True Crime with Kimbyr - PART 1 Who Killed Teen Girl Walking Home On A Cold Alaskan Night?! - Sonya Ivanoff | Deadly Deep Dives

Episode Date: December 15, 2025

In TRUE CRIME WITH KIMBYR, Kimbyrleigha dives deep into the haunting case of Sonya Ivanoff, a teenage girl whose walk home on a cold Alaskan night ended in tragedy. What went wrong in those final moments, and why did justice take years to unfold? With careful research, compassion, and sharp analysis, TRUE CRIME WITH KIMBYR explores the timeline, relationships, and chilling questions that still linger in this devastating case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alaska. It's called The Last Frontier. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th. The powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamavat Theater.com. Only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter.

It's vast, and in some areas it's isolated. It can be the perfect place for a killer to cover their tracks. It was a Sunday night in a small town where everyone knew one another. A young woman waved goodbye to her friends, and then she disappeared. She felt safe enough to walk home alone. But what happens when you're completely unaware that someone with bad intentions is secretly targeting you? Are we ever really safe when we're? all alone. Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel. If you've never been here before, I am

Kimberlea. Nice to finally meet you. Today I'm going to be speaking about an indigenous Alaskan woman and of course there will be some words that I'm doing my very best to pronounce, but please be patient with me and also if you're familiar with these places and words and you have a better way to say them and you know better than I do, please provide that kindly in the comments. I'm definitely here to learn. May 5th is the National Day of Awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous girls and women. I chose this case for that reason among many others, including how many twists and turns and disturbing discoveries there are in this case, that I think truly deserve to be highlighted.

But I am getting ahead of myself. So first, I have the privilege to introduce you to a sweet, fun-loving, and outspoken indigenous Alaskan woman named Sonia Dora Ivanov. Now, Sonia was born on April 13th of 19th. to Larry and Maggie Ivanov, two very hardworking members of the Analaclit Village. Analakleet is on the far western edge of Alaska, on a small strip of land where the Norton Sound part of the Pacific Ocean meets the Uniclaut River. It's a fishing village where they catch salmon and king crab, and it's beautiful in the winter. It has scenic views of the Alaskan tundra, but only about 700 people live there.

Three quarters of the residents are Alaska natives, specifically the Upeat and the Anupiate. This case is said in 2003 and language does change over time. So I want to be as respectful as possible and use the tribal names unless I'm referring to Indigenous Alaskans as a whole. So Sonia was anupiate and she was the fourth of six children. Growing up they lived in a tiny three bedroom house which meant all the siblings were very close.

She shared a bedroom with her sister Christina, who was seven years older than her, and she was seven years older than her, older than her, and since they did have four brothers, they depended on one another to keep up the feminine energy. The two girls shared a room and they would dress up in matching clothing and costumes, and Christina loved to do her little sister's hair and makeup, which actually sparked Sonia's love for everything from lip gloss, lipstick, and makeup of all kinds and always looking her best. As a middle child, Sonia did her best to stand out, and it wasn't that hard. By the time she went to Frank A Degnan High School, she was 5-11 with long, dark hair, beautiful hazel eyes, expressive

eyebrows, and a huge smile. Sonia was always happy and having a good time. She stuck up for the underdog and always spoke her mind, even if that meant standing up to authority. If she was annoyed, you would know it. She spent her life trying to build people up instead of tearing them down. She was on the honor roll, and she was also a skilled member of the basketball team. Not only was she tall, but she was strong, athletic, and tough, and definitely a team player.

Sports were actually very big in her village and also in Gnome. And this is an area right near where she grew up. They're known for cross-country running and skiing, dog sledding, and winning state titles for basketball year after year. Now, Sonia's high school mascot was the Wolf Pack, and as a senior, she became one of the pack leaders, with all the freshmen and sophomore looking up to her. The basketball team would travel for varsity games, and Sonia shared a hotel room with her best friend, Tim Marie Toarek.

They'd been attached to the hips since they were just kids, and they had sleepovers, they shared the same bed, they wore each other's clothing and makeup, and yes, they even finished each other's sentences. Where one of them was, the other one was not far behind. And on these trips, Sonia always came prepared with her camera. She loved taking pictures and videos of herself and her friend, just talking, laughing, snacking, doing each other's hair, hanging out by the pool, and just being teenagers.

