True Crime with Kimbyr - Who Killed Teen Girl PART 2 Walking Home On A Cold Alaskan Night?! - Sonya Ivanoff | Deadly Deep Dives

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

In TRUE CRIME WITH KIMBYR, Kimbyrleigha continues the chilling investigation into the murder of Sonya Ivanoff. Part 2 unpacks the shocking discoveries, overlooked details, and the twists that finally shifted the case toward answers. As the truth begins to surface, disturbing revelations raise even more questions about responsibility, justice, and how this tragedy was allowed to happen. With her signature compassion and deep analysis, TRUE CRIME WITH KIMBYR examines the evidence that changed everything in this haunting Alaskan case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Each vehicle had an expensive shotgun kept in a locked box in the... 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 Levato on May 17th and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at Yamavatheater.com. Only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. The key was left in the lock again in case they needed to use the guns quickly.

Well, there's another way that someone besides an officer could have gotten hold of a police weapon. However, the doors to the vehicles were always locked, and the only way to open the door without a key was an electronic keypad, and you had to know the password. So that does change things. unless there was a way to gain access to a code. But it was important to rule out the officers. So if Sonia had been picked up in a police vehicle, it would have been driven by one of the two officers on duty that night. At 1 a.m. on Monday morning, that would have been either Matt Owens driving car 322

and Stan Pascuia driving 9.83. These guys were considered upstanding citizens and officers. They'd both served for three years of. on the Nome Police Department. Officer Owens was a firearms expert from Florida, and Officer Pascuia was raised in Nome and had experience at correctional facilities. And Owens had a four-year-old kid,

and Pascoya was a referee at the City League basketball games. But now let's just point to anything negative as well. Officer Owens was the one who told Tom not to hang Sonia's photo on the wall. And Pascoya had been the one to kind of gaslight Timoree when she reported her best friend missing. Obviously, it could have also been any of the other officer, since there was a third police vehicle.

But Burroughs figured it would be best to start with these two. He really didn't want to stir the pot and ruin the police officers' reputations and integrity by interviewing the entire station. So he kept everything on the down-low, flying them out to Anchorage to talk to them. I don't see why sending them all the way to Anchorage would prevent any rumors, but I guess they got to do what they got to do.

I know how important it is for a community not to lose trust in their officers. So Owens and Pascoya were given plane tickets to Anchorage for the morning of September 24th. But before they could leave, something crazy happened that led right back to Sonia's case. At 12.46 a.m. in the early morning hours of the 23rd, Officer Redburn and Officer Owens were on duty.

When Officer Owens radioed in and said police car 321 was missing, someone had stolen it from the parking lot. Neither of them could figure out how it was stolen unless someone knew that electronic passcode. That's interesting. So maybe someone did know the code somehow. I mean, this is a small town and people talk. It turns out these Ford expeditions, these police vehicles are pretty expensive, and the shotguns in the back are also worth a lot of money and they're dangerous. So Redburn sent out some state troopers to search for the vehicle as well as Chief Taylor.

Owens went searching while Redburn stayed at the station waiting to respond if there was any kind of of emergencies. Two hours later, Owens radioed Redburn and said he found the stolen vehicle. It was in a place called Bessie Pitt. This is a sand and gravel mine five minutes from Nome. Here it is on the map, about a quarter of a mile away from where Sonia was found. This was at 251 a.m. and everyone stopped their search and the night was quiet. Then just minutes later, At 253 a.m., Owens yelled over the radio that he needed backup now. Shots had been fired. Redburn and Taylor responded in their separate vehicles, and when they got there,

Owens was standing in the middle of the main road, completely unharmed but shaken up. He told Redburn and Taylor that he'd seen vehicle 321 at Bessie Pit, and the brake lights were on. He pulled up, he walked behind the car, and that's when he was ambushed. Two shots rang out, glass shattered, and he told him, took cover. By the time he looked up, the shooter was running into the tundra. Owens couldn't make out the shooter's features and he wasn't sure exactly which direction he had gone because he was traumatized. He told Taylor that the shots made him realize if he died, his four-year-old son wouldn't have a father.

