True Crime All The Time - Matthew Owens

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

19-year-old Sonya Ivanoff, a resident of Nome, Alaska, disappeared during an early morning walk on August 11th, 2003. Her body was found the next evening. None of the early leads panned out, but weeks later, investigators found evidence pointing to local police officer Matthew Owens. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Matthew Owens. Nome is a small town in Alaska, and Owens seemingly used his position as a police officer to stalk his prey. Several women came forward to tell their stories about what Matthew Owens did to them. Law enforcement and prosecutors had a tough road trying to put away one of their own. You can support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 381 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime. Mike Gibson, give me, how are you? Hey, I'm doing good. I feel like I'm like a DJ sometimes with these headphones and this microphone. If I like going, welcome the WGIBBBY. That's actually a cool station.

You like that? People would tune into that. Yeah. All Gibby all the time. That's right. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Mervyn V. What's going on, Mervid?

Chris Powers. Hey, Chris. D. Castro. Well, thanks, Castro. Whitney. Good old Whitney. Lindsay. Hey, there's Lindsay.

Mike. Hey, I like that name. Christina Lou. Hey, Christina. Cindy Ramirez. Well, thank you, Ramirez. The original Christine Campbell. Well, you know you're the best when you're the original.

Anna Paredes. Hey, Anna. Deborah Deinstfry jumped out of our highest level. I think it's Densthry? Dins fry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I've messed it up a couple of times now. But that's awesome. Thank you. And last but not least, Leah. You didn't mess that up. Hey, Leah. I don't think so. What should be Leah?

Princess. Princess, Leah. And then if we go back into the vault, this week, we selected Emma Bout. Well, thank you, Emma, M. It's the short version. Oh, M. Yeah.

So we appreciate the new support, the continued support gives we've got a ton out right now. I do. On Saturday night, we dropped a patron. on Edith Louise Schmidt. This was a young wife and mother. She was having an affair with this guy named Glenn Everett Stewart. And this guy ended up killing and dismembering her husband. She told one story.

Glenn told another. And it kind of all unraveled from there. It's a good listen. Go listen to it. We also have a brand new episode out on True Crime All the Time Unsolved, where we're talking about Sabrina Eisenberg. She was only five months old when she disappeared from her home in Florida. Her parents were the main suspects, pretty much from the beginning.

Yeah. Now, they believe that she's still alive, but authorities think they had something to do with it and would go through all the details. And this was one that really kind of captivated me at a younger age. And kind of, you said, sparked your interest in true crime. Yeah, it kind of has hung on. to me for a long time. All right, buddy. Are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time?

I am ready. We're talking about Matthew Owens. On August 11, 2003, 19-year-old Sonia Ivanov, a resident of Noam, Alaska, disappeared during an early morning walk. Her body was found the next evening. None of the early leads panned out. But weeks later, investigators found evidence pointing to a local police officer. officer. One of their own. That's always a very scary thought. It is. Sonia Dora Ivanov was born on April 13th,

1984. Sonia was an Alaska native woman and was extremely proud of her heritage. She grew up in a large family and was the fourth of six children. Her parents are Maggie and Larry Ivanov. They lived in a small coastal village called Una La Cleet. In high school, Sonia was an honor roll student and a star basketball player. She was a popular girl with many friends and was described as a goofy and fun person. Hey, just like me. Yeah. Goofy and fun. You are goofy and fun. I don't know whether you ever made the honor roll. Your mom, I think years ago, told me that you weren't quite. You were. You weren't quite the academic that you claim to be. Maybe she was just trying not to make you feel bad for being...

She didn't want to boast on her son. Yeah. Maybe. Maybe. I know for a fact, you were not a star basketball player. Well... It's really hard to play basketball in those wrestling tights. Singlets.

Yeah. It really is. Your movement is restricted. You look kind of funny too out there, you know? Sonia graduated high school in 2002. after graduation she moved to Nome Alaska about 150 miles from her hometown have you ever been to Alaska I have not I've not either and it's some place that I've always wanted to visit yeah I wanted to just go there and take some time to gather my thoughts out in the great white north

you know maybe run across do they call Alaska the great white north I think that's upper canada I think that's Canada but yeah you know what I mean wanted to go out there there and maybe join a bear family, you know. Have them take you in. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Sounds dangerous.

Gnome is a small city with a population of about 3,600 people. It's also remote because it's not located along the state's highway system. Visitors have to fly in or use a snowmobile. Kind of cool. Yeah. And there are, I think, quite a few towns, cities in Alaska that. that are like that. You know,

I've watched a lot of those kind of wilderness shows that they've had over the years. There was one in Alaska where, you know, the guy had to fly in. He flew his own little plane in. Right. And then from there, he had like a little small cabin,

but he had to use a snowmobile. He was a trapper or something like that. That's a long day just to get home. Yeah. Yeah. To get there, set everything up. And then be like,

Oh, man, I left the whatever in the plane. Now I got to take my snow bill two hours back to get that stuff out of the plane. Sonia got a job as a secretary at Norton Sound Health Corporation, the local hospital. She also competed in the Arctic Native Brotherhood page, which focuses on cultural knowledge to try to earn scholarship money. The reason Sonia moved to Noam was so she could get a job to save up for college. She wanted to go to school and hold. Hawaii. Talk about a difference. That's, uh, it's quite a move. Yeah. From Alaska to Hawaii. In 2003, Sonia's best friend, Timoree Tower Rock soon moved to Nome and the two young women lived

together. They didn't have a car, so they walked everywhere. Timoree told Oxygen that they felt safe walking around the city. And I could understand, you know, 3,600 people. Not a big town. Not a big town. you would feel somewhat safe. You probably out of those little gnomes everywhere, too. I'm sure that's how the city got its name. Yeah. On the night of August 10th, 2003, Sonia and Timoree were hanging out of Friends house

and playing board games. Timmerie told Dateline that Sonia only had one beer that night. It left the house at 1 a.m. At this time of year in Alaska, the sun sets around midnight. And I do think that would be one of the tougher things, about living in Alaska. Sure.

