Law Enforcement

Israel Keyes, the suspect arrested in connection with the abduction of Samantha Koenig, lived along a quiet side street in Turnagain, where neighbors say they never got the sense they were next door to a wanted man. They say he kept a low profile and didn't seem suspicious -- that was until the FBI and police raided the house at 2456 Spurr Ln. where Keyes was staying. Property records list Kimberly Anderson as the homeowner. Police say she's not a suspect. “They're very quiet people, very friendly, he works a lot,” said Lorina Warren, who lives right next door.

Homer police arrested two Homer High School students Thursday after they allegedly left a fake bomb inside the building, causing its temporary evacuation. A Homer Police Department statement says police took Zachary Fraley, 18, and a 16-year-old boy into custody on charges of first-degree terroristic threatening, after school officials identified them as the perpetrators. “Both stated they had done so as a 'prank,'” officers wrote. HPD was first alerted to the incident at the school, at 600 E. Fairview Ave., at about 9 a.m. Thursday.

Alaska State Troopers say a veteran pilot, a Talkeetna-based trooper and a rescued snowmachiner died when an AST helicopter crashed overnight Saturday during a search-and-rescue mission near Talkeetna. In a somber Monday press conference held at AST headquarters on Tudor Road in Anchorage, Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner tentatively identified the dead as 55-year-old Anchorage-based pilot Mel Nading, 40-year-old trooper Tage Toll and 56-year-old Talkeetna man Carl Ober.

A man accused of fatally shooting two men at a Coast Guard communications station near Kodiak last year, following a series of personnel disputes, was arraigned in federal court Tuesday. James Michael Wells, 61, pleaded not guilty to all six charges against him including two counts each of first-degree murder, murder of a federal employee or officer, and possession and use of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. He was arrested Friday in the murders of Coast Guard Electrician's Mate First Class James Hopkins and retired Chief Boatswain's Mate Richard Belisle.

Friday took a somber tone as dozens gathered at a memorial service, held in honor of Alaska Police Memorial Day, at the state's new crime lab in Anchorage. Sixty-four names of fallen officers were read by Anchorage Police Chief Mark Mew and Alaska State Troopers Director Col. Keith Mallard -- each name accompanied by the ringing of a bell in its honor. During the ceremony, two names were added to the Alaska Police Memorial outside the crime lab: Manokotak Village Public Safety Officer Thomas Madole and Alaska State Trooper Tage Toll.

Israel Keyes, 34, the man accused of killing Samantha Koenig, 18, an Anchorage barista, committed suicide Sunday morning and confessed to killing a Vermont couple, according to the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska. Keyes confessed to killing Koenig to Alaska law enforcement and also admitted to kidnapping and killing Bill and Lorraine Currier of Essex Junction, Vermont. Investigators in Vermont said they gathered enough details to confirm that Keyes killed the Curriers, however they were unable to find their remains after searching areas in Essex and Coventry, Vermont.

As part of a mission to lower Alaska's high rate of domestic violence and sexual assault, Alaskans are using a national prevention program called Green Dot to reach that goal and think outside the box. Imagine seeing a map with a lot of red dots on them that represent domestic violence and sexual assaults that happen here in Alaska every single day -- then imagine those red dots are replaced by green dots that represent people coming up with solutions...

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Storis has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. For more than 50 years, the Storis was involved in ice-breaking, search and rescue, law enforcement, and medical and disaster relief service in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea. The ship was built in Ohio and commissioned in 1942. It was transferred to Juneau in 1948 and provided medical and judicial services to western Alaska villages. The Storis spent almost 5 decades based in Kodiak.

At Northwest Patient Resource Center, a medical marijuana dispensary in Seattle, Washington, various strains of medical marijuana and hundreds of products infused or made with cannabis, line the shelves. Registered medical marijuana users walk in and select the treatment of their choice, as long as they present the proper paperwork and a form of identification. It is access that many card-carrying medical marijuana users in Alaska say they would like to see in the state. Alaska does not have any dispensaries since selling medical marijuana is illegal.

A former Anchorage resident will serve 19 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sending nearly 20 kilograms of cocaine to Alaska in two separate cases, prosecutors said Tuesday. U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler's office says Derneval Rodnell Dimmer, 36, will also spend 10 years under supervised release following his prison term. Dimmer, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute cocaine in each of the two incidents, has had several names and addresses in recent years.