Trooper report

Saturday, February 16

At 2334 hours on Feb. 5, Alaska State Troopers received report of a possible homicide in Kake, Alaska. The body of a young girl was discovered in an arctic entryway at the Presbyterian Memorial Church. The girl was identified as Mackenzie Howard, 13 years of age, of Kake. Alaska State Troopers, investigators with the Alaska Bureau of Investigation as well as evidence technicians with the State of Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory responded to Kake to investigate the death. Upon initial scene assessment by investigators the death was treated like a homicide. Upon the completion of the scene investigation as well as the autopsy by the State Medical Examiner’s office the death was confirmed to be a result of a homicide. Alaska Bureau of Investigation investigators and state troopers from numerous communities in the state spent the next 10 days conducting further interviews and evidence review and combining this work with information provided by the State of Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory were able to identify a suspect in this investigation. That suspect, a 14-year old male from the community of Kake, has been subsequently placed in custody by the Alaska State Troopers and is being transported to a Department of Juvenile Justice holding facility in Ketchikan. Due to the fact that the suspect is a juvenile his name and charges that are pending against him cannot be released.