Suspect in double slaying leaves behind recordings: 'In my movies, everybody always dies'
A sex worker stole a man's phone filled with gruesome images and videos, including a self-recorded homicide, during "a date" in Alaska in 2019, and transferred them to a memory card, according to court documents. That led to the man now facing trial for murder.
In one of the videos, a man, whom Anchorage police identified as Brian Steven Smith, now 52, was seen carrying a beaten woman's body wrapped in a blanket on a luggage cart.
The victim was Kathleen Henry, a 30-year-old homeless woman from a western Alaskan village, according to prosecutors. Smith pleaded not guilty to killing her and another woman – Veronica Abouchuk, 53 – in 2019.
"In my movies, everybody always dies," a man with a thick South African accent allegedly says in a video. "What are my followers going to think of me? People need to know when they are being serial killed."
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Brian Steven Smith sits in a courtroom while waiting for his arraignment to start in Anchorage, Alaska, Oct. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
That was one of 12 videos extracted from the memory card, which was labeled "Homicide at midtown Marriott," along with 39 images. Smith's defense team unsuccessfully tried to get the entire memory card thrown out before the trial.
Law enforcement, which crossed paths with Smith as part of an unrelated investigation, recognized his accent, and arrested him in 2019 in connection with the deaths of two Alaskan native women who experienced homelessness.
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He pleaded not guilty to 14 charges, including first- and second-degree murder, sexual assault and tampering with evidence.
After more than four years of legal bouts over the stolen memory card and delays, including the pandemic, Smith's trial is finally underway in Anchorage, Alaska.
His lawyer, Timothy Ayer, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Kathleen Henry, 30, left, and Veronica Abouchuk, 52, were allegedly killed by Brian Smith in Alaska. (Anchorage Police Department)
Jurors were warned about the graphic SD card's disturbing, sadistic recordings that they were about to see.
"The videos and other images in general show a woman’s final 35 or so minutes of life," presiding Judge Kevin Saxby said, according to Court TV. "They show her being strangled to death. She’s obviously already been severely beaten by the point the videos are being taken, and she’s being tortured and played with while she’s dying.
"And in addition to being robbed of her life, she's being robbed of her dignity. And I’ve concluded that I have a duty not to make the court system complicit in that."
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Smith's trial is also being livestreamed, but the judge ruled the graphic content will only be shown in court. The audio would be allowed to be played to the public.
Detective Brendan Lee of the Anchorage Police Department explained the images and videos as they were shown to the jurors, according to a report by Court TV.
At one point, a man's thick South African accent can be heard taunting the victim: "Do people need to learn how to die these days?"
Rena Sapp, outside a courtroom, Oct. 21, 2019, in Anchorage, shows a photo of her sister, Veronica Abouchuk, taken during a day out shopping in 2013. Sapp attended the arraignment of Brian Steven Smith, who is accused of killing Abouchuk. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Last week, Valerie Casler, the woman who stole the phone and transferred the pictures and videos, testified about how she got hold of the vital piece of evidence and what she saw on it.
"In the hotel room, it showed (Kathleen Henry) laying on the ground — on the rug — and she was, like, all beat up. I mean, her face was not even recognizable, and he was hitting her and telling her she isn’t going to leave the hotel alive, that he’s killing her," Casler testified, according to Western Mass News.
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She said the video shows him carrying her body outside and putting her in his truck.
″He’s propping her up and posing her in different ways and playing with her," Casler reportedly said.
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Mushroom pickers ultimately found Abouchuk's skull, an Alaska state trooper and a medical examiner testified.
While being questioned about Henry’s death, Smith reportedly confessed to Abouchuk's murder, Court TV reported.
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