Steven Ridenour left Shuyak Island on a mail plane headed for Kodiak the same day he shot and killed a 57-year-old man, court documents say. Ridenour told investigators he did it in self-defense. Ridenour has been charged with first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.
According to an affidavit filed Tuesday in Kodiak, on Nov. 17, Joe Krall, the owner of Port William Wilderness Lodge, requested a welfare check on one of his two employees at the lodge, Steve McCaulley. Ridenour was the other employee, Krall told investigators.
The affidavit says Krall told investigators Ridenour's brother called him because he believed his brother had killed McCaulley and left him on the island, about 50 air miles north of Kodiak.
A state trooper arrived at the lodge and found McCaulley dead of gunshot wounds. Another trooper contacted an Island Air Service pilot, Peter Rosendahl, who said he'd made a memorable mail stop on Nov. 12 at the lodge.
"During the stop he noted that Steven Ridenour was the only one to come down to the beach," the affidavit said. "Rosendahl also said he distinctly remembers the stop due to the fact it was high tide, making the mail drop-off and passenger pick up difficult because (it had to) be done via an anchored skiff offshore and with only Ridenour to move cargo to the beach."
The pilot also confirmed he took Ridenour back to Kodiak.
On Nov. 15, Ridenour requested four paychecks, Krall told investigators, according to the affidavit.
The day after troopers discovered McCaulley's body, investigators spoke to Ridenour's brother. He told them he got an early morning Facebook message from his brother, who claimed he killed McCaulley after McCaulley went after him with a chainsaw, and he needed money, the affidavit says.
His brother also told investigators Ridenour sent similar messages to other relatives.
Investigators found Ridenour at the East Anchorage home listed as his physical address, where they arrested him.
Ridenour told officers on Nov. 12 McCaulley was cutting a tree at the lodge with a chainsaw when the incident began.
"For no understandable reason, McCaulley came at him with the chainsaw. Ridenour said he fell down near a shotgun, and then shot McCaulley several times with a shotgun loaded with slugs. The chainsaw fell to the ground running," the affidavit says.
The affidavit also says Ridenour told investigators McCaulley fell to the ground too, but got up and moved toward the lodge. He told investigators he ran through the buildings to a boardwalk and fired until the rifle he was using was out of ammunition. It is unclear when McCaulley switched from a shotgun to the rifle.
"He continued to shoot McCaulley to put him 'out of his misery,'" the affidavit says. "Ridenour stated he continued to shoot McCaulley after he was down because there is no medical care available there."
Before Ridenour left the island, he threw the shell casing into a bush, reloaded the rifle and put it back where it belonged in the lodge.
Ridenour's statements were consistent with the crime scene, the affidavit says. In the investigation of Ridenour's Anchorage home, they seized his phone, which revealed the messages to other family members, in which he repeatedly claimed self-defense. Other messages to a woman in Florida showed Ridenour had previously discussed injuring McCaulley.
McCaulley's autopsy revealed he had been shot twice with two weapons -- a shotgun and a rifle. It also showed McCaulley had been shot from the front and from behind.
Ridenour was taken to the Anchorage jail and was set to be released Wednesday morning, the affidavit says. Court documents also call him a flight risk. On Thursday afternoon, a jail employee said he was still incarcerated. Court records show his bail set at $250,000.