Getting used to this, you know, the sun being up when it's time to go to bed or isn't it dark? Longer in some parts of the year. That would be a little tough to get used to. I think I can handle the sun being out more longer versus it being the other way around. Yeah. Yeah. Timri had to work early the next morning and decided to sleep at a nearby friend's house. Sonia had the next day off.

and wanted to stay out longer. Timri headed towards her friend's house and saw Sonia walking down the street towards their house. The last thing they said to each other was peace out, pal. This was the last time Timore saw Sonia a lot. Well, they sound like they're pretty close friends. Yeah, I think they were. And I know we've talked about it many, many times, but it always sticks with me, you know, this notion that you have this, you know, what really seems at the time as a very innocuous conversation. Yeah. You know, it's like a salutation that you would say to anyone or you say all the time, but those end up being the last words that you ever said to your your good friend. Yeah. Just be strange. Timery got home early the next morning and noticed that

Sonia hadn't come home. She assumed she decided to stay the night at a friend's at this point in time, few people in town had cell phone, so it wasn't all that easy to get in contact with Sonia. Timri went to work, and when she returned later that evening, Sonia still hadn't come home. Timri contacted the police to report Sonia missing on the morning of August 12. She was upset because she felt like the police weren't taking her report seriously. That's probably because of her age. Yeah. And this is something that comes up in many of the cases that we do.

Sonia's an adult. I think from the point of view of the police, okay, you haven't seen her for a little while, but what does that really mean? She has the right to not contact you. She has the right to not come home because she is an adult. So, you know, it's one of those strange situations. Now, later on, when you find out that it's going to be a missing person's case, it's real easy to look at it and say, well, why didn't the police, you know, jump right into action?

Yeah. But we're not talking about a six-year-old. Obviously, you would treat that very, very different. Of course. And let's face it, if you're the friend or family of Sonia, you're not going to be happy because you want the police to do something right away. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, be like, you know, me not showing up here one night, you know, you're going to know something's wrong because I never miss a free meal. That is true.

Not once in all of the years that I've known you. Have you ever not shown up for a free meal? You've driven 30, 40 miles before. Oh, yeah. For a free meal, not realizing that you probably spent more in gas than what you got out of the free meal. Sometimes I don't think right. But you did get that free meal. It did. But Sonia didn't show up for her scheduled shift on August 12th. She was known for being a responsible person and her coworkers cared for her. Sonia's boss called the police to file a report later that day. So now the police have two reports. They have a little more information. Does that change their way of thinking? And it must have because the search effort started in the afternoon, the police first searched Sonia's home and found that all of her belongings

were still there. One of the searchers was volunteer firefighter John Larson. After searching for a few hours, he decided to check more remote areas. He had a bad feeling that they would be searching for a body instead of a missing person. Not a great feeling to have? No, but we've heard it before. For whatever reason, you know, people get a bad feeling and intuition, whatever you want to call it, that this situation they're involved in is not going to turn out to be a happy one. So in this case, he's worried that they're not really searching for a missing person. They're going to end up searching for and ultimately finding a body. More of a recovery mission.

Yeah. Around 8.30 p.m. Larson and his wife followed fresh tire marks down Dredge Road 5. A little used road, a few minutes outside of Nome. The road leads to an abandoned gold mine. Good old Alaskan gold rush. Yeah, I'm sure there are quite a few old abandoned gold mines in Alaska. Larson found Sonia's body in a gravel pit at the abandoned mine. She was found naked. except for one sock. She had been shot once in the back of the head by a 22 caliber weapon. Sonia had been physically assaulted and was covered in bruises. She normally carried her ID and her apartment keys on a chain, but her ID was missing.

And what does that make you think right away? Well, someone wanted to cover up who she was. If somebody she was found, her ID wouldn't be there, so it would be tough to identify. Or it would take longer because I don't know how tough it would be to identify her. So I think, you know, that's one theory. I was kind of going down the path of maybe it's a trophy, possibly. Oh, that's a big possibility. Because we have had a number of serial killers who have taken IDs, you know, not only do

do you have something that belonged to the victim, but you have something with the person's picture, right, potentially on it. obviously you do in the case of a driver's license. I mean, there have been killers who have been found with tons of ID. Yeah. Leading to the speculation of, wow, how many people did, you know, this person actually kill? The medical examiner didn't find any evidence of sexual assault. There were no hairs, fingerprints, or fibers on her body that belonged to another person. Her fingernail scrapings also came back negative. No trace evidence was found on the 22 casing that was found or on magazines that were later found.

And I think this lack of DNA evidence stood out to investigate. And I can see why. I mean, you don't find anything a hair, a fingerprint. There's not even a fingerprint on the casing. So it's like the killer had some pretty good knowledge. Yeah, I think that's what they thought, right? maybe even that they had knowledge of forensic techniques and made a concerted effort to prevent the police from gathering, you know, some evidence that could incriminate them.

You know, it's really hard not to leave a fingerprint on a casing because you're touching it when you load it. Oh, yeah. It's not easy. It almost points to the fact that you're wearing gloves of some type or something like that. the Alaska state troopers were called in to investigate the crime scene. State troopers often assist with serious crime investigations in remote Alaska communities. It took them hours to get there.