When Sonia was a teen, she also became an aunt. Christina got married to a man named Tom Mosteller, and they had three children. Sarah, Gabby, and Ethan, and Sonia adored children. She knew one day she wanted to have a family of her own. As in a new peat woman, Sonia was proud of her heritage. She loved learning traditional dances and family recipes, and where she was living, it was common to caribou, seal, salmon, and a type of Arctic bird known as Tarmigan. Let me know if you've ever tried that. And she also knew how to make a very unique dessert. It's called Aguduk, and it's an

ice cream that's made with fish and berries. Definitely let me know if you've tried that. It sounds very interesting, but I'm always open to trying new things. Once she turned 18, she did participate in the Arctic Native Brotherhood pageant, and she would wear the traditional in inupiate clothing, and she impressed the audience with her sense of humor and as well as her compassion. By the time Sonia graduated in 2002, she really wanted to get a place of her own

by herself and be more independent. She decided to get an apartment in Nome, Alaska, where she did the pageants and tried out for their City League basketball team. She also landed a job as a receptionist at the Norton Sound Health Corporation where her dad Larry previously served as chairman, served as chairman. She was in charge of checking people in and out of the hospital,

including emergency cases. Nome was 70 miles away from where she grew up, and it had a bigger population of about 3,500 people. It was also right against the Norton Sound. In the early 1900s, Nome had the biggest population of any city in Alaska because of the gold rush. But by 2003, many gold mines were actually shut down, and Nome was known for its tight-knit community, gloomy weather and a big drinking and sports culture. Sonia was well respected for her work ethic and her basketball skills and she really liked living in home, but she had much bigger plans. She was saving up for college and she wanted to move to Hila Hawaii because she did not want to be in the cold any longer. In the summer of 2003, Sonia's best friend, Tim Marie moved in with Sonia in their apartment together

And Tim Marie was also working the front desk at a hotel, the Aurora Inn. And she would work in the early mornings. They kind of had opposite schedules, but still they made time for friendship, hanging out. They even shared a bed together. Their group of friends would come over to watch movies, play board games, or even play basketball. Sonia and Tim Marie liked late-night snack runs to a gas station, the Tesoro station, where Sonia would buy boxes of green tea.

She also loved salt vinegar chips. Now, they didn't own a car, so they did have to walk everywhere, but they weren't too worried about it because no one was safe. However, Sonia's big sister Christina and her husband, Tom, warned Sonia to be careful. They were glad that Tim Marie was living with her now because they thought it was unsafe for an indigenous Alaska woman to live alone. It's tragically common that indigenous women go missing, especially in Alaska, where the cases are even higher than anywhere else. actually covered an Alaskan case before. And I know that so many of these cases go unsolved in the state. The winters are brutally cold.

And there is so much uncharted wilderness that if one evil person wants to hurt you, they have every opportunity to erase the evidence. Tom was so worried that he actually pulled Sonia aside and told her that he had no idea who she was hanging around or where she spent her time off. And if anything were to happen to her, he wouldn't even know where to start looking.

Sonia assured him that she was safe. And the thing is, Sonia never really thought about the town being dangerous. Everyone knew one another, or so they thought. Tim Marie and Sonia were each other's safety nets. If they were staying at a friend's house overnight, they would call each other using their work phones to check in. They didn't have cell phones back then.

The summer of 2003, 19-year-old Sonia and Tim Marie were enjoying the long days of warm weather. Well, as warm as it gets in Alaska. On Sunday, August 10th, they went over to a friend's house. I'm going to call her Willow to play some board games and have a couple of drinks. Now, at this time of year in Alaska, it's bright outside until way later. Sometimes the sun sets before midnight. So if you're going out at 10 p.m. or even 11, it's still early.

And that night, they stayed up till about 1 a.m. Sonia had one beer and she was wide awake at the time. It was her weekend. She didn't have to be back at work until Tuesday afternoon. So she told Tim Marie she wanted to hop over to another friend's house before heading back to their apartment. She didn't say which friend. And Tim Marie was way too exhausted to go home at that point. So she told her since she had to get up at 6 a.m. for work the next day that she was just going to sleep at Willow's place. Sonia stood up to leave and she was wearing a pair of jeans in Tim Marie's sketcher shoes.

Her apartment keys were attached by a chain to her wallet, which hung off her arm by a metal band. Outside, it was misting rain, which was actually Sonia's favorite weather. She decided to walk instead of taking a taxi. Sonia and Tim Marie said goodbye with their usual hand gesture and saying, which was taking their index finger and their middle fingers and tapping it twice against their shoulders, twice against their lips, and then making a peace sign and saying peace out, pal. So they exchanged this gesture with one another and nothing was different than any other night. After this, Sonia walked northwest towards her friend's house.

It always breaks my heart knowing that these sweet moments exist and that they could be our last moment. It makes me appreciate every minute with my loved ones, because that was the very last time that Timoree would see her best friend. The next morning, when Timmery woke up on Willow's couch around 5 a.m. and took the taxi to her apartment to get ready for work, she arrived and noticed that Sonia wasn't sleeping in their shared bed. Now, Tim Marie wasn't concerned at first.

She figured Sonia may have stayed over her friend's house. So she went off to work and she figured Sonia would check in sometime later. But hours went by and she still hadn't heard from Sonia all day long. But even that wasn't that out of the ordinary. Maybe she was busy, but it did raise a red flag for Tim Marie. She called four of their mutual friends asking if anyone had seen her and also contacted Sonia's sister Christina to see if maybe she'd stayed over there that night. but no one had seen or heard from her.