And now he was questioning whether the police lifestyle even suited him at all. It's not every day that a small town cop is dealing with an unsolved murder and being shot at. Well, law enforcement did a full perimeter search of the gravel pit and they couldn't find the shooter. One of the 321's windows was completely shattered and the vehicle was towed for processing. It took the rest of the day to find out all the details. The Remington 870 shotgun that was usually locked in the back of 321 was missing. Someone had stolen it. However, Taylor did a full sweep at the Bessie pit and he found no bullet shells. None. Shotgun shells are pretty big. So unless the perpetrator had time to pick them up or had brought his own revolver, what Evans remembered had to be incorrect.

So they tried to reenact Owen's story of the shootout, but it felt logically impossible. Owens was highly trained in weapons and would know exactly what to do when faced with a criminal shooting at him. The fact that he had no details about his attacker, including how tall they were, even estimates. It just felt off. But at the same time, remember, these are the officers that are supposed to be invested. to getting Sonia's murder in regard to one of the cops being involved. So they could have had a little bit of negative bias here.

But upon further inspection, there were no fingerprints to be found on the driver's seat of the vehicle. This is normal when searching cars. There aren't a lot of places that it's easy to take fingerprints. When the ABI criminalist looked at the broken window, she found glass all over the seat. Someone had smashed it in from the outside, or so it seemed. So that was a little bit interesting. However, just wait. There is more. Underneath the glass, she found an envelope.

And when they opened it, it contained a rec center pool pass that belonged to Sonia. The last time Tim Marie saw Sonia, she was carrying her wallet, which contained all of her IDs. Why was it in this cop car in an envelope? The criminalist showed this to Redburn. and he thought this was directly out of a movie. If the killer wanted to flaunt, he would have left a note, right? Well, guess what? There was a typed out note in this envelope.

I'm going to read it to you. It was titled, Pig. Then in one typed paragraph, it read, quote, I hate cops. I hate every one of you. Sonia was just a person in the wrong place at the wrong time. I did not know her. As you can see, it's easy for you.

for me to take your pig card keys right there. It was not her fault that 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'll leave you alone. I'll also shoot you in the head if you get close."

End quote. Wow. Now this note wasn't signed by anyone, and no name was left behind to pinpoint who this letter was from. Snow was analyzed for DNA, but it turned up nothing. The FBI took a look as well, since they're trained in analyzing written and typed threats. The FBI profiler said he thought this letter and the shootout could have been staged

to take the heat off of the two officers that were accused of being involved. But the profiler also thought that the perpetrator could be a police officer. It was possible for someone to steal a cop car, but the motivation of the I hate cops didn't seem like a solid foundation as to why they would steal the car now. Literally the day before Owens and Pascoya were supposed to be interviewed in Anchorage. The timing was interesting for sure. But then again, if they had stolen the car before, what was stopping them from stealing it again? But referring to the police as pigs, that was a deliberate choice.

And the profile earlier thought maybe this was to throw them off track. This gave them probable cause that the 321 incident, as they're calling it, could have been staged and created as a diversion to stop the interviews from going forward. FBI profiler kind of thought the opposite about everything in the letter. For example, the words I did not know her were seen as an actual connection, an implied level of familiarity between the perpetrator and Sonia, not the other way around. And we already know from Florence's testimony that Sonia had leaned in. into the vehicle to talk to someone. She was comfortable and familiar enough with that person to even get inside the vehicle. It does make sense.

Why would she get in the car if it wasn't one of the seven officers from town that were driving? The very next day following this incident was the 24th of September. When Owens and Pascoya were scheduled to do their interviews and polygraphs out in Anchorage, Owens was so shook up that he asked Chief Taylor

if he could stay home get therapy. He had a rough night. And Taylor agreed. So he didn't get on the plane that next day. Instead, he was sent to an in-house police psychologist. But Officer Stan Pascoya did make it to that interview and they gathered his version of what happened on the night in question. Pascoya saw Sonia all the time at the basketball games. He knew she was. So could he have been the officer that stopped her that night? In Anchorage, Piscoa was compliant in his interview. When asked what car you drove on the night of August 10th, he said that he couldn't remember because they aren't designated to a specific vehicle. They just hop in whatever one's available, but he said it was probably