Known police officers covered the crime scene in tarps and guarded the site. And that would make sense. I mean, I think if you have a town of 3,000 plus people, what type of police force do you really have? numbers what and maybe experience what i think you're going to lack the numbers and the experience and so maybe that's why you often see state troopers coming in to help in some of the investigations when they did arrive crime scene investigators analyzed some of the tire tracks at the scene sonya was found in a pool of blood a vehicle had driven through that blood leaving distinct tire tracks behind. They found that one of the tire tracks had a different tread, which suggested the

vehicle had mismatched tires. Okay, that's interesting. Yeah, I mean, kind of limits your prospects. Yeah, to a degree. I don't know that it's all that uncommon. You know, somebody has a flat. Let's say in their front left tire, do they buy the exact brand, of tire that they had on there or do they just buy the cheapest one of that size? Or used tire. So additionally, a smear of light blue paint was found on nearby fully. Investigators looked into Sonia's friend group to identify potential suspects. Sonia dated one boy who had a bad reputation, but he was ruled out as a suspect. Sonia was friends with a young man who went by the nickname Knuck.

He drove a blue truck with mismatched tires. Sounds like a potential lead. Well, when you talked about narrowing down the pool, obviously it does, but it especially does when you start to look at persons of interest or suspects. If you find somebody close to the victim who drives a blue truck because they found the blue paint and has mismatched tires, well, you're obviously going to want to look at that person very intently. For sure.

Blood was found inside his truck and dried blood was found on a tarp. And the butt of a rifle he kept in the vehicle. It's looking even more promising. It can't say that things are looking all that good for Canuck. The young man said, he hadn't spoken to Sonia in almost two weeks and claimed he was hunting with friends 70 miles away on the night she was killed. He was ruled out as a suspect.

Once forensic testing determined, the blood was animal blood. And his tires did not match the impressions at the scene. So is that amazing? Blue truck mismatched tires ends up not being the right truck. But maybe that's just a norm up there. You know, maybe a lot of vehicles have mismatched tires. maybe and I'm sure a lot of people up that way hunt sure so is it that unusual to find blood yeah I don't think it's probably kind of common in in somebody's vehicle as opposed to like let's say

we where we live you know I don't know that a lot of vehicles in the plat the neighborhood here where I live are going to have quite a bit of blood in them I would on a normal day Venture that 99% of them should not have any blood. And that 1% is from... My truck. Your truck that is here once a week. Yes. Investigators eventually learned that the tire marks were made by a couple who pulled onto

the road without noticing Sonia's body. Well, that takes you a couple steps back now. It does because that seemed like such a promising lead. Yeah. All we have to do is find a vehicle that match. is these tire impression. And they did find the vehicle. And it turned out that these people,

apparently were not involved. They just pulled off the road. And somehow didn't see her body. Wonder why they pulled off the road. Yeah, that's a good question. But it seemed like all leads were exhausted until a gnome officer working the night shift found the tip in Sonia's case file that hadn't been followed up on.

Investigators knew that Sonia was, seen between 1 and 1.15 a.m. by a janitor who cleaned the Tessaro gas station in No. The most critical sighting occurred after this. While she was walking out, she passed by Florence Habros and her sister, who were smoking on their mother's porch near the gas station. Sonia greeted Florence as she walked by. Florence and her sister saw a known police SUV, slowly drive by and pull up behind Sonia. Sonia talked to the driver for a moment and got into the vehicle and it drove off. Florence and her sister couldn't see the driver.

She knew Sonia got into the vehicle at 126 a.m. Because she asked her sister for the time. Now, the first thing that jumped out at me was this seemed like such a critical lead. Yeah, especially noting the time to not have been followed up on. It turned out that only two officers were on duty that night, Stan Pescoya, and 28-year-old Matthew Owens. The Nome Police Department had three Ford expeditions at the time. Vehicles 321 and 322 were older vehicles. Vehicle 983 was a newer model with running boards on the side and a 911 sticker.

Because those 911 stickers are hard to get. Do a lot of police vehicles have not? 911 stickers on them? I think so. Really? Yeah. Like, who doesn't know what 911 is, that you have to advertise it? I'm guessing more people than we realize. Yeah, maybe. In her early statement, Florence Habrose said Sonia got into a newer model and described the 911 sticker. She would later testify that the SUV did not have

running board. Records showed that Officer Stan Pascoy was driving the new. model vehicle 983 and Matthew Owens was driving vehicle 322 an older model. So there does seem to be a little bit of a discrepancy. A little bit. Vehicle 983 is described as the newer one with the running boards and the 911 sticker. Florence is saying, hey, this was the newer model. It had the 911 sticker, but it didn't have running boards. But someone could be confused on what they saw.

Oh, absolutely. I'm confused about a lot of things most days. Yeah. And I'm not having to give that information to police. Witness Rina Gola Gergen testified that she saw Sonia walking sometime after 1 a.m. Around 2.30 to 3 a.m. She saw Matthew Owens in his patrol car at a stop sign. In her early interviews, she said,

she was so focused on Owens that she didn't look to see if there was another person in the car, but she later testified that he was with another person. First of all, all of these people are up very late. Well, the sun just went down not too long ago. Maybe. Maybe they have to change their sleeping pattern. The known police department could not account for Matthew Owens from the time that he responded to a domestic disturbance. at 12.53 a.m. until he gave officer Pascoya a ride home around 250 a.m. Right? That's a two-hour period of time. There's a lot of things that can happen in two hours. Owens would say that local resident Terry

Calendrelli was in his car for a ride along from 110 to 120 a.m. And he was downtown supervising a bar closing from 1.30 to 2 a.m. Have you ever been on a pl?m.?. Have you ever been on a.m.? police right along? Not in the back seat against your will. No, then. Okay. I went one time when I was living in Detroit with the husband of one of my wife's friends who was a Detroit police officer.

It was an experience. Interesting, huh? To say the least. Did you go near eight mile or lower? I lived pretty close to eight miles at the time. That's why you were pretty good. good at rapping. Yeah.

