Palmer man charged in 2016 double homicide and string of armed robberies

A Palmer man could face the death penalty in connection with the 2016 killings of two people shot before a fire at a property in Meadow Lakes, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

John Pearl Smith II, 30, was indicted by an Anchorage grand jury on 17 charges, including using a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in murder, robbery and being a felon in possession of a firearm related to a series of armed robberies between September 2015 and June 5, 2016.

The robberies targeted people Smith believed "were involved in trafficking drugs," the U.S. attorney's office said in a Thursday statement.

The June case resulted in the deaths of 30-year-old Wasilla resident Crystal S. Denardi and 43-year-old Ben G. Gross at a waterfront home in the Mat-Su community of Meadow Lakes, according to authorities.

A person at the home called 911 just before 4 that morning to report a shooting, and first responders arrived to find a shop at the property ablaze.

Two bodies were found inside the shop and detached garage, Alaska State Troopers said at the time, and were discovered to have died of gunshot wounds prior to the fire. The person who called 911 was also treated for a gunshot wound.

Smith was previously convicted of armed robbery in 2006; prosecutors said that because of that conviction, and because the grand jury found the homicides occurred after "substantial planning and premeditation," Smith may be eligible for the death penalty under federal law.

Also in 2006, Smith pleaded no contest to vehicle theft committed two years earlier. The charging document says Smith stole a truck in Anchorage, and then another truck in Eagle River. Racing back to Wasilla, Smith struck a light pole and rolled the truck, which burst into flames. He was taken to Palmer Valley Hospital with serious injuries, the charges say.

At a press conference Thursday morning, acting U.S. attorney for Alaska Bryan Schroder declined to answer most questions regarding the case or investigation.

Before the Meadow Lakes homicides, prosecutors said Smith had committed a pair of previous armed robberies where he had "brandished firearms" on May 11, 2016, and sometime in September 2015. Both of those cases occurred in the Mat-Su, Schroder said.

The case that led to the charges against Smith was initially handled by the state, Schroder said, but ended up being federally charged.

"The investigation in this case was (initially) led by the Alaska State Troopers, who obtained assistance from the ATF and the DEA," Schroder said.

Frank Russo, the U.S. attorney's office acting criminal division chief, said Thursday afternoon that federal prosecutors had closely coordinated with troopers as well as the Palmer district attorney when transferring the case due to increasing federal involvement.

The Palmer district attorney did not immediately return requests for comment.

'Near-constant surveillance'

According to an affidavit filed against Smith by ATF Special Agent Thomas King, troopers quickly determined that Smith was the "main suspect" in the Meadow Lakes deaths and arson, though the affidavit doesn't specify what led to that conclusion.

Smith was under "near-constant surveillance" after troopers obtained warrants to track his vehicle and cellphone, and on June 22 investigators saw Smith and another convicted felon firing guns outside Smith's Meadow Lakes home, the affidavit said.

That led to Smith's arrest as a felon in possession of a weapon, Russo said, which gave investigators more time to look into Smith's earlier activities. He likened the opportunity to breaks in the high-profile Alaska cases of confessed killers Joshua Wade and Israel Keyes, who were each initially arrested on lesser charges.

"What happened then was that we were able to keep (Smith) in custody," Russo said. "Based on that, we were able to conduct a deeper investigation and find these two other home-invasion robberies."

Investigators eventually seized five weapons in connection with the case; Russo declined to say Thursday whether any of the five guns was believed to be the murder weapon.

Russo emphasized that the indictment only charged Smith with "attempted possession of controlled substances with intent to distribute," without specifying whether any of the victims involved actually had drugs on hand.

"That doesn't mean the people he targeted were involved in drug trafficking," Russo said.

Asked about the drugs involved in the cases, Schroder said only that they were Schedule I controlled substances — a category of drugs that includes heroin, LSD and marijuana.

Federal authorities haven't yet determined whether to seek the death penalty against Smith, Schroder said, but that decision will be made in accordance with U.S. Department of Justice guidelines regarding capital crimes.

At an initial court appearance Thursday in Anchorage, Smith sat shackled, looking ahead for the entirety of the hearing, avoiding eye contact with the family of one of the victims. Two U.S. marshals, a Drug Enforcement Agency officer and defense attorney Steven Wells flanked Smith, a white man with a shaved head and medium-length beard.

U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason read through the 17 charges Smith faces; assistant U.S. attorney Frank Russo then noted the penalties for the charges, death to life in prison for the most serious and 10 to 20 years for the others.

Wells entered not guilty pleas on behalf of Smith. The defense attorney said the trial was most recently set for later this month, but said the complexity of the case would warrant pushing the trial date. The evidence in the case may fill a terabyte hard drive, he said.

Alaska Dispatch News reporter Jerzy Shedlock contributed to this report.