Man arrested in deaths of 2 Hooper Bay women stabbed them dozens of times, charges say

A 20-year-old man arrested Sunday in the deaths of two young Hooper Bay women is accused of stabbing them dozens of times at one of their homes, according to charges filed in the case Monday.

Shaquille Carawan is facing six felony charges including first- and second-degree murder in the deaths last week of Novely Rivers and Abigail Olson, who were both 18 years old.

Carawan and Rivers were cousins, troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said Monday. Text messages between them tied Carawan to the scene, according to a sworn affidavit filed with charges. An autopsy found more than 60 slash and stab wounds on the women’s bodies, the affidavit said.

Investigators believe “an argument escalated into a physical altercation,” McDaniel said Monday.

Troopers described the killings as a “violent murder” that drew dozens of law enforcement officers to the Yukon-Kuskokwim village of about 1,300 people.

In the days after the deaths, the city and Hooper Bay’s tribal government offered a $10,000 reward for information that would lead to an arrest in the homicide investigation. Community members gathered over the weekend for a walk and prayer circle to support the families and friends of Rivers and Olson.

Hooper Bay police officers were called to Rivers’ home early Wednesday and found her and Olson dead with multiple stab wounds and blunt-force trauma to their bodies, according to the sworn affidavit written by troopers Sgt. Brandon Viator and included with the charges.

Phone records obtained through search warrants showed text messages between Rivers and an unknown number later linked to Carawan, the affidavit said. In the messages, Rivers and Carawan discuss him coming to her home with marijuana, it said.

Carawan also told her he made home-brewed alcohol and would bring it with him, according to the affidavit. The last message sent was from Carawan telling Rivers he was at her home, the affidavit said.

Investigators at Carawan’s home on Saturday found bloodstained shoes that matched tread marks found at the scene, a bag of bloodied clothing and a knife with a broken tip that matched a piece also found during the investigation, the document said.

Carawan initially denied being at the home or being connected to the deaths but “later confessed to killing both victims with the blue knife and explained the event in full detail,” the affidavit said.

During the interview, Carawan told investigators he threw Olson’s and Rivers’ phones in a lake as he ran home after stabbing them, it said. Investigators said they recovered the phones from the water.

Carawan was transported to Bethel on Sunday and remained in custody at the Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center on Monday. He was charged with two counts each of first- and second-degree murder and one count each of tampering with physical evidence and furnishing alcohol to minors in a dry community.

Carawan was scheduled for his first court hearing Monday afternoon in Bethel.