the newer expedition. However, they do keep a logbook of which cars they drove. And investigators confirmed that was true. The logbook showed he drove vehicle 983. When questioned about whether he remembered anything specific about the night, he said that he had patricked. He had patrick patrolled before midnight, and at 1253, he and Owens responded to a 911 call about a domestic altercation. The two of them had to deal with a very violent man who actually hit Owens in the jaw because he could not be subdued until Pascoya sprayed him with pepper spray. The assailant was then taken to jail. And following this incident, Pascoya did all his paperwork at the station, and he finished everything by about 1.45 a.m., which means his alibi was that he was that he was

sitting alone at Nome Police Station with no one to confirm he was there. Piscoya said they could check the police log, which had records, handwritten records, that he wrote from 110 to 145 a.m. But these can totally be faked. So this wasn't a solid alibi. But Piscoye insisted he and Owens were innocent. He agreed to a polygraph test, which we know is not concrete evidence, but he did pass. which convinced investigators that he was not their primary suspect at the moment,

though that alone was not enough to clear this man. Back in Noam, Burroughs interviewed the other five officers of the Noam Police Department and learned more about Pascoya and Owen's reputations. Piscoya came from a good family and people liked him a lot. Owens was also well-liked and was a top-tier officer. He was great with firearms, but some of his fellow officers did say there were moments when he didn't exactly act rationally in high-pressure situations. Owens had actually specifically signed up for night shifts because they were easier.

And remember, he was just questioning whether this line of work was even for him after what happened a couple of nights before this at the sandpit. Other officers said he had a history of inviting friends into his vehicle in the passenger seat of his police cruiser. Owens was reprimanded multiple times for this, and I always thought you were allowed to go on ride-alongs, but apparently it isn't legal, to bring friends around in cop cars unless it's authorized. But that didn't stop Owens from doing it. And apparently from the rumors swirling around,

there were times where he would sort of pick up women asking them if they wanted to go for a little joyride in his police car. And that at times, this even resulted in relationships or even sex. And interestingly, this sounds a lot like what could have happened to Sonia that night. minus the sex part, I guess. And apparently, Owens also invited his girlfriend and dates into his car. I'm guessing this is to impress the ladies. And even though these are rumors, Burroughs wasn't sure about cop car sex being consensual or even allowed.

You're not supposed to be doing that especially if you're on duty. It could indicate that Owens was using his badge to back up predatory behavior, almost like forcing women into doing something because he has authority. And that didn't sit right. Burroughs found out that Sonia worked nights at the hospital front desk, meaning Owens would have interacted with her if he took patients to the hospital. He could have even targeted her. Secondly, he learned that Chief Taylor never told Owens

that he could skip his flight to Anchorage to go get therapy. So Owens was lying about that. And third, Owens had turned up at Sonia's crime scene the night of August 13th in his personal vehicle to involve with Wayevona, Redburn, and Taylor. His presence was never officially requested. He wasn't on duty until the night shift that day. And he hadn't been called over the radio,

so why did he come there and further, how did Owens find out where Sonia was? Did someone tell him? Was it Piscoya? Or could he have something to do with her murder and pretended he was helping solve her case? After five whole days, Owens finally flew out to Anchorage to be interviewed by the ABI. On September 29th, he corroborated Piscoyos' story, that they patrolled and done

paperwork, subdued a man who was hurting his wife, and Owens had been hid so hard in his jaw that his hat and his glasses flew off. Owens took the guy to jail and recorded the time in the dispatch log. He said it was around 1 a.m. Then he said he met up with his friend, Terry Calendrelli, who rode in the passenger seat of his police car from about 1.10 a.m. 2.12, and afterward, he patrolled the bars during closing time in case any violence would break out. At 2.30 in the morning, he met up with Pascoya to finish up paperwork, and at 250, Owens drove Posquoia home. Then he returned to the station, did some reports, and then heard a gunshot at 3.30 a.m. Owen said he drove around for an hour, trying to figure out where the shot had come

from. Then he got a call from dispatch and dealt with another case. At 7 a.m., Owen switched cars with the sergeant and went home to go to sleep. When asked if he ever picked up Sonia that night, he stated that Sonia had never been inside his patrol car or his personal car. Never. And he also insisted that neither he nor Officer Pascoya had anything to do with this. In the interview, Owen said he knew of Sonia, but he didn't know her personally. He'd never spoken her before and hadn't seen her on the night of August 10th. He did admit that his friends and some women he had dated had definitely rode with him in his police car, but he never picked up women. The investigator mentioned the rumors and he did get defensive. He said, why are we talking about my sex life? And fair enough, I guess.

