A grand jury indicted an 18-year-old Quinhagak man Tuesday in the sexual abuse and killing of a 10-year-old girl, according to the Alaska Department of Law.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/adn/YMANIVAYPFDLROF3MHMBQD3NDY.jpg)
Jordan Tyler Mark was arrested in March, when investigators linked him to the disappearance and death of Ida “Girlie” Aguchak.
Aguchak did not return home March 15 and was reported missing the next day, according to charging documents. A team of local searchers found her body later on March 16 on the outskirts of Quinhagak. The crime shook the Western Alaska village of roughly 700 people as investigators searched for answers.
Investigators interviewed dozens of people, including Mark, and collected a DNA sample from him, the charges said. His DNA was found on the girl’s body, according to the charges. He was arrested on counts of first-degree murder, first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, kidnapping and tampering with evidence about a week after Aguchak went missing, troopers said in an online report.
Mark was indicted on the charges of murder, sexual abuse and evidence tampering by a Bethel grand jury Tuesday, the Department of Law said in an online statement Wednesday. He’s in custody with a $5 million bond, according to the department.
State prosecutors said Mark is scheduled to be arraigned in Bethel Superior Court on July 7.
[Because of a high volume of comments requiring moderation, we are temporarily disabling comments on many of our articles so editors can focus on the coronavirus crisis and other coverage. We invite you to write a letter to the editor or reach out directly if you’d like to communicate with us about a particular article. Thanks.]