Me and M&M. Me and M. I actually collaborated on some of his better songs. I think you did. But I can tell you just from my one experience, it wasn't a 10-minute thing. That's why I was trying to figure out 10 minutes, especially in Alaska. What are you really seeing in 10 minutes? Yeah.

I mean, this was like an all-night, four, five, six-hour thing from what I remember. You're not going to get a real good taste of the ride-along in 10 minutes. Okay, we went around the city for 10 minutes. We saw a couple blocks. Now get out. That's your ride along. Yeah. So that kind of struck me as odd.

Owens in Pascoya were supposed to fly out to Anchorage to give their statements to the state troopers on September 24th. At 1246 a.m. On September 23rd, a known police officer reported vehicle 321 missing. At 250 a.m. Officer Matthew Owens called in to report that he found vehicle 321 at Bessie Pitt, a sand and gravel mine. Minutes later, he reported that someone fired two gunshots at him as he approached the vehicle. He claimed that the shooter got out of the vehicle, opened fire, and ran off into the wilderness. Officers responded to the scene and found Owens unharmed.

The windows of the SUV were shattered. Inside, investigators found an envelope that contained Sonia's missing ID card and a threatening letter. According to Owens v. State, the letter said, pigs. I hate cops. I hate every one of you. Sonia was just a person in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do not know her. As you can see, it was easy for me to take your pig card keys right there. It was not her fault. She thought I was a pig. and shit just happened. She was just a person. And I just wanted to see if I could that night.

Every one of you should be more careful. I watch every move you make. You leave me alone and I will leave you alone. I will also shoot you in the head if you get close. Kind of an interesting letter. Well, we have a missing police vehicle. A police officer finds it. And inside is not only Sonia's missing ID card,

but this letter that is just kind of very strange and rambling. But it does kind of take credit the writer does for her murder and for stealing the vehicle. It was so easy. The keys were right there. You find a little strange, you know, that when he pulled up that the person was still in the vehicle and then shot a few rounds or a couple, you know, shots and then disappeared into the wilderness. I find the whole thing strange.

First of all, if you were going to kill someone and steal a car, why would you steal a police car? Well, I can see why you would take it. A police car would get you close to that victim. Okay, if you're assuming that the car was stolen before. Yeah. Okay, that would make sense. If it was after, then it wouldn't make sense because that would be the most notable car that you could steal. You're not going to, you're going to stand out.

Yeah. I mean, why would you hang on to it? right well that's the other thing yeah i mean you would think you would have got rid of it right away and why is the note in there for law enforcement to find doesn't make any sense you why would you have to leave a no no i guess what i'm getting at is the whole thing seems odd it almost seems staged right and the alaska state troopers thought owen's versions of events was improbable they believed he staged the theft and the shooting to throw off the investigation well it doesn't does seem strange. We just mentioned it.

State trooper Eric Burroughs didn't believe Sonia would have gotten into the vehicle with a stranger, but she might have accepted a right from an officer she recognized such as Matthew Owen. I think somebody would probably gotten a vehicle with any officer if it was a official vehicle. But here's the thing. Maybe in a bigger place. My assumption is in a town of 3,600, you probably recognize the officers. Because there's not that many of them. I agree with you because where I live is like 2,700 people in the little farm village. There's two and a half officers.

I say two and a half because one's part time. Oh, okay. You were throwing me there for a minute. But you know them. I mean, I know what they look like and, you know, somebody different showed up. You're like, I haven't seen you around town. I certainly haven't seen you on the village website. Well, and the place I live is a little bit bigger.

I don't know all of the police officers. So if somebody drove up, they were wearing the uniform, they were driving the vehicle. I wouldn't know whether or not they were a police officer. I would just assume they were. Yeah, you'd have to. Both Matt Owens and Stan Pascoya insisted they were innocent. Pascoya came in for a polygraph and passed. Owens came in and failed his polygraph.

He was the primary. suspect because his whereabouts were unknown for almost two hours on the night Sonia was killed. He was also known for picking up civilians, mostly women, while he was on duty. Okay. Seems like a strange thing to be known for. Absolutely. Is that really what you want to be known for? And why are you picking up all these women?

Just giving women a ride somewhere out of the goodness of your heart? Use your power or your authority. Yeah, I think that's, that's kind of where I'm leaning. Owens was brought in for further questioning. After he failed the polygraph, he denied killing Sonia or staging the incident with the stolen police vehicle. An investigator confronted him, saying that if the shooting was real, there was no way he could have survived.

And I think this goes back to kind of what you were talking about, right? he walks up on this vehicle and the perpetrator happens to be inside of the vehicle and is firing shots and somehow he's he walks away unscathed and it just doesn't add up you know this was a close quarter situation i'm thinking fairly close quarter and then the perpetrator gets out of the vehicle and is able just to run away and this guy doesn't shoot at him You know, there's some questions that have to be answered. And I think that's why, you know, one of the state troopers said it sounds improbable. Yeah, it just doesn't add up. No, and I think that's a good word for it. Owens was fired from the Gnome Police Department on October 25, 2003. He was arrested on suspicion of murder. Alaska state trooper said, they arrested Owens because they feared he was going to flee town. Spokesman Greg Wilkinson said, Owens went to the bank twice on October 24th, and a family member called Airlines asking for flight

information. And I could see how the authorities would look at those actions and think, you know, this is a man who's about ready to make a run for it. I think it might be somewhat easy to escape from that small town. What I mean is that you could take a snowmobile, get out of town, maybe go up to the river, get a canoe, paddle on down. Before you know it, you're gone. Yeah, I don't know what all of that means, but what I will say is there's a lot of places to hide, I would think. Oh, for sure. In Alaska. Now, it's rough territory. It's not going to be, you know, like staying at a five-star hotel. You're going to be roughing it out in the wilderness. It might be cold. There's wild animals and all of that.

