There is a companion interview with the perp's father, where he said he knew his son had "anger management issues" and further stated he should have remained locked up at the local youth facility.
Maranatha,
DrMike
Little thugs yes, but also vicious killers, subhuman white trash, worthless excuses for human beings who deserve no mercy. How much do you want to be out when they hit 21?
 David Andrews, father of Peter Andrews, spoke after his son's arraignment Friday: "I didn't know he was capable of such a hideous crime." (Photo by Marc Lester / Anchorage Daily News) Click on photo to enlarge |
The elder Andrews also said during a brief interview Friday that he knew Peter had anger management issues. The boy had made threats against people before, he said. According to court records, the father even filed domestic violence complaints against his son that were later dismissed.
"I just always knew something bad might happen, but nothing this bad," David Andrews, his lips trembling, said outside the jail courtroom where Peter was arraigned on a murder charge. "I didn't know he was capable of such a hideous crime."
Peter Andrews is one of three accused in connection with the killing of Rachael Peace in Anchorage. After the 20-year-old was slain, her body was driven to Girdwood, then set on fire Thursday near the trail head to the popular Crow Pass Trail.
David Andrews, 48, said he didn't know Peace well. His son only met her about three months ago through work. David Andrews gave her a ride home a couple times from the Dimond 9 Cinemas where she worked, he said. His son had only lived with her for two or three weeks.
"I've had nightmares before, but this one's worse because it's a living nightmare," he said.
During Peter Andrews' arraignment, his father kept glancing at his goateed son in jail blues, who sat behind a glass wall and stared down at the floor. When the judge asked if there was family in the courtroom who would like to speak, David Andrews, sitting stiffly on the hard wooden benches of the Anchorage Jail courtroom, raised his hand, his chin shaking and blue eyes watering.
"I'm just Peter's dad," he said. Next to him, Peter's stepmother cried, her light-brown hair covering her face.
David Andrews said he was sorry for Peace's family and said he would pray for them.
His son "should have stayed locked up in McLaughlin," he said.
Reporter Nicole Tsong can be reached at ntsong@adn.com or 907-257-4450.
Girdwood -- The burned body of a young woman was found along a dirt road near a popular trail head north of here Thursday morning, and Alaska State Troopers and Anchorage police were investigating it as a homicide.
By Thursday evening, Anchorage police had three suspects in custody, but were saying little about them. They had not been charged late Thursday.
Police also were investigating an apartment at The Club at Eagle Point, a large complex on Lake Otis Parkway at East 56th Avenue in Anchorage. The three suspects did not live at The Club, but the investigation there was connected to the homicide, said police Lt. Ken Cole.
Authorities did not release the name or address of the victim.
Her body apparently had been dumped on Crow Creek Road less than half a mile from the Crow Pass trail head and deliberately set afire, according to the authorities.
It was discovered after a resident of the area "saw a fireball" up the road about 6 a.m., troopers said.
Girdwood Fire Chief Bill Chadwick was the first official on the scene. The body was still smoldering, he said, and the person's sex was difficult to determine at that time.
"I couldn't tell," Chadwick said. "It was badly burned."
Troopers, called to the scene at 6:15 a.m., would not say what the cause of death was. An autopsy at the state medical examiner's office in Anchorage began at 7 p.m. Thursday, said troopers spokesman Greg Wilkinson.
"We are confirming tonight the victim is a female in her early 20s," he said Thursday night. "The autopsy is still under way, but there's been no positive identification."
The narrow Crow Creek Road branches north off the Alyeska Highway for about six miles to the trail head and a parking lot. Roughly the first 21/2 miles are in Girdwood, the rest within Chugach National Forest.
Dozens of people live along Crow Creek Road in houses, cabins and tree houses, Chadwick said. One of those residents saw flames up the road from his house, he said.
Though rain was falling at the time, the man "saw a fireball, a real big whoosh, kind of indicating it was just starting," said troopers Sgt. Randy McPherron.
The witness, who was getting ready to leave for work, first thought the fire was set by "some kids up there having a party, a bonfire," Wilkinson said. When the man next looked, he saw only smoke, went to investigate and found the body, he said.
The man, neighbors said, lives in one of the last houses before the trail head, less than a mile from where the body was found.