Christina then told her husband Tom that Sonia wasn't calling Tim Marie back. And they thought the girls got into maybe an argument, and Sonia needed a little time to cool off. But Tim Marie said that her and Sonia were very upfront. If one of them was mad, they would talk about it. And when Tim Marie got home that evening, and Sonia still was another apartment, she did start to worry.

But what made this even worse was the sight of Sonia's makeup bag. Now, you may or may not think this is odd, but her makeup bag hadn't been touched. This was very out of the ordinary and it worried Tim Marie. It worried her more than Sonia not being home because she did her hair and makeup every single day, especially if it was her day off. Some people just have a routine and this was Sonia's. She was always made up with her hair and makeup done. So the next day, on Tuesday morning, Tim Marie went to work again at

usual and she called everyone she could think of because sonya still wasn't home she called sonya's sister christina and of course her husband tom telling him that sonya was missing and asked them to contact her parents larry and maggie she even called the known police department and asked if sonya was in jail and this is actually a normal thing to do when you can't find someone it's important to call hospitals jails even sadly coroner's offices to see if there's anyone injured, incarcerated, or even deceased, and they need to be identified. But the dispatcher said that Sonia wasn't there. So when Tim Marie got off work at 5 p.m., she immediately headed to the police department

to officially report her friend missing. At 5.15 p.m., she walked through those doors. Nome had a very tiny police department with only about seven officers. And when Tim Marie arrived, she hysterically started crying, talking about how her roommate was missing after going to a party on Sunday night. Officer Stan Pascoya asked a lot of questions, mostly about Sonia's drinking habits, thinking that maybe she was just off partying too hard.

And he wasn't taking Tim Marie very seriously at all. He was brushing it off as teenage drama. But Tim Marie insisted, Sonia only had one beer that night and nobody had heard from her in 40 hours. But to be fair, Tim Marie didn't know, what Sonia did after she left her presence. She left around 1 o'clock in the morning, and technically the night was still a little bit young at that point, so she could have done anything. Around this time, Sonia's boss at the hospital started calling around because she hadn't shown up for work.

Now that was very unlike her. So eventually her boss made a call to the police station as well to report her missing. Suddenly, the officers took the case much more seriously. Would Timore's help, help, they filed an official missing persons report. And the Ivanov family was informed that Sonia had disappeared. Christina and Tom asked around to see if anyone had heard from her. Tom drove to Nome scoping out locations that Sonia might have visited. Which friend was she with that night? They wondered, could it be her friend Kunuk. Now, Kunuk was a nickname. His name is Daniel Angusuk, and he went by Kunuk. And he was one of Sonia's closest guy friends. He was obviously interested in her more than just a friend, but he did have a girlfriend.

And Christina thought the two of them would end up together, but Sonia insisted that Kunak was just a friend. That being said, they did have quite a flirtatious relationship, and they had a lot in common. Christina and Tom liked him. And even though he seemed to have a big ego, deep down, he was like a teddy bear. They wondered if Kunuk knew where she went. So they called him. but he had no clue. So Tom went down to the police station to inquire about whether they knew where Kunuk's camp was.

And by that time, it was Tuesday evening around 5.30, Officer Byron Redburn was assigned to this case. First, he talked to Tim Marie. He asked her all about Sonia's mood, her mental health, and her relationships. Tim Marie said that Sonia was a happy person. So Redburn asked if they had argued. Tim Marie said, they always talked through their disagreements and their feelings. And she confided in Redburn that she could barely sleep in the apartment without Sonia there.

Redburn said, well, she's somewhere. And I know this could come off as insensitive, but it was the truth. Sonia was out there. They just had to find her. Redburn investigated Sonia's apartment. Other than her wallet and her keys, all of Sonia's belongings were at the house, including her makeup, her shoes, and her coats. They could tell she never came home.

The items of clothing that she was last seen wearing were nowhere in the apartment. He looked for clues that would indicate some kind of motive or kidnapping, maybe like a threatening letter or maybe a concerning journal entry, but they didn't find anything. Tim Marie told Redburn that a couple girls from their high school were pretty jealous of Sonia because of her talent and her beauty, but she couldn't imagine any of them doing any harm to Sonia. Then Redburn went through all of her photo albums. since she did have a hobby of taking a lot of pictures and there were plenty.

Redburn found one photo of Sonia standing by a river. She was grinning and wearing a tank top with her arms outstretched. There was a large purple bruise on her right bicep. So of course Redburn asked him Marie about this bruise and she let him know that it was caused by their friend at a recent movie night. They had all been wrestling and punching each other on the arms and Kunak took it a a little too far. And we've definitely heard his name once before already.