But then again, if he picked up girls and he picked up Sonia, that would be relevant. But the investigator decided to switch tactics because he had to keep pressing him. He asked Owens about what they referred to as the three-tebrose. incident, the early morning on August 23rd when the police car 321 was missing and Owens got shot at. Owens elaborated and he said he was driving along the highway looking for 321 and he saw brake lights. He stopped behind the cop car in his personal car and noticed the trunk of the Ford expedition

was open and the shotgun wasn't there. He walked up to the passenger side of the vehicle and that is when he was shot at and had to duck for cover. When the perpetrator then ran into the tundra never to be seen again. The investigator pointed out some things that he thought were interesting. First of all, we all know that brake lights are only on when someone has their foot on the brake. So they were trying to understand how the trunk was open, the brake lights were on, and the gun was already out of the trunk if the perpetrator hadn't even seen anyone coming yet. The other thing they thought was interesting was that if he was shot at, he probably would have been injured.

He probably would have been hit since he was in such close range. And this perpetrator apparently from the letter didn't like, They also thought it was interesting that this person ran into the tundra where people can literally die of exposure and animal attacks, and he ran into this landscape of rusty gold mine equipment in the dark, which is a very dangerous place for any sane person to go. And that's why the investigators thought this wasn't a person at all. It was all staged. And Owens actually said that. He's like, are you implying that I staged it? And the investigator actually said, yeah. The reason the investigator thought that Owens may be responsible for Sonny's. his murder and the stage 321 event is because he left a good hour unaccounted for the night in question from about 120 to 220. He doesn't have a solid alibi for that time frame. And that's around the time when Florence said she saw someone pick up Sonia in the police car. Then his report of hearing a gunshot around 3.30 a.m. meant that Sonia could have been killed at 3.30. But how would he have

heard a shot from five minutes away? They estimate the sound of a normal gunshot only travels about two miles. So these things coupled with the timing of the incident of the 3-21 car, which happened to be hours before Owens was supposed to be interviewed, made it look suspicious. Plus, back in Noam, Burroughs had tracked down several women who admitted to having sex with Owens in his patrol car while he was on duty. But Owen swore that he never ever picked up a woman while he was on duty. He called that just crazy. So the investigator put Owens through a polygraph test

just like with Pascoya. However, unlike Pascoya, he failed. When Owens realized, he just said, but mostly that was when they were asking him about the 3-2-1 incident, and even if it was staged, it didn't prove that he killed Sonia. But maybe he knew something, and he was trying to cover it up. Maybe he had picture up and then dropped her off,

and now he was trying to try to. to remove the guilt from his shoulders. But that didn't explain the Pigs note, which if written by Owens, was somewhat of a confession. At the end, there was nothing to charge him with. So he went back to his apartment, and he was put on administrative leave until the ABI could either prove he was responsible or rule him out.

Burroughs talked to Owens' soon-to-be ex-wife, Trin. The two of them were in the middle of a divorce at the time that this was happening, and Trin told Barrows that on Tuesday, August 12, It was Officer Matt Owens' birthday, and he was taking care of their son, let's just call him Danny, and Matt called Trin at 4.30 p.m. to ask

if he could possibly drop Danny off because there was a girl missing, and he wasn't sure if it would turn out okay, and he wanted to go and help. Trin knew Matt's police work was very important to him, so she agreed to watch their son, even though she had to work that night as well. So now she remembers having to try to find someone to care for Danny.

But here's why this information stood out. stood out because at 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday, Tim Marie hadn't even gone to the police station yet. She had called, but there wouldn't have been a missing person's report filed for another 45 minutes. Trin also said the night of September 23rd, less than a day after the 321 incident. Owens told her that the police suspected him for Sonia's murder, but that there was a note on the passenger seat that cleared him of suspicion. But nobody told him he was cleared his suspicion. And why would he be excited? about being cleared. All of this seems premature, like he knows things before they happen.

Could he have crafted the note to clear himself of suspicion? That's what they wondered. So Burroughs kept digging, and one woman came forward and said that she went on a date with Owens in September, and he told her about his plans to actually leave Alaska. He'd asked her to go with him, and it sounded like some kind of getaway plan. Burroughs realized he was running out of time. He needed to get Owens behind bars in case he was trying to leave the state and disappeared before they could clear him. Or pin this murder on him. Seven other people in Nome confirmed that Evans knew Sonia personally,

even though he insisted they never spoke more than a few words at the hospital front desk. But this next piece of evidence is what really set things in motion. A local guy named Warren Little who knew Owens from church, told Burroughs, then the days after Sonia's body was found, Matt confided in him. about what happened to Sonia. Days afterward. Owens told Warren, an evil guy had picked Sonia up from the side of the road using a police vehicle.

And as soon as she realized what his intentions were, she jumped out of the car to get away from him, and that's when he shot her with a handgun. Matt told Warren, there were no signs of sexual violence and no DNA evidence found at the crime scene. Now, how did Matt know this? Because the autopsy results didn't come in until August 25th. Matt wasn't even assigned to this case.

This gave Burroughs the probable cause to put out a warrant for Owens' arrest. He was actually fired on Friday, October 24th, and arrested on Saturday at 7 p.m. His arraignment was the very next day, and most of the city of Nome was there. Tom and Christina went there with a group from their town, and they, of course, received really cold and passive-aggressive looks and comments. several members of Owens' church said that he could never be responsible for murder. They loved him. But they didn't know all the details of this investigation.

Even Tim Marie didn't want to believe that Owens was responsible because cops are supposed to protect you from criminals. And if Owens was the criminal, that meant you can't trust them, these people who swore to protect you. Burroughs continued to look for even more concrete evidence, something more than just witness or hearsay confessions. Police car 321 turned out to have no DNA evidence connecting Owens to the crime. And even though the ink on the note matched up with the same paper and ink of a printer

that Owens could have had access to, other cops did as well. However, they did find that Remington shotgun, and it was processed for DNA, but again, there was no evidence tying it to Owens. They wondered if there was any weapon belonging to Owens that shot 22 caliber bullets. The shotguns bullets were too big. They were not the ones that killed Sonia. And Owens' service weapon was a 45 Glock.

His personal car wasn't blue, so something wasn't adding up. And an investigation isn't over until all the biggest questions are answered and everything makes sense. And they just weren't there yet. They wondered, could they have the wrong guy? The ABI returned to Dredge 5 Road, wondering if they could have overlooked a bullet shell. It was fall. There was snow in the ground.

and there was so much brush that they had to hack it away. They were able to find a bullet shell in the brush, indicating the gun used was an automatic and not a revolver. Based on the close range of the shot, it was probably not a rifle either. This narrowed it down to a handgun, like a pistol. And the unique grooves in the bullet didn't point to any guns used in police firearms training. So whose gun was this? It was Redburn who suggested that maybe Burroughs should look in their police

evidence room. Inside, they kept confiscated guns in evidence boxes. Every known police officer knew the lock key was kept in an open mailbox belonging to a sergeant, so everyone in the station had access to this. Owens could have walked in, used a gun, and put it back without anyone knowing. Sure enough, in one of the evidence boxes was a Jennings 22 pistol. It had a similar rifling pattern to the bullet that killed Zanya. The gun, along with the bullet, lit shell or process for DNA. With Owens arrested, they put a call out for tips, hoping anyone who was scared of him would now come forward.

And they did. In his three years working for the known police department, six women reported they had been coerced into entering his vehicle and performing sexual acts on him. Two women said it happened multiple times while he was on duty in his patrol car. And one said she was on duty in his patrol car. And one said, she was a little bit of his sexual act.

She was threatened at gunpoint and forced into oral sex. Over time, the incidents got worse and worse. And several women filed complaints with the Nome Police Department, but no one believed them. These women would be arrested for something like being publicly intoxicated. And once they were in his vehicle, and he knew he had authority over them, he apparently would threaten them and get what he wanted.