Authorities doused the fire by 6:45 a.m. but did not examine the damaged corpse in detail at the spot, preferring to take it to a more controlled environment, McPherron said.
"Things are fragile," he said of the body.
The Crow Pass trail head is one end of the popular Crow Pass Crossing to Eagle River.
"Anywhere from 10 to 20 people hike up from the trail head on a daily basis, to maybe 100 to 200 on a weekend," said Jim Fincher, ranger for the Glacier District of the national forest.
When troopers arrived and blocked off Crow Creek Road, two cars were parked at the trail head. They later escorted a hiker away from the scene.
The discovery of the body led to a rash of rumors in the town of Girdwood. Several residents said the incident frightened them.
"It's weird. It's in my back yard," said Kurtis Kramer, 26, who lives at Mile 4.5 Crow Creek Road. "It freaks me out being so remote."
Even before it was known that Anchorage police had become involved, residents said the homicide was likely connected not to Girdwood but to Anchorage.
"It's somebody's mess from Anchorage," said Sean Toohey, 37, whose family owns the Crow Creek Mine at Mile 3.1 of the road. "When the story's out, . . . you're going to find it's something from Anchorage."
Girdwood is quiet and its people look out for each other, the residents said.
"A lot of people don't lock their houses, don't lock their cars, leave bikes out," said Brian Snyder, a 47-year-old who moved to Girdwood four months ago.
Fred Scriver, 34, also thought the homicide was a "big-city thing."
"This is something that doesn't happen in Girdwood," Scriver said as he carried organic milk and a newspaper out of the Crow Creek Mercantile. "Girdwood is the calmest, kindest place I've ever been."
Reporter Peter Porco can be reached at pporco@adn.com, Nicole Tsong at ntsong@adn.com and Rosemary Shinohara at rshinohara@adn.com.
3 charged in woman's deathFather: 'It's a living nightmare'Charging documents in case against Peter Andrews and Garrell ByrdTimeline for a homicide
According to charges filed Friday, here's the sequence of events surrounding the death of Rachael Peace and the arrest of three teens in the homicide. Juveniles are identified only by their initials.
Wednesday evening, Aug. 7
While 20-year-old Rachael Peace is working at Dimond Center 9 theaters, her roommate, Peter Andrews, 18, drives her 1995 Nissan pickup truck. He picks up a 14-year-old boy, R.B., and a 13-year-old boy, T.W. Later they pick up T.W.'s girlfriend, B.Z., also 13, who has sneaked out of her home. They go to Peace's and Andrews' apartment on Lake Otis Parkway.
Sometime after 11 p.m., Andrews picks up Peace at the theater and drives her home.
Andrews gives T.W. and B.Z. $20 and tells them to go buy snacks. Walking to a convenience store, T.W. tells B.Z. that Andrews and R.B. plan to kill Peace to get the $6,000 in her bank account and to sell her truck.
Thursday, Aug. 8
1 a.m.: T.W. and B.Z. return to apartment with snacks and find the door locked. Andrews answers door and tells them to come back in a half-hour. While waiting on the stairs outside, B.Z. later tells police, she hears a female scream from inside the apartment.
Inside the apartment, Andrews and a 14-year-old boy, R.B., kill Peace by strangling her.
Andrews and R.B. emerge from the apartment and leave with the two 13-year-olds, in Peace's pickup truck. They stop for pizza, pick up R.B.'s 18-year-old brother, Garrell Byrd, then drop the 13-year-olds off at Taku Lake.
Andrews, Byrd and R.B. return to apartment, put Peace's body in the back of the truck and drive to Girdwood. They stop on the way to buy gasoline.
The three drop off Peace's body near the end of remote Crow Creek Road, douse it with gas and set it on fire.
6:25 a.m.: Girdwood Fire Department receives call of fire near the trail head for the Crow Creek Trail. They investigate and find a charred body and a partially burned registration for pickup truck.
10:45 a.m.: Mother of B.Z. phones police to say her daughter may have information on a possible murder. Police interview B.Z., and later go to the home of R.B. They take him to the police station for questioning.
Later in day: Police find Peace's pickup truck with Andrews and Garrell Byrd in it. Both are taken into custody.
Friday, Aug. 9
Andrews charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence; R.B. charged in juvenile court with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence; Garrell Byrd charged with tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution.