Spate of violent crime in Fairbanks, including 2 homicides, prompts special investigative detail from Alaska State Troopers

A series of violent crimes in Fairbanks, all in the past month, has prompted the Alaska State Troopers to deploy a team of investigators from Anchorage and Mat-Su to focus on several unsolved cases and ongoing searches for suspects.

Two people were killed in Fairbanks in cases reported within an hour of each other early Saturday. A few days earlier, authorities say, someone fired shots at two trucks involved in a gold-hauling operation in the Fairbanks area. And the search continues for an 18-year-old wanted on murder charges in the death of a teenager at a Fairbanks party in late October.

The decision to send investigators as well as support staff from Southcentral to the Interior city comes in response to “the level of violent criminal activity in Fairbanks in such a short period of time,” Department of Public Safety spokesman Austin McDaniel said Tuesday.

The troopers are the lead investigative agency on all four of the cases and are adding to their existing staffing. The agency’s post in Fairbanks includes a major crime unit composed of a sergeant and six investigators, McDaniel said. The total additional staffing is under a dozen people, he said.

Troopers made a fairly immediate arrest in one of the homicides on Saturday: Brooklyn Whitman, 27, is charged with first-degree murder. Whitman is accused of firing a pistol through an apartment door, killing a woman who lived there with several young children, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case. The two had been involved in a relationship; the woman’s neighbors described hearing prior altercations and Whitman banging on the door that morning, the complaint said.

The other homicide that morning remains unsolved: 37-year-old Michael Boyd was found dead in the driver’s seat of a vehicle parked near a gas station in the Farmer’s Loop area, troopers said in an online dispatch. Boyd died of a gunshot wound, McDaniel said Tuesday.

Troopers are also involved in two ongoing searches for suspects in attempted murder and murder cases over the past month.

The agency is asking for assistance finding the occupant or occupants of a white Honda Pilot they say fired shots at two Black Gold Transport trucks on the Richardson Highway and near the Steese Highway and Chena Hot Springs Road last week.

They also continue to search for 18-year-old Darius Morgan, wanted on a $1 million warrant for murder in the death of a 15-year-old at a house party on Oct. 25. Witnesses saw him brandishing a black pistol at the party before the teen was shot, according to a criminal complaint filed in that case. Morgan was convicted of second-degree robbery last year and was not supposed to possess any weapons, the complaint said.

It’s possible Morgan is still in Fairbanks or is in Anchorage or the Southcentral area, McDaniel said Tuesday. He is considered armed and dangerous, and anyone who sees him should call 911 rather than approaching him, he said.

The violent crime detail in Fairbanks is part of a change the Alaska Bureau of Investigation made several years ago for unsolved homicides and other serious violent crimes like sexual assaults, McDaniel said. Instead of assigning a small team of case officers to run an investigation, he said, troopers deploy extra investigative resources to make progress more quickly.

“Everyone who wasn’t actively working on their own dynamic violent crime that had time sensitivity was either physically pulled up here or working on other supportive aspects,” McDaniel said. He said some investigators are prepared to stay in Fairbanks “for a significant amount of time.”

Anyone with information about the recent crimes in the Fairbanks area is asked to contact troopers at 907-451-5100.