 1993.This story will be updated.

Lawyers in the Sophie Sergie murder trial stepped the jury through evidence and testimony in four hours of closing remarks on Monday. 47-year old Steven Downs is charged with 1st degree murder and 1st degree sexual assault. Judge Thomas Temple turned the case over to the jury, who started their deliberations Monday afternoon.This next story refers to violent acts and may be disturbing for some listeners.

Another DNA expert examines a 2012 report and says it allows for the possibility of another man at crime. This story refers to violent acts and may be disturbing for some listeners.

Defense attorneys for defendant Steven Downs raised many theories about alternative suspects who may have killed Sophie Sergie in a college dormitory bathroom in 1993.

Law enforcement officers who arrested Steven Downs for the 1993 rape and murder of Sophie Sergie, testified at Downs’s trial in Fairbanks Wednesday, February 2. Downs was a University of Alaska Fairbanks student who lived in the UAF dorm where Sergie’s body was found. This story talks of violence and might be traumatizing to some listeners.

Old college friends of Steven Downs, the defendant in the Sophie Sergie murder trial, testified they never thought he was a dangerous person capable of hurting anyone.

Some of the stories from the Sophie Sergie murder trial are potentially traumatizing to listeners. Former state medical examiner notes details in 1993 report

Katherine deSchweinitz, now Katherine deSchweinitz Lee, dated and lived with Steven Downs over her time at UAF in the 1990s