In fact, Owens told one woman, no one will believe a drug Alaskah native over a police officer, his words, and that disgust me. Anyone who abuses their power like this is disgusting. I totally understand why many of these women did not want to come forward until this man was behind bars, especially if he had threatened to harm them. Authority figures taking advantage of others is all too common. We see it happen all the time, whether it's a trusted adult, even a family member,

a clergy at a church, a teacher, and the list goes on. This also shows you that sometimes victims are are telling the truth. Even if it appears that the person they're accusing looks like an upstanding citizen. It's important that victims are taken seriously when they do come forward to report these incidents. In a case like this, when someone in a position of authority

or anyone for that matter is praying on a woman who is intoxicated, they need to be held accountable. Despite all these women coming forward against Matt Owens sexually violating them, the puzzle pieces still were not lining up. They were all still a lot of. alive. But maybe that's because they complied and Sonia wouldn't. But the Jennings 22 pistol had no DNA evidence either and neither did the bullet shell. Burroughs and the

crime lab analysts were frustrated by the dead ends and wait till you hear this. One analyst spent a day looking through parking lots all throughout Nome trying to make a list of cars with mismatched tires. They'd done this before but who knows maybe they would get lucky this time. Well, it turned out most vehicles in Nome had mismatched tires. Because people would replace one when a tire popped. There was rugged terrain all around, and they didn't always buy the same exact brand, or one was newer so it had more distinctive tread. The analysts categorized hundreds of vehicles before he found a light blue truck with one mismatched tread. It belonged to a guy named Benjamin Niles, who worked in a scrapyard selling miscellaneous items

but lived far outside Nome and wasn't in town very often. Well, this is interesting. They intercepted and interviewed this man about his whereabouts on August 11th. Ben said he wasn't in Nome on the 11th, but on the 12th, he said he spent the day in Nome with his girlfriend. They ate lunch at a local restaurant and he even had the receipt in his wallet, which confirmed that he had been in Nome at noon and paid for two meals. But what about later that night? Where was he then? Was he anywhere near the tundra? And if so, why? Well, Ben claimed him and his girlfriend drove home in the evening when it was still light outside. Remember, this would be the same evening that Sonia's body was found, but before officers located her. He said they took the north of the north of

road out of Gnome and turned onto Dredge 5 Road because his girlfriend had to go to the bathroom. Of course, there are no businesses to stop that out there. So we said he pulled off the road and further into the bushes to give her some privacy. And after that, they drove home. Ben said he didn't know anything about Sonia or her murder, and he hadn't seen her body or anyone out there that night. Wow. So he's saying he pulled up right where someone had been murdered,

but he doesn't see anything. It seemed like that was way too much of a coincidence to pull in that exact area. But it might also explain why there was so little DNA evidence at the crime scene. If this was a quick hit and Ben just left town after he did this crime, but then again, what would be his motive? And it would be highly unlikely that Ben's girlfriend would support him in murdering someone unless she was covering for him. So Burroughs was again stumped.

He called in the head of homicide at the Anchorage Police Department Bill Gifford. Now, Gifford flew to Gifford to know to look at all this evidence, and he noticed from the pictures of Sonia's body, remember this. There were leaves on her back. And dirt had dried in specific patterns on her body. This was consistent with rainwater hitting her shoulder. It rained on August 11th from 12 a.m. to 5 p.m. It did not rain on the 12th, meaning Sonia had been killed before the 12th and before Ben got to town. When Ben had rolled his trunk through the place where Sonia was shot, the blood had mixed with the dirt, and it created a clay-like texture that was perfect for tire tracks. His story checked out. This man was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The tire tracks and the blue paint on that branch was not related to this crime. And that just, it breaks my heart. They went in all these directions looking for those specific things when it turns out it had nothing to do with Sonia's murder. But they still needed more evidence linking Matt to this crime. At the beginning of November, a local woman responded to a

call for tips. She said she also dated Matt Owens before Sonia was killed. And one of their last dates was around August 17th, which would have been just a few days after Sonia was killed. She said that Owens took her camping in the mountains in a hunting area called Coffee Creek. This is 75 miles north of Nome. And I wondered if this is the same area that Kunuk went for his hunting trip. Because where he was was a similar distance in this place was very popular. The tiny cabins were just off of Carraric Road. And this woman that Evans took out there said that he started a fire out back and she found it very romantic until she went to bed. And Owens didn't follow her because he was outside getting rid of some garbage, burning it.