So Redburn digged a little deeper and asked about Kunuk. Timri admitted she kind of had mixed feelings about him. They were friends, but he was known to have a short temper. He'd expressed interest in Sonia at one point, but he had an on and off again girlfriend. And Sonia had told Timoree he wasn't her type. So Redburn figured that if Sonia would have maybe rejected him, he could have caused her.

or harm. Maybe it got angry that night. Maybe they were drinking. Maybe that was a motive to kidnap her or even something worse, especially if alcohol had been involved. In the meantime, investigators mobilized the search for Sonia. Chief Ralph Taylor, who had worked for the department for over five years, asked the fire department to help them. They deployed search and rescue boats in the river and sea in case Sonia had fallen in or gone swimming and drowned. It had been raining from midnight on Monday, August 11th, to 5 p.m. that same day. So officers went north to search the tundra and even abandoned mines, hoping to find fresh tracks in the mud. They prayed that they would find Sonia alive. The Nome Police Department told Sonia's sister Christine and her husband, Tom,

that they had it covered as far as manpower, but the family felt compelled to search. Tim Marie and her friend Maya drove around in Maya's car for the rest of that evening. But then around 9 p.m., when they stopped by the hospital where Sonia worked to see if she had shown up, one of her coworkers told Timoree that she should probably go back to the police station. Her and Maya hurried over there. At the Nome Police Department, they found a large gathering of people, and Timore was like, okay, wow, they must have found her. So she jumped out of the car and searched a crowd for Sonia, but her heart sank. She wasn't there, but she wasn't wrong. They had found her best friend,

but not the way anyone would have hoped. Soon, Tim Marie learned that a body of a female had been found out in the tundra. Tim Marie dropped to her knees. She was in complete denial. It didn't feel possible. How could it be Sonia? It couldn't be Sonia.

Please don't let it be her, but it was. At 8.30 p.m., after a three-hour search, Volunteer firefighter John Larson was searching five minutes north of Nome when he and his wife found fresh tire tracks on Dredge 5 Road off of the Nome Teller Highway. It's right here on the map. This road actually led to an abandoned gold mine. It was overgrown from lack of use and very private, full of tall grass and willow bushes. The road had turned to mud in the rain, causing the tire tracks from one vehicle to leave fresh

Prince, five feet from the road, obscured in the bushes. John found the body of a young woman. He immediately headed back to the station and picked up Officer Brian Wayavana. Another important name you want to know in this case. Detective Wayevana was the first person to arrive at the crime scene. He came prepared. He had cameras, evidence bags, and plastic tarps. Wayevana took the long way through the brush, avoiding the dirt road, so he didn't interfere with any of the evidence. John led him to where he found the woman's body. They assumed it was Sonia, but they couldn't be sure. She was lying on her side and her face was obscured. She wasn't wearing any clothes except for one sock on her left foot. Redburn got the news that a body had been found and he paused his investigation of

Sonia's relationships to visit Dredge Five Road. When he got there, he noticed leaves on Sonia's back. indicating she had been there for a while at least 24 hours. Redburn confirmed it was Sonia and she was deceased. There was no obvious injuries to her other than the bruise on the side of her face. But Redburn felt that it was clear that this was sexually motivated because of her missing clothing. Now, Way Ivana and Redburn knew the seven-person police force would not be enough manpower for a homicide investigation. So they called the state troopers. The Alaska Bureau of Investigation team could not fly there till the morning,

so Redburn and Way of Vana picked up any evidence they thought could be destroyed by the wind or by animals. And they used a giant plastic tarp to cover the road and Sonia's resting place, including her body. They pinned it down with stones. They had to go to extreme measures to make sure that no grizzly bears or any other animals interfered with the crime scene. Here's a photo of the area covered with. the tar. Chief Taylor and Officer Owens also showed up to assess the scene and stand guard overnight. The officers took shifts guarding that area and I'm actually very impressed with all their efforts in their care and preserving the evidence. It's clear that they took this

very seriously, especially Way of Anna. Tim Marie already knew what was happening, but Christina, Tom, Larry, Maggie, and all four of Sonia's brothers were still in the dark. The chief of police headed out to Yanalekly to let them know in person. Tom and Christina met with law enforcement on their porch, and their suspicions were confirmed. Nome wasn't a safe place for a woman, and Sonia's life had been taken way too soon. Tom had the impossible job of calling her parents, Larry and Maggie, to let them know that Sonia had been murdered, and the family grieved. The next morning, Investigator Eric Burroughs of the state troopers and criminalist Carrie Cathart flew in from Anchorage, a city 500 miles away.

Cathcart was in charge of forensic processing. She would take photographs, she would sketch the scene, and mark each piece of evidence with a number. She would also test blood and figure out what happened. You can see her in these photos wearing an orange and red rain jacket. As soon as Kathcart got to the scene, she noticed that Sonia had been stripped of her clothing except for a sock. There was evident bruising and blood on the left side of her chest and face, but no apparent cause of death.

Kathkar did tape lifts of her body hoping to find fingerprints, hair, or DNA evidence that would lead to a perpetrator. When Kathkar lifted Sonia's head, that's when she realized that Sonia had been shot, and the gunshot wound was to the back of her head obscured by her hair. It would have caused significant bleeding, but there was no blood in the immediate area. Investigators searched for shell casings, but they couldn't find any, nor could they find her clothing or a murder weapon. Sonia's killer had cleaned up the evidence, and had taken everything except one sock. About five feet away from Sonia, Kathcart noticed a dark spot on the dirt that had been run over by a vehicle, so she tested it with a hemo stick, and it was blood. It wasn't a pool of blood because the blood had mixed in with the mud and also been run over when the mud was still wet.

