A 34-year-old man is accused of killing a woman on Friday in the Interior Alaska community of Healy Lake.
Sidney Randolph Huntington is being charged with first-degree murder. Victim Melissa Erickson was found dead in Huntington's home, Alaska State Troopers say.
Huntington, who was arrested Saturday, told troopers that he didn't remember killing Erickson, "but thought the evidence would show he did," court documents say.
According to those court documents, Huntington and Erickson had been drinking at a party Friday. After they left, witnesses heard gunfire. Another Healy Lake resident went to check it out, and saw Huntington walking toward him.
Huntington had an ax in his hand. The resident told Huntington to stop, and then fired his shotgun toward Huntington.
Around 10:30 p.m. Friday, Alaska State Troopers got a call that Erickson had been murdered. Troopers arrived in Healy Lake via helicopter, where they found Huntington and detained him. He was wearing only a pair of shorts.
Troopers searched his home and found blood-soaked clothing inside, according to court documents.
Huntington didn't have any blood on him, appearing to have had cleaned off the blood before troopers got to his house, charges say.
The victim appeared to have head trauma. Some wounds were consistent with an ax blow, charging documents say. A cobalt ax found near the victim had blood and what appeared to be her hair on it, according to the charges.
Huntington told officers the only thing he remembered was "drinking and blacking out," charges say. He admitted to owning two axes that matched the descriptions of the bloody ax, and the one the resident said he saw Huntington carrying.
The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported that Erickson's brother said the victim and Huntington were friends but were not dating, as troopers had claimed. Erickson, described as "fiercely independent" by her brother, was raised in Healy Lake. She was listed as president of the Healy Lake Traditional Council in an online newsletter, the News-Miner said.
Healy Lake is a community southeast of the Interior city of Fairbanks. Twenty-six people live there, according to Alaska's online community database.