But I'm thinking there's a lot of places to get lost. Yeah, I think you could get lost out there easily. According to the White Horace Daily Star, after Owens was arrested, two women reported that they had sex with him more than once while he was on duty and that the sex sometimes occurred in a patrol car. Now we know why he was picking up women. And I think, it also helps explain possibly why there are gaps in time where they don't really know what he was doing. Now, you can make the argument that on the night in question, he was doing something really bad to Sonia, but you can't tell me that that was the only night where he had gaps in time where nobody really knew what he was doing.

It seems like he was pretty busy. several women came forward to report that he picked them up in his police SUV and sexually assaulted them. He told them no one would ever believe them and threatened to kill them if they reported him. And I know we've talked about this before, but you think about a person in such a position of authority, a police officer. They have a lot of power. They do. And anytime you think about them misusing them. misusing that power to do bad things.

It becomes a very frightening thought. I think like in a small remote town, probably that power would be perceived even greater. Yeah, I get that. Everyone kind of knows everyone. Do you really want to go out on a limb and accuse this police officer of X when everyone is going to find out and you don't know if you're going to be believed? Right.

Then Owens' estranged wife, Tren Johnson, told the police that Owens called her around 4.30 p.m. on August 12th and said he needed her to take their son because a girl was missing and it, quote, didn't look good. He gave Sonia's name and physical description to his wife. And that sounds like such a strange way to phrase it. Doesn't it look good? Didn't look good for him or didn't look good for her? as then she might be dead. At the time, the two were in the process of getting divorced and were in a custody battle over their son. Her statement was incriminating because the call occurred about 45 minutes before Sonia was reported missing.

Additionally, he didn't want anyone to know about their conversation. Owens later admitted in testimony that he did call Trent to ask her to take their son, but the call took place on August. 19. He wanted to participate in an evidence search, not a search for Sonia. Trent also reported that on the evening of August 23rd, Owens told her that the troopers found a note. That could help clear him. No, he wrote allegedly.

Well, I think you have to assume. If they're looking at him after the failed polygraph, they came out and said, you know, he's a suspect, then they had to have assumed. not buying this story with finding the police card that, yeah, he wrote the note. And when you couple that with him telling his wife that the note is going to clear him, does it help put it in focus a little bit? Why would he need to write the note? He needs to try to clear his name. Experts analyzed the paper and found that it could have come from a printer Owens had access to.

There were no fingerprints, DNA, and other trace evidence on the note or emblem. And let's go back to that. Let's revisit that as it pertains to the crime scene. We talked about investigators not finding much at all, right, in the way of evidence. Who would know how to not leave evidence? Somebody in that field. Yeah. Someone in law enforcement.

Doesn't mean they would be successful, but they would have. have a much greater chance at doing so than the normal person. The state had evidence that Owens went to Coffee Creek, a hunting camp, 75 miles outside of Nome. He was seen burning items in a fire pit around the time Sonia was murdered. Maybe her close. And there are so many cases that involve a fire pit. Yeah.

Do you have a fire pit? It seems like you might be the type of guy that has a fire pit. Multiple fire pits scattered throughout the county. But none of them on your land. Absolutely no. The state troopers searched a fire pit at the campsite on November 5th, 2003. Investigators found grommets from a pair of tilt jeans, an eyelid from a pair of sketcher shoes,

underwire and metal parts from a bra, four keys on a ring, and zippers. See, the key of burning things is when the first. fires out, go back and you get all the stuff that's left and you dispose of it elsewhere. Yeah, because not everything is going to burn. No. Timoree confirmed that Sonia owned Tilt jeans and that she had borrowed her sketcher shoes on the night she was killed. Well, this is not going to be good for him with this information coming out that this is

a type of stuff that she wore. Was wearing. Or was wearing. Right at the. time she was murdered. No, it doesn't look good at all. One of the keys in the fire pit was similar to the key for Sonia's apartment. A replica fit the lot, but did not open it, most likely due to fire damage. Another key belonged to Michael Owens, Matthew Owen's uncle. And so I found that fascinating. There's four keys on a key ring. Right. One of them belongs to someone in Matthew

his family, the other one is thought to have been the key to Sonia's apartment. It just seems to be a lot of connections, right, between Matthew Owens and Sonia Ivanov. And these are connections that make him look guilty. I don't know how else to say it. Like, he had a hand in her murder. Yeah, I agree. It definitely seems like he might have had a hand in it. A grand jury indicted Matthew Owens on first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence that same day.

Volunteer firefighter Jennifer Shannon testified before the grand jury that Owens was not working. The night Sonia's body was found and there were no police or fire radio logs about the discovery or location of her body. But Owens and his young son showed up at the crime scene. He told state troopers he learned the location from Shannon, but she denied his claim. Meaning that the only way that he could have known is because he was there prior. Investigators theorized that Owen stole a gun from the evidence room to commit the murder. However, experts were never able to definitively prove which weapon was used to kill Song. And I do think that's sometimes quite hard.

They knew it was a 22 caliber, but the exact make, model, you know, sometimes that can be very difficult. Yeah. Based on his history of picking up women while on duty, it was believed that Owens saw Sonia walking alone and propositioned her for sex. Investigator Eric Burrough suspected Owens had been watching Sonia for a while and decided to interact with her when she was alone. She most likely refused to have sex with him. Owens probably thought that because she wasn't drunk, her report would have more credibility. In the past, he told other victims that no one would believe them because they were drunk. Investigators believed that Sonia and Owens had a confrontation and he murdered her.

So I understand how they came up with their theory. Yeah. But it is a theory. That it is. But if you go back to what some of the other women said, right? Some were sexually assaulted. Some had maybe consensual sex with him in his vehicle or were pressured to have sex. Maybe it wasn't quite consensual.

