【2012 Archives】

An abandoned SD card labeled "Homicide at midtown Marriott" discovered012 Archivesa street in Anchorage, Alaska led to the arrest of a suspect on a first-degree murder charge.

According to the Associated Press, the card contained 39 images and 12 videos that depict a brutal assault of a woman in a hotel, including being strangled multiple times by her attacker. Other images on the card showed the woman “lying face down on what appeared to be a black bed of a truck," according to prosecutors.

Authorities believe the woman shown in the video is the same woman whose remains were found on Oct. 2 near the intersection of Seward Highway and Rainbow Valley Road southeast of Anchorage but they have yet to publicly identify her.

The media on the card also helped police piece together what they believe happened and firm up a timeline. The New York Timesreports that upon visiting the TownePlace Suites by Marriott Anchorage Midtown, police found the hotel's carpet matched that shown in the images and videos on the card.

The videos and photos found on the card were dated between Sept. 4 and Sept. 6 while the hotel confirmed to police that the man in the video had registered a room with them from Sept. 2 through Sept. 4. The last images on the card were dated as 1:12 a.m. on Sept. 6.

Authorities identified the man in the card media as Brian Steven Smith, who was familiar to police through another investigation. Cell phone data for Smith, obtained via a warrant, showed Smith's photo pinged at a location at 1:07 a.m. on Sept. 6 in the same vicinity as where the remains were eventually discovered.

Police believe Smith, who is being held on $500,000 bail, filmed the attack and murder himself though they didn't say whether or not he was the one who actually labeled the SD card with "homicide."

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