A young Anchorage woman is dead and her longtime boyfriend is being charged with murder after a drunk driving accident in the Valley over the weekend.
Amber Anderson, 20, died after her boyfriend, Joseph Tello, 21, wrecked their car early Saturday morning in Wasilla. Alaska State Troopers say he was intoxicated when he went into a ditch on Vine Road and rolled it multiple times at 4 a.m.
When troopers arrived, Tello, a young man who had already accumulated a long criminal record, was sitting on the ground next to Anderson. She was "lying on the ground with heavy bleeding from her head," according to a trooper report.
Anderson had no criminal history and her family said she had a good job at the Alaska Native Medical Center.
A helicopter took Anderson to Providence Alaska Medical Center where she was on life support for 12 hours before she died. Tello was not seriously injured and was later charged with drunk driving, driving without a license and second-degree murder.
Anderson dated Tello since she was in seventh grade at Clark Middle School, according to her younger sister, 17-year-old Shasta. On Friday night, the couple had gone to drag races in the Valley, the sister said. Amber was supposed to come back for a family trip to Exit Glacier near Seward on Saturday, said her aunt, Tina Anderson.
The family never really liked Tello, Anderson's sister and aunt said. "She loved him unconditionally," Tina Anderson said. "But none of us could understand that relationship."
"He was kind of a jailbird," Shasta Anderson said. "She never really brought him around because no one really liked him."
Tello's family could not be reached for comment.
According to court records, Tello has been charged with eight different crimes since he turned 18 -- three were for underage drinking. By contrast, Anderson, an administrative assistant at the Alaska Native Medical Center, had no criminal record, just two traffic tickets.
Anderson's family said her parents tried to get her to break up with him but that didn't work. "And she was an adult," Tina Anderson said.
The family said Anderson was best known for her sense of humor. "She was always the funny one in the family, making everyone laugh," Tina Anderson said.
Tello as arraigned on the second-degree murder charge in Palmer Superior Court on Monday.
Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call 257-4343. Reporter Elizabeth Bluemink contributed to this story.
By MEGAN HOLLAND
mholland@adn.com