And then they were threatened either physically, violently threatened or told that, hey, I'm a police officer. You're drunk. Who do you think they're going to believe? Me or you, the drunk girl? Yes. Now, you know, he runs into Sonia, maybe had been stalking her or watching her for some time.

He tries this thing that has worked for him in the past, but she doesn't go for it. And she's not drunk. And maybe at that point, he realizes that this is not going to work out the same way that it has in the past. There's too much danger here for me, right? I've opened myself up to a lot of liability.

Andy's a middle of a custody battle. He doesn't want to jeopardize that either. Yeah. Now, you got to throw that into the mix. Owen's defense attorney filed for a change of venue due to pretrial publicity. The judge denied the motion because many potential jurors could not recall details of the case from the media. Matthew Owens' murder trial started on January 18, 2005. The prosecution argued that Owens murdered Sonia Ivanov and staged the theft of a patrol vehicle to throw off the

investigation. No trace evidence was found during the investigation, which suggested the killer had what was referred to as evidence awareness, meaning that they were most likely trained in police work. Finally, the shell casing and 22 caliber bullet recovered from Sonia's head matched a gun that Owens had access to. I think they laid it out there pretty well. So they did eventually figure out the ballistics and match this to a gun. And it turned out to be one that he had access to. Now, I don't know what that means.

Access. It didn't say he owned it. It just said he had access to it. Yeah. I mean, for a defense attorney, you'd say, well, who else had access to it then? Yeah. And I'm sure they did. Yeah.

I'm sure they did. But so far, I mean, you know, you would look at all of this is not, like, there's not just one thing. No, it's stacked up. It's just things that are stacking up against him. Two witnesses testified seeing Sonia getting into a police car. Florence Habros testified that she saw. saw Sonia get into a police car, but she could not see the driver.

The defense noted that her testimony differed from her recorded interview. One of the inconsistencies was whether she was alone or with her sister when she saw Sonia, how hard it was raining that night, whether she could hear Sonia greet the driver or not, and who checked the time. Florence's sister corroborated much of her testimony. And I get it. The defense has to punch holes, right? In the testimony of some of these witnesses.

Sure. Some of this stuff, though, you would say is pretty nitpicky, but they got to do whatever they can. Yeah, they're trying to just put as many holes as they can into the prosecutor's case. I mean, how hard was it raining that night? I don't know. Yeah. I can't remember how hard it rained three nights ago.

Exactly. Who checked the time? mirror you. I don't remember. I just know we checked. William Gifford from the Alaska Bureau of Investigation testified that based on blood evidence, Sonia was killed on a dirt path, moved a few meters into the brush, and rolled into the position in which she was found. The prosecution rested on February 8, 2005. The state did not present a motive or any eyewitnesses to the crime. Okay, so no motive, no eyewitnesses. Yeah, well, how often is it that you have an actual eyewitness to the crime? Yeah, I think pretty slim. Yeah, it doesn't happen all that often. And, you know, this isn't a case of, you know, killing a spouse for life insurance money

or because you're in the middle of a divorce and you don't want to pay alimum. It's not that type of motive case. I mean, what is the motive? for a serial killer. They want to do what they want to do because they get a certain feeling out of it. And you can argue it's lust, it's whatever, but most of the time it's not revenge,

it's not greed, it's not some of the other ones that we point to in many of the cases that we do. Sometimes things just go wrong, right? Something happens. And in that moment, a person makes the decision that they're going to kill another human being. Yeah. What is the motive for that?

I don't know. You could say it's because he didn't want her to tell on him about what he had done. The defense brought up other potential suspects and argued that the bullet found in Sonia's body did not definitively match the suspected murder weapon. one of Sonia's former boyfriends allegedly had a temper and a motive to kill her because of rejection. Other police officers had the motive and opportunity to frame Owens to get revenge for past issues. The defense also presented witnesses who claimed they saw Sonia alive after the early morning hours of August 11, 2003. The prosecution argued that these witnesses were not credible. So they were throwing a lot of stuff against the wall.

She had a boyfriend, an old boyfriend who she had rejected. Yeah. He had a temper. He could have killed. You could have been the one. Apparently Owens had some issues in his past for which other police officers, you know, held a grudge against him. They could have wanted to frame him. And you're just trying to put some doubt out there.

Yeah, but, you know, when the jury sits down, you know, how much. weight are they giving those things versus this kind of mountain of evidence that's on the other side? In closing, defense attorney Jim McComis argued that the state did not prove Matt Owens' guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and that the circumstantial evidence against him was weak. Owens had no relationship with Sonia and therefore no motive for murder. The jury deadlocked on February 28, 2005 and a mistrust. was declared. And I do think about this a lot. You know, you have what appears to be a lot of circumstantial evidence. But I think for some jurors, they want that smoking gun, right? They want that

one piece of evidence that definitively ties that person to the crime. Yeah, they want no doubt. And the prosecution just doesn't always have that. And so, you know, that's where that concept of reasonable doubt really becomes so important. Right. You could say he had access to the gun, but you can't put the gun in his hand. But it's not no doubt. It's reasonable doubt. And what does that word reasonable mean?

Yeah. Sonia's brother Jacob told oxygen, I knew from the beginning. Gnome wasn't the place to have the trial. Jurors had attended the same church as Matt Owens. I knew there could be some kind of buddy, buddy system going on there. And I do think, you know, that is something to, to really consider. You have a very small city. In 3,600 people, how many people actually knew this guy?

saw him on a daily basis. Could backfire on you, right? Right. And so therefore, would it be harder to come to terms with the fact that one of your police officers in this small city could be a murderer? I think it could be really difficult, especially if they have a good reputation. The city of Nome settled a wrongful death suit with Sonia's family later that year. The White Horse Daily Star reported that the settlement was half a million dollars. Owens' second trial got started on October 25, 2005 in Katsabu, Alaska.

