Alaska Memory Card Murders: AK v. Brian Steven Smith

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Court TV) — A judge sentenced a South African native convicted of killing two women in Alaska to 226 years in prison.

In Feb., a jury found Brian Steven Smith, 53, guilty of more than a dozen charges in the murders of 52-year-old Veronica Abouchuk and 30-year-old Kathleen Jo Henry. Both women were from small villages in western Alaska and had experienced homelessness.

Brian Steven Smith watches proceedings during the opening day of his double murder trial Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Smith was connected to the murders in September 2019 when Valerie Casler turned in an SD card that she initially told police she found on the street. After assurance from police that they would not hold her criminally responsible, the woman admitted to stealing a phone from the center console of a man’s truck while he was allegedly getting money out of an ATM to pay for a “date” with her, then transferring its contents to the SD card she gave to police.

The memory card contained gruesome photos and videos spanning five days, including the brutal beating and strangulation of a woman police later identified as Henry. In the video, the attacker could be heard speaking in a thick accent before sneaking Henry’s blanket-covered body outside on a luggage cart, saying,

“In my movies, everybody always dies. What are my followers going to think of me? People need to know when they are being serial killed.”

Court documents said police recognized the voice as that of Brian Steven Smith, a South African native they knew from a previous investigation.

While being interrogated for Henry’s death, Smith reportedly confessed to the murder of Abouchuk.

Prosecutors said because a jury also found Smith guilty of an aggravating factor that he had subjected Henry to “substantial physical torture,” he faced a mandatory 99-year sentence for her murder. Smith also faced 30-99 years for Abouchuk’s killing. Smith’s attorneys had argued for 132 years.