But when it dried in the sun, it created a thick tire tread that Cathcart was able to take imprints of using a rubbery liquid substance that dentists actually used to cast teeth. As many of you might know, I'm still in school for death investigations going on like two years now and this process absolutely fascinates me. I really like to understand every detail of these investigations. But Cathcart figured that this was where Sonia was shot. She had had lost blood while lying there for some time, and then the perpetrator moved her body into the bushes to conceal it from the road. There were no significant scratches on Sonia's skin. The perpetrator probably took her clothes off after she was killed, which made it less likely that this was actually

a sexual violation in her mind, even though they would have to wait for Sonia's autopsy to figure that out. The tire treads were a huge piece of evidence, not only because they were fresh, but there was something else. There were two different types of tread. Three tire treads were exactly the same, but one was different. These tracks would have been made with a car that had one mismatched tire. The tracks showed that the vehicle turned onto Dredge 5 Road, did a U-turn at the dead end, and returned to the highway.

The perpetrator likely drove Sonia to this location, killed her, and left, without realizing investigators could track down a vehicle with just the tire treads. Then on one of the willow bushes that was hanging out onto the road, Cathcart noticed something, a patch of paint transfer on a branch. It was what they call Robbins Egg Blue, kind of like a lightish blue color and high enough that it probably came from a truck or an SUV. So Cathcart took samples of this paint and she sent it to the lab. and they confirmed this was standard vehicle paint. They were looking for a blue truck with one different tire. Now in a town of 3,500 people, it shouldn't be too hard, right?

But back to Officer Redburn's investigation into Sonia's relationships. He had asked him to make a list of all of Sonia's friends. The person they were most interested in talking to was Konak. So they brought him in for an interview. He said that him and Sonia were friends, but he would never hurt her. When questioned about his alibi, he said that on the night of August 10th, he was hunting with a group of his friends 73 miles away. Redburn and Eric Burroughs got the names of all of his friends,

and they interviewed them as well. And they confirmed that they all went hunting Sunday night and got back on Monday afternoon. They camped in cabins. They were basically shacks. However, Kunuk was staying in a separate cabin from everyone else. So it's plausible that he could have driven an hour and a half back to Noam and killed Zanya and then drove back to the campsite without anyone knowing because they were asleep.

They figured if Kunuk was smart enough to strip the entire crime scene of evidence, that he might be smart enough to manufacture this alibi. Burroughs and Redburn had the probable cause to apply for a search warrant of Kunak's house and his vehicle. Burroughs looked into his criminal history, and he found reports of a domestic incident. He had gotten physical with his girlfriend. They had a child together, and he had gotten into several fights that escalated.

Redburn told Burroughs about Konex's notorious short temper that his friends mentioned, and they felt like this guy was dangerous. It took days for the warrants to go through. So for the rest of August 13th and 14th, police canvassed the entire neighborhood to figure out what path Sonia could have taken to her friend's house. They heard from a few witnesses. One was Renna Golan Gergen. She said that a little after one o'clock in the morning, she saw Sonia walking in the rain. Another witness,

Lamb, was a janitor who worked a late night shift at that gas station to Sorrow. They said they saw saw Sonia walking between one o'clock in the morning and 115 in the morning. This is the same gas station where Sonia usually bought snacks on Front Street and she was heading northwest. Nobody knew which friend she had visited, but her apartment with Tim Marie was on the northwest side of town as well, close to the airport off of 3rd Avenue. So maybe that's where she was walking before something happened or someone intervened. The search warrant finally went through for Koonak's house and Kar and let me tell you what they found was very significant, but bear with me because you have to hear this whole story. In his bedroom was a pair of red and white striped Adidas sneakers, but they had a

bright red stain, a fresh one in the left inner heel that was most certainly blood, or so it seemed. I'm showing this on the screen, and then in the garage, guess what they found? A blue Dodge pickup truck, and I'm not talking about any old truck. It wasn't just the exact color of the paint left behind or the branch. It had three tires of one brand and a fourth tire with a different brand. The mismatch was a Goodyear tire, and it was in the exact same spot the mismatched tire was at the crime scene. Carrie Carthart was called in to process Koonak's pickup truck, and they found blood everywhere. On the floorboards of the truck, there were droplets of blood on the fabric of pole street, and in the truck bed, they found a huge blue tarp covered in dried blood. There were three hunting rifles kept immediately behind the driver's seat, and there was

