Trial of final suspects in Grunwald murder case to be moved to Fairbanks

The final two suspects charged in the 2016 killing of a Palmer teenager will have their trial moved to Fairbanks.

Palmer Judge Gregory Heath granted a change of venue motion Tuesday in the trial of Bradley Renfro, 18, and Austin Barrett, 21, who are both charged with murder and kidnapping, among other charges, in the death of 16-year-old David Grunwald.

Grunwald was beaten and shot to death in November 2016.

The defendants’ attorneys had previously argued that it would be difficult to find a fair and impartial jury in Palmer because of heavy media coverage of the previous trials in the case.

Two additional suspects, Erick Almandinger, 19, and Dominic Johnson, 18, were convicted last year on murder charges in Palmer. A third suspect, 20-year-old Devin Peterson, is already serving a six-year sentence for evidence tampering related to the killing.

Almandinger, who is scheduled to be sentenced this month, filed an unsuccessful motion for a venue change in 2017.