Hopefully I'm saying that correctly. At least they took it outside of Nome. Which I agree with you. I think it was a good idea. At this trial, witnessed Dealey Blackshare testified about a conversation he had with Charlotte Calendrelli, Matthew Owens' landlord and friend. Blackshare testified that Charlotte told him. she saw Sonia's ID card and wallet in Owens's living area. Owens told her it was evidence he was planning to turn in.

Interestingly, Calendrelli denied having this conversation with Blackshare. Now, obviously, if that occurred, that would mean that without a doubt, he had that stuff and planted it in the police vehicle later on. Yeah. and that that whole incident was a sham as investigators theorists. The closing arguments in the second trial were presented on November 30th, 2005. Again, the defense argued Owens had no motive, but there were three people who had motive and opportunity to murder Sonia Ivanov.

The prosecution told the jury that Owens knew the law, abused the law, and acted above the law when he used his position of authority to earn Sonia's trust. trust and killed her while on duty. There were multiple instances where Owens used his position of authority to meet women, get them into his patrol car, and coerced them into having sex. Matthew Owens was found guilty of first degree murder and evidence tampering on December 6th, 2005. And you know, the other thing I often think about, especially when you have multiple trials in a case, I think most of the time the information presented is not all that much different. Right.

There might be something new or a little bit different here and there. What's really different is the makeup of the jury. Yeah. Changed around a little bit this time because it's out of town. Jurors are human. And they bring with them their own thoughts, their own biases. You know, even though you're supposed to. be completely impartial. Is that a reality in all situations? No, I don't think it can be.

You're going to have some people who understand the scientific data that's presented better than others. You're going to have some people who view police officers in a better light than others. True. Who maybe think, there's just no way a police officer could commit this type of crime and others who are, you know, keeping an open mind about everything and people are just different, which means the, the juries are going to be different. On April 17, 2006, Owens was sentenced to 99 years in prison for murder in two years for stealing the police car, bringing the total sentence to 101 years in prison. If he would just have not stolen that police car, he would have been out in 99.

99 years instead of 101. He went against his lawyer's advice and spoke in court. He said, per the White Horse Daily Star, I pleaded innocent from day one, and that's not going to change. I'm not guilty. I know that the family suffers, but I'm not the reason for their suffering. After the sentencing, three residents of Noam sued the city. They claim they suffered because of the negligence of the Nome PD. Two women claimed they were sexually assaulted by Matt.

Owens while he was on duty, one woman alleged that Owens stalked, threatened, and sexually assaulted her multiple times in the summer of 2003. He once choked her and threatened violence against her if she reported him. Another woman reported that she was threatened and sexually abused by Owens while he was on duty that same summer. She was driven to a remote area and sexually assaulted at gunpoint. Owen threatened to shoot her if she reported him. Wow. This is nasty, nasty stuff. It is.

And it kind of shows you who he really was. Yeah. I mean, these are allegations, right? If they are true, I think it goes a long way into showing just what type of guy this Matthew Owens really was. The third plaintiff, a man reported that the known police publicly identified him as a suspect and some officers continued to portray him as a suspect even after Owens was charged with murder. Attorney Myron Engstman said, per the White Horse Daily Star, this suit claims that the city

knew Owens was a danger to young women when he was hired and the police were involved in a cover up. Known police refused to accept the fact that Owens was engaged in criminal activity. So obviously these are different claims, right? We have two women who claimed that they were sexually assaulted and threatened by Owens. And then you have this this third plaintiff, this guy who was named as a suspect. And, you know, what damage did he suffer from that happening? And in the police even kind of continuing to think he was a suspect, even after Matthew Owens was charged with murder. Yeah. Yeah, that's a problem for the city. Well, and it couldn't have been good for this guy, right?

According to the outlet, National Native News, the city settled with the plaintiffs for $270,000. So they had to pay out a bunch of money. They did. You think about it, it was almost a million dollars and then factor in all the resources. Well, you're talking about the cost of the trials and yeah. Yeah. It was well over a million when you factor all that in.

But I want to go back to what this attorney told the paper. You know, he basically said the police knew that Owens was a danger even before they hired him or went or at the time they hired him. That's a big problem. He even said they were involved in a cover up. They knew about his criminal activity and they just refused to do anything about it. Well, then they should pay. If that is the case, then that is horrible. Yeah.

And they're liable and should have to pay. any claim that comes to them. On April 27, 2007, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin signed the Sonia Ivanov Act into law. The act amended state law to impose a 99-year mandatory sentence for a police officer who commits first-degree murder

while on duty. I've never heard of that. It's a good law. Well, you and I have talked about it many times, the power that police officers have, the authority, they have some of that stuff at their fingertips that most of us don't have. And if they abuse it, things can go very, very wrong. And it's a good law because it should be a law that never has to be considered.

If you hire good people, police officers should never go to the point where they break that law. And if they do, they should be punished to the full extent of this law. Yeah, I don't have a problem with it. I mean, I don't know how many police officers commit first degree murder while on duty in the way that Matthew Owens was convicted of doing. But I think essentially what they're saying is, you know, we're holding you to a higher standard because we've placed all of this trust in you. We've given you this power, this authority to do things that the majority of people can't do. And if you abuse it, if you do the wrong things, we're going to nail you. Matthew Owens' appeal was denied on March 3rd, 2010.

Subsequent appeals in 2017 and 2021 were also denied. So, you know, I think as we wrapped this one up, Gibbs, you know, we cover a lot of scary situation. sexual predators, serial killers, bogeymen, right? You might call them some of the cases where people murder within their own family. Those are very scary. But you would have to put this, you know, up there on the list. Yeah.

A police officer who is using his position to sexually assault women, kill a woman. It's a scary thought. I think about a woman driving. You see the lights come on behind you. Yeah. What do you do? You pull over because that's what you're supposed to do.