blood on the butt of one of the guns. If this is not a smoking gun, I don't know what is. But Cathcard knew if this was the vehicle they were looking for, then Kunuk had driven over the blood with the mismatched tire. So she tested all four tires with a chemical called fluorescine. It interacts with blood and glows green. It's kind of like luminal just glows a different color. And sure enough, on the mismatched tire, they found blood. And it was spotted onto the fender. This definitely sealed the deal. This had to be the truck that drove straight through the crime scene, and these items had to be used in the commission of Sonia's murder. And since they belonged to Koonuk, he had to be their guy. He had a motive, a very shaky alibi, and even blood evidence

on things he owned. But they didn't want to arrest him until they were sure the DNA matched up, or they could find the clothing, a murder weapon, or a witness that tied him to the crime scene. Always remember that they want to build an airtight case and not make any arrest prematurely. It could tip off the perpetrator to dispose of even more evidence. Meanwhile, the truck was towed to Nome Police Department for further processing. Redburn interrogated Koonak again. And this time, he took a tape recording. When Redburn asked him, the last time you saw Sonia,

he said that he hadn't talked to her in almost two weeks. The last time he'd physically seen her was Friday when she was on her lunch break, and he said he didn't even say hi to her. And that was the last time he ever saw her. He insisted he left Gnome at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on Sunday and didn't return until late Monday night, long after Tim Marie couldn't get a hold of Sonia. Redburn asked him to remove his shirt because he thought,

if he had shot Sonia in the tundra, he might have had scratches. from the willow bushes, or maybe scratches from Sonia herself. There was one horizontal scratch on his back, and he said that that scratch had nothing to do with Sonia. He admitted it was actually from his girlfriend. They got into a physical fight, and she had scratched him with her nails. Well, that does not sound very good.

So they took him back to Norton Sound Hospital for a full examination, but the scratch was the only injury could I had. Remember, Redburn did ask him to give a DNA sample, and he complied. Redburn said if they found the evidence during Sonia's autopsy, they wanted to be able to compare the results. If Kunuk was innocent, then he'd be exonerated. In that interview, Kunuk asked why they suspected him at all. And that's when Redburn said, there's been some things coming up that make you and your vehicle interesting. It turns out, there's a bunch of tire impressions out there. They're similar to the tires that you have

your car. So Kunak is sitting there asking, that's the only thing that's tying me? Mismatch tires? He's like, that's pretty usual. But then they explained that they had blue paint transfer at the scene as well. Then Redburn asked if there was any reason Kuhnuk would have blood on his car and his shoes. And at first he said, no, there's no reason for blood. But then when he was pressed further, he changed his story. He said that he'd hit a rabbit when he was driving, so he pulled over and the rabbit was still alive. And he had to put the rabbit out of its misery, so he stomped on it with his shoe.

And as for the blood on the tarp and the gun, Kunak said that he had shot some animals on his hunting trip, including a porcupine. I'm thinking, do porcupines bleed that much? I don't know because I am not a fan of killing animals. But he didn't specify whether he was hunting for a sport or food or whether the tarp was used to drain blood from any animals. Redburn wasn't convinced.

He was looking at the facts and everything matched up. They just had to wait for the DNA results. So all that week, Redburn, Burroughs, Chief Taylor, they followed up on a dozen of tips. One woman, a 32-year-old named Florence, called the tip line and told Taylor she had actually seen Sonia the night that other people had as well. She gave a description of Sonia's clothing, jeans and boots. And she said she had seen Sonia. get in the passenger seat of a police car. Now, Taylor wrote down Florence's name and number, and he promised to call her back. But when he did, he must have written down the number wrong

because it was a different Florence, and she had no idea what he was talking about. Florence Habros had only called in the tip line because her coworker at the Bering Sea Women's Group had convinced her to do it. When Chief Taylor didn't call her back, she was actually pretty concerned for her own safety. As a U-PIC woman, Florence didn't trust the man-dominated police department. And now she knew that she went out of her way to almost accuse the Nome police department for being the last to see Sonia if it truly was her that got into a police car. That wasn't the only sketchy behavior. The week after Sonia's death, Tom visited the known police with a printed picture of Sonia to remind them of the urgency of her case. And when he

he tried to hang it up on the wall, one of the officers, a Matt Owens, yelled at him for ruining their new drywall. And then he told him to leave. Tom was a little concerned about the treatment he was getting. I mean, that is pretty harsh. And so Tom showed up at 8 o'clock every day looking for updates, but there were none. It was an open investigation, so officers couldn't reveal any important information about anything, not even suspecting Kunik. But Tom's frustrations were valid. It was taking a long time to even issue a warrant.

And I know that it's very hard for families. I've seen so many express their frustration with not getting enough updates, but I also understand it can compromise the investigation. I've heard it stated this way in one of my classes. Once you die, your property of the state you died in. So in cases of homicides, it's the state's duty now to take possession

and work the case. Sadly, parents, and loved ones kind of take a back seat until the state is finished. And then they can be released, and that is very tough. On August 25th, about two weeks after Sonia was killed, her autopsy was carried out by chief medical examiner Frank Faliko. Her manner of death was officially ruled a homicide, and her cause of death was a close range execution-style shot aimed at the back of her head. Beliko used an x-ray to find a 22-calibular bullet, which is a common semi-onaution. but this bullet had a special pattern of grooves that matched it to a rare type of gun.

