A man who filmed himself torturing two Alaska Native women and was heard saying that in his movies “everybody always dies,” was sentenced Friday to 226 years in prison.

Brian Steven Smith received 99-year sentences each for the deaths of Kathleen Henry, 30, and Veronica Abouchuk, who was 52 when her family reported her missing in February 2019, seven months after they last saw her.

The remaining 28 years were for other charges, including sexual assault and tampering with evidence. Alaska does not have the death penalty.

Smith, a native of South Africa who became a naturalized US citizen shortly before torturing and killing Henry at an Anchorage hotel in September 2019, showed no emotion during sentencing. He also displayed no emotion when a jury deliberated for less than two hours and found him guilty after a three-week trial in February.

Smith was arrested in 2019 when a sex worker stole his cellphone from his truck and found the gruesome footage of Henry’s torture and murder. The images were eventually copied onto a memory card, and she turned it over to police.

Videos from a memory card were shown to the jury but hidden from the gallery. Smith’s face was never seen in the videos, but his distinctive South African accent — which police eventually recognized from previous encounters — was heard narrating as if there were an audience. On the tape, he repeatedly urged Henry to die as he beat and strangled her.

“In my movies, everybody always dies,” the voice says on one video. “What are my followers going to think of me? People need to know when they are being serial-killed.”

During the trial, the victims were not identified by name, only initials. Saxby said during sentencing that their names would be used in order to restore their personhood.

Smith eventually confessed to killing Henry and Abouchuk, whose body had been found earlier but was misidentified.

“Both were treated about as horribly as a person can be treated,” Alaska Superior Court Judge Kevin Saxby said when imposing the sentence.

“It’s the stuff of nightmares,” he added.

Both Alaska Native women were from small villages in western Alaska and experienced homelessness when living in Anchorage.

Authorities identified Henry as the victim whose death was recorded at TownePlace Suites by Marriott in midtown Anchorage.

Smith, who worked at the hotel, was registered to stay there from September 2-4, 2019.

The first images from the card showed Henry’s body and were time-stamped about 1am on September 4, police said.

The last image, dated early September 6, showed Henry’s body in the back of black pickup. Charging documents said location data showed Smith’s phone in the same rural area south of Anchorage where Henry’s body was found a few weeks later.

During the eight-hour videotaped police interrogation, Smith confessed to killing Abouchuk after picking her up in Anchorage when his wife was out of town. He took her to his home, and she refused when he asked her to shower because of an odor.

Smith said he became upset, retrieved a pistol from the garage and shot her in the head, dumping her body north of Anchorage.

He told police the location, where authorities later found a skull with a bullet wound in it.

Abouchuk’s daughter, Kristy Grimaldi, gave the only victim impact statement during the sentencing, according to the Anchorage Daily News, saying Smith would “rot in prison.”

WHEREAS, Alaska celebrated Rural Transit Day for the first time on July 16, 2020, to focus on what agencies have done and are doing to recognize the specialized needs of rural passengers and staff; and

WHEREAS, as the reliance on rural transit has grown, so has the need to maintain the elements necessary for effective rural transit, including infrastructure and personnel; and

WHEREAS, Alaska’s state road system spans over 5,600 miles, with many communities not connected to the national highway system, and many Alaskans rely heavily on rural transit for access to their basic life needs; and

WHEREAS, Alaska Community Transit (ACT), part of the Division of Program Development under the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, manages Federal Transit Administration grant funds for 12 rural transit sub-recipients to assist with providing access and mobility to the general public and to transit-dependent populations; and

WHEREAS, as our communities change and grow, reliable and accessible rural transit continues to become a greater necessity to deliver people to work, medical appointments, shopping centers, entertainment locations, and other vital destinations.

NOW THEREFORE, I, Mike Dunleavy, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF ALASKA, do hereby proclaim July 16, 2024 as:

Rural Transit Day

in Alaska and encourage all Alaskans to take advantage of and support activities provided by Alaska’s rural transit operators.

Dated: July 16, 2024

Stories are posted on the statewide news page. Send news tips, questions, and comments to news@alaskapublic.org. Follow Alaska Public Media on Facebook and on Twitter @AKPublicNews. And subscribe to the Alaska News Nightly podcast.

Police shoot an armed man in Downtown Juneau. Also, An Anchorage nonprofit hopes tiny homes will help shelter homeless residents. And, Anchorage police propose a 45-day timeline to release body camera footage of critical incidents.

Monday on Alaska News Nightly:

Clarise Larson in Juneau,
Jeremy Hsieh, Liz Ruskin and Chris Klint in Anchorage,
Davis Hovey in Kodiak,
Ashlyn O’Hara in Kenai,
Sage Smiley in Akiachak.

This episode of Alaska News Nightly is hosted by Wesley Early, with audio engineering from Chris Hyde.