Now, you're assuming that you have an upstanding member of law enforcement. And again, the majority of them are, right? We know that. But if you have a bad one, you're in a very dangerous position because you're not going to pull over for anyone else. No. On the side of the road. Let's say it's a rural road and you pull off into like some little turnoff because you see the lights.

You wouldn't pull over if somebody was up behind you just flashing their headlights. Most people wouldn't. No. You shouldn't. But people are going to for a police officer because you don't want to get in trouble, right? That's what you're supposed to do. And again, I think I have to say.

I do believe that the vast majority of police officers are good people. There are going to be bad individuals in every profession. We've covered them. Nurses, doctors, lawyers, police officers, whatever it is you do. You know, it doesn't matter. There are just, there are going to be bad people who kind of give the profession a black eye. Of course. I think where we get in trouble is projection.

the actions of one bad apple onto like an entire population of people. Yeah. That's where we have to be careful. But no doubt, this guy was a very dangerous person who used his position of authority to sexually assault women and gnome. Sonia most likely accepted a ride from Owens because he was a police officer. She was murdered by a person who was supposed to protect.

his community. Yeah, but we know that he didn't. No, he was using the community or the women in the community for his own sick personal pleasures. And it seemed like in this instance, when he thought it was going badly, it wasn't going to turn out like it had for him in the past. He made a decision that he wasn't going to take that chance. That's what it seems like to me. Yeah, I agree. Investigator Eric Burroughs gave a chilling statement to oxygen. He said Matt Owens was a predator. I believe he was going to kill again. We probably got a serial killer on the first one. It's a good statement. It is. You ever think about that though? How many people are arrested and convicted of a murder? And the only reason you probably can't call them a serial killer is because they got caught. Yeah. He stopped him. How many. How many? of those people would have gone on to do it over and over again, putting themselves in that serial killer category. Unfortunately, too many. Probably. But that's it for our episode on Matthew Owens. We've got some voicemails. You want to check those out? Let's hear them.

Hi, guys. I had one question for both of you. Now that we're getting to the most important sports finals of the year standing cup for hockey, I just want to know who you guys are supporting since you guys talked about March Madness and all of that, I was just curious how you felt about hockey. Also, I then had a question specifically for Givie, but I don't know if you're willing to answer. I'm in grad school right now, and I just wanted to know what your PhD is in

and what your best advice for getting through grad school would be. Thanks. All right. I'm going to let you take both of those, and then I'll tell you why afterwards. Okay. I'll go with the Bruins. Okay.

And they're from where? Bruin. Okay. No. Where was your mother born? Boston. Exactly. Yeah.

Okay. And then I got several PhDs. So, I mean, my thing that I would tell you is that it's very important to utilize all the spare time you have to get through this. Because once you get through it, you know, it's going to be amazing. But it's not easy, you know. So stick with it. Stay dedicated, get yourself through it, and you'll be glad when it's all over, but you'll be even more so because you have this amazing PhD to take your career to another level. Wow.

That was actually a really great answer. I can't even say the things that I wanted to say. Yeah. Because I was so impressed with that answer. Yeah. The fact that you don't know where the Bruins are. Boston. Kind of tempered the hockey answer a little bit.

I don't watch hockey anymore. I was never into hockey. And then in the 90s, I moved to Detroit. Yeah. And they're huge hockey fans up there. And I fell in love with Detroit Red Wings hockey. Did you? I started watching it all the time.

But then when I moved back to Ohio, I just stopped watching it. Isn't there a team in Columbus? There is. Yeah. I just don't watch it anymore. I don't know what they're called. So I don't even know who are in the playoffs. And I don't even know how old this voicemail is.

The Stanley Cup could be over for all I know. It's always like Toronto and New York team or something like that. Sometimes in Pittsburgh. Yeah. Sometimes all of those teams. Yeah. Or, you know, could be any of those teams. So as you can tell, we're not huge hockey fans.

I just remember that one year sitting around with old Gretsie or Gretsky. Gretzky. Yeah. And hitting some pucks. And it was like, and you are supposed to be the greatest, huh? I don't know. You schooled him? Well, the puck.

got by him. Score. Gibby. You know, he was not a goalie. You do know that, right? Yeah, but still, he supposed to be the goat, you know. Oh, my goodness. All right.

Let's go on to the second one. Hi, Mike and Gibby. This is Mom 7X. I just wanted to thank you for all the research you do and the humanity you bring to the victims. The Roswell Gilbert case really hit home. We took care of my mom for 10 years from the time she was 84 to 94. and she had Parkinson's and sundowners. Watching it take her was so hard.

By the end, it had not only taken away any independence, but also her humanity. The pain was so unbearable. Her dependence on me for all her needs was humiliating for her. I could empathize with Roswell. It was so hard emotionally and physically draining. You don't sleep. You just exist in a state of flux waiting for the next call for help, just like having a newborn. Thank you for doing something.

such a good job that you can evoke emotions. Keep your head on a swivel and keep your own time picking. Mom 7X. That was a very nice voicemail. Sure was. You know, my mom went through the same thing with her mother, my grandmother, my grandfather had it as well. It's just a, it's such a tough disease. It is. It's really hard, man. And I understand everything that she was saying because my mom went through the same thing. And I, and I remember thinking my mom was such a strong person to be able to to do everything that she was doing. And I know it took a toll on her, but, but she was able to do it anyway. Did she say mom, seven X, seven kids? I'm assuming. Wow. Seven times. Wow. Well, congrats to you, seven kids. I'd like to see that grocery bill. I would not want to see that grocery

No, I said I'd like to see it. I don't want to pay it. Okay, because you know me and bills. Because food prices right now are a little high. Really high. A little high. All right, buddy. That is it. Okay.

For another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.