There was also bruising to her face, neck, and chest with some blood, indicating Sonia was hit as she fought back against her attacker. This wasn't a surprise attack. She was a strong and fierce woman. But what did shock Dr. Flico was the lack of DNA evidence found on her body. She had not been sexually violated. The swabs of her private areas were negative for semen. were negative for semen. There was no skin underneath her fingernails, no foreign hairs, no fibers,

or fingerprints, and her clothes still had not been found. All of this pointed to a killer who had what's referred to as evidence awareness. And this means that they knew to take evidence with them or destroy it or clean the scene somehow. Either that, or they were just lucky. Sonia was laid to rest by her family and friends in eunoclet. At first, her family didn't think they were even going to be able to have an open casket because of the damage and bruising to Sonia's face. But her older sister, Christina, knew how much Sonia loved to look pretty and do her makeup, so she did something so brave. Christina took it upon herself to do her sister's makeup for the very last time in her casket. And I got teary-eyed thinking of how hard that must have been. But also, what an act of love

That truly was. Christina carefully and successfully covered the bruises with makeup. And then she did Sonia's eye makeup and lipstick and everything else for the very last time. It was routine that they had done together as children. And knowing this was the last time she would ever do that was brutal. The ceremony was held in the same gym where Sonia had won her most important basketball games. People from surrounding villages came to tell their stories and to honor her life. She was buried in Yenalakle Cemetery and Tim Marie actually decided to move back to

to Yonalklae to be closer to her support system. I'm sure she was probably so devastated and did not also want to live by herself after this. Now back to the investigation, officers tested their theory about Koonak. But when they matched the castings of those tire trucks with Koonak's pickup truck, the tire treads were not the same. Also, the Dodge pickup truck, the Dodge pickup truck truck was more of a darker blue, not a lighter blue. When they asked Kunuk about the location where he was hunting, he was able to give them a concrete location where he killed the rabbit and the porcupine. Now, I thought this was crazy, but Redburn actually drove the 75 miles to the campground and found the exact porcupine. So Kunuk's crazy story was suddenly pretty

believable. And that's interesting. I told you there was going to be twists and turns. When the DNA results came back, unbelievably, all the blood was animal blood. It did not belong to Sonia. Koonak was innocent. And now investigators were back at Square One. It had almost been a month, and Burroughs and Cathcart went back to working on other cases in Anchorage, while Redburn and Wayevana were the only officers assigned to Sonia's case. Redburn worked the day shift.

He was in charge of canvassing and interviewing people while Wayevana worked the evening shift, talking to people at bars, writing reports, and on quiet nights, they went through the whole town looking for a light blue pickup truck or SUV with mismatched tires. There were none. So was it someone from out of town? That could make sense, but nobody had seen any newcomers on August 10th, and they usually stuck out in a small town like this one.

But Sonia was last seen in the middle of the night. So maybe they weren't seen because they were just passing through, and this was a crime of opportunity. But why if the motive wasn't sexual as it appeared? It could have been anything. It could have been an argument. It could have been an attempted kidnapping. They just didn't know.

By mid-September, Redburn led a volunteer search of a landfill to try to find Sonia's clothing. A large number of people came to help. They looked and they looked, but her clothes weren't there. And at this point, since their search yielded very little results, if any, the two officers began to blame one another. Way of Anna felt like Redburn wasn't communicative and would leave out information

and not tell him about important interviews that he had done. And on the other hand, Redburn felt like Wayevonna wasn't pulling his weight on the case. But this is not the time to argue about these things. Teamwork is the only way that these investigations will work. Everyone was desperate for answers. Tom was still going by the police station inquiring about his sister-in-law's case.

and Wayevonna himself was a close family friend, so he took matters into his own hands. He decided to treat Sonia's case like he had never seen it before. He wanted to read every document in her case over again from the beginning. He was so committed. Then at 4 a.m., after hours of sifting through evidence,

Wayevanna found a handwritten note while reviewing Sonia's file. It described a tip that came in from a woman named Florence, who said that she had important information and Way Ivana couldn't figure out who the handwriting belonged to. He tried to find other notes about a Florence, but it seemed like no one had ever followed up.

So later that morning, he talked to Chief Ralph Taylor. And Taylor admitted he was the one that had taken that tip about Florence, but he said he wasn't able to get in touch with her. I can't help but think that's kind of strange in this very small town. How many Florence's were there? But I also understand being pulled in many different directions. So by mid-September, four weeks, after Sonia had been found dead,

Wayevanna took a day shift to track down and interview Florence. In a tape-recorded interview, Florence tells Wayavanna and Taylor that she's so glad that someone finally contacted her. She repeated what she said the first time, that she had seen Sonia in the early morning hours of August 11th. She and her younger sister, Danita, they were in their mom's house on Third Avenue. They were smoking cigarettes out on the porch, and that is when they saw Sonia walk by heading west down 3rd Avenue.

