ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A man from South Africa was found guilty of first-degree murder for the deaths of two Alaska Native women, ending a trial that shocked the Anchorage community. The man, Brian Steven Smith, remained stoic as the jury delivered a unanimous verdict after deliberating for less than two hours.
Smith, 52, was arrested after a woman stole his cellphone from his truck and discovered graphic footage from 2019. The footage showed the torture and death of one of the victims, a woman named Kathleen Henry, who was a sex worker. Smith later confessed to killing another Alaska Native woman, Veronica Abouchuk.
The trial lasted three weeks, during which the jury was shown the disturbing video, though only the audio was heard outside of the jury. The recordings captured Henry’s harrowing final moments as she was subjected to physical torture and narrated by Smith, who urged her to die as she was repeatedly beaten and strangled in a hotel room in midtown Anchorage.
For the families of the victims, the trial was an emotional and difficult process, with one family member expressing satisfaction with the thorough work of law enforcement and the judicial system. On the other hand, Smith’s wife, Stephanie Bissland, expressed a mix of emotions, mentioning that Smith had been struggling with heavy drinking prior to the crimes.
The trial also revealed the gruesome details of how the murders were committed, with Smith driving around with one of the victim’s bodies in the back of his pickup for two days before dumping her corpse on a rural road. The other victim’s body was found north of Anchorage, where Smith had left it after shooting her in the head.
After the verdict was delivered, additional evidence was presented regarding whether the murders involved aggravating factors, leading to the decision that the first-degree murder conviction involved “substantial physical torture,” which will subject Smith to a mandatory 99-year sentence.
In the end, Smith was found guilty of all 14 charges, including two counts of first-degree murder and multiple counts of sexual assault. As the trial comes to a close, the Anchorage community is left grappling with the horrific nature of the crimes committed within their city.