Danita had actually turned to Florence and said, that's Sonia Ivanov. Danita was a sophomore basketball player at Noam High School, and everyone at Noam High School knew that Sonia played in City Games. She was considered kind of like a local legend, and they thought she would end up getting a scholarship to play in the women's NCAA. So Danita was excited, and her and Florence waved to Sonia, and they even had a brief conversation.

But at that point, the rain had started to pick up, and Sonia continued walking. It was dark, but Sonia was only about 20 feet away when they saw a car drive down 3rd Avenue from behind her. And then it slowed down to a crawl. As Florence and her sister watched, the car slowly followed Sonia, who didn't stop. The car then drove down West D Street, and suddenly it turned around and cut Sonia off. as soon as she was getting to the intersection. Then the driver rolled down the passenger side window, and Florence and Danita could overhear what Sonia said.

She said, what's going on? And she stuck her head inside the car. She seemed to have some kind of conversation with the driver, and then they saw Sonia willingly get into the passenger seat and shut the door. Then the car took off northwest towards the airport, and Florence tried to make out the car in the dark. She knew it was a white SUV with a dark blue decal on the side. It said Nome Police Department.

She knew it did. It was obvious that this was a police vehicle. There was no mistake about it. So they wondered, was Sonia in trouble? Where were they going and why? It was weird and scary enough that Florence asked Dinita what time it was. She went and checked. It was 1.26 a.m.

About 10 minutes since Sonia had last been seen, seen by another witness near the gas station in 30 minutes since she had left to head home. I looked at maps of Nome, and from what I can tell, the police car must have passed Sonia's home making Florence wonder, where were they going? Nobody lived northwest of town. The road the driver was taking led right into the tundra and intersected with Nome Highway, and we know Sonia was found in the tundra. As Wayavana and Taylor heard Florence a story, they were shocked that she had the courage to come forward. Florence was afraid that giving this witness statement

would put a target on her back, which is one of the reasons I prefer to do solved cases only. You never know if you get close to the truth if someone is willing to do whatever it takes to silence you. It's very risky. The only problem was that way of Vonna and Taylor

didn't believe Florence was telling them the whole truth. They trusted their fellow officers. They knew they were would do the right thing. And witnesses can be wrong sometimes. It was dark and rainy, so a blue decal could have been something else. Also, the cop cars were painted white, not blue, and they knew there was a blue paint at the crime scene. There were a total of three vehicles. Each one was a little different. So they asked Florence tons of questions, including whether the car had an antenna or runners on the side.

She said they had lights on the top, but you couldn't remember any other details. It was the best lead that they had at the time, and Taylor knew that an accusation against the local police department meant that the case was out of their hands. Taylor reached back out to the ABI state troopers and said a witness provided a tip

that pointed to their department, possibly knowing something about Sonia's case. Well, as it turned out, the ABI officer or Randy McPherson, had actually received a tape recording in the mail from Florence. And he got it that same day. She had gone out of her way to record a video of herself explaining

what she had just told these two officers. She said that the local police didn't follow up. The fact that Florence recorded her statement was a sign that this was very serious. She went to something that scared her and she needed to report it, even though she felt like she was putting herself out there. It was important enough for her to come forward. Eric Burroughs returned to head the case.

It was immediately obvious to the people of Nome that the Alaska Bureau was back and rumors were flying around town. Christina, Tom, and Tim Marie weren't given any information about what was happening. And when asked, the Nome Police Department just told the papers in the media that the state troopers were just there because they had more resources to help solve Sanya's case. But they didn't admit anything about a gnome officer possibly being involved in some way. Burroughs interviewed Florence and Danina separately. He asked Florence to take him to her mom's house and show him exactly where the police car picked Sonia up.

He asked Danita to confirm Florence's story. And then he asked both of them if Sonia appeared drunk. Just in case, the officer had to pick her up because she was intoxicated. But both women insisted Sonia was completely sober. So why would she be getting into a police? police car. Was she offered a ride home? Was she threatened? And if it had been an officer, why wouldn't they have come forward with this information? But it made sense if the killer was an

officer. Based on what I told you, that evidence awareness and access to a unique 22 caliber bullet like the one they found that was used to kill Sonia. But many people had guns in Alaska and none of the officers owned a light blue pickup or SUV. The three police vehicles or white Ford expeditions, which didn't match up with the tire tracks or the pain at the crime scene. Burroughs looked into the three vehicles, which were named by numbers on the license plates.

There was vehicle 321, 322, and 983. 321 and 322 were basic police vehicles with known police department decals on the side. The 983 was a newer model, which had dark running boards on the sides, and a 911 sticker on the back. None of the seven officers owned a take-home police vehicle. When these shared vehicles weren't being driven

by the two officers that were on duty every night, they were left outside the station with a key in the ignition. Ready to go in an emergency. Well, that's interesting. So technically, anyone could have taken one of these cars.