However, she thought this was weird, because when she looked, he was burning clothing that looked new. At the time, she really didn't think twice about it and she didn't report it to authorities. The police already knew what Sonia was wearing that night, sketchers and jeans. So they hoped that this would be the big break they needed. On November 5th, they drove to that campsite and they located the fire pit. Burroughs painstakingly dug up everything in that building. pit and mix the ashes and charcoal with water. The ashes would dissolve and then reveal anything that wasn't able to burn. He said it was like panning for gold and he ended up finding a metal

eyelet which would hold a shoelace. It was corroded from the flames but when he looked at it closely, he could make out the word sketchers even though just barely. Damn, I got the chills like thinking about that. He transferred the contents of the fire pit back to Nome using a big tarp, and they combed through the remnants. Burroughs found a dozen Skechers' islets from where shoelaces would have been on a shoe. He also found metal hooks and underwire of a bra and a metal piece that attached to a belt, the metal button from a pair of tilt brand jeans, a jeans zipper, and a key ring with four charred keys on it. And they wouldn't have found any of this if it wouldn't have been for that woman who came forward bravely with this tip.

Burroughs called Sonia's sister Christina, and she asked her to identify anything she could. She said Sonia regularly wore a pair of brown tilt brand jeans, and Tim Marie also confirmed that those were the branded jeans Sonia wore. And of course, she was wearing Tim Marie's Skechers brand shoes. But out of everything they found in that fire pit, the keys were the most incriminating piece of evidence. One of them looks similar to Sonny's apartment key. And when they made a replica and they tested it, it fit inside the lock. Now it wouldn't open the door because it was damaged. However, another key fit into a PO box at the Nome Post Office. And that PO box belonged to Michael Owens, which is Officer Matt Owens' uncle. That was his mistake. When he was getting rid of incriminating

evidence he also burned some of his own personal belongings, maybe even by accident. And he also brought a woman out there while he did it. Big mistake. Burroughs and the state prosecutors were confident that they now had enough evidence to convict Matt of Sonia's murder. Alaska was one of the first states to actually abolish the death penalty, but the FBI considered charging him at the federal level so that they could still give the family that option. One of Sonia's brothers anonymously said that he wanted Owens to to be electrocuted for what he had done. But Matt ended up being tried at the state level,

so no death penalty. He was held at the Anvil Mountain Correctional Institution on a $500,000 bail, but he had so much support from the members of his church that he was released on house arrest after just two months. And that's very disheartening. Owens continued to live in his rental home in Anchorage Hillside for the next year.

The home was owned by his friend Terry's wife, Charlotte Calendrelli. And yes, you've heard this name before and you'll hear it again. I'm saying you've heard Terry's name. This is his wife. Anchorage Hillside was one of the wealthiest areas of Nome. It had the best view. And I can't imagine what that would have been like

for all the women that he hurt, as well as Sonia's friends and family to know that Matt Owens was out of jail and just living it up. I'm sure it didn't bode well. The trial was held in Nome on January 18th of 2005, Prosecutor Rix Above Knee brought forward 70 witnesses, including the three people that Sonia passed on her way home, Rina, Lamb, and Florence.

You already heard what they told police, but there were some things that kind of contradicted what they said. Florence stated that the car that picked up Sonia didn't have running boards, so it wasn't police vehicle 93 that was driven by Pascoya. But the thing was, she never mentioned that in her first statement. in her first statement. Rina testified that long after she saw Sonia walking home,

she saw Officer Owens driving around known between the hours of 2.30 and 3 o'clock that morning. On the stand, she said someone was sitting in the passenger seat next to him, even though she didn't see who it was. But this contradicted her original statement. She said in 2003 that she didn't know if there was someone in the passenger seat

because she was so focused on figuring out which officer was the driver. And you know, when there are contradictions or any discrepancies, the defense attorney is going to jump on it. One of the things that defense attorney James McComis argued was about the gun. He said that the Jennings 22 did not match up with the 22 caliber bullet they found, so it couldn't be the murder weapon. And as much as courts have upheld bullet striation marks as concrete evidence,

it's actually not an exact science. So there is room for reasonable doubt. Plus, there is also a witness that claimed, He had seen Sonia alive on Monday, driving a blue pickup truck, and she sped past him. And then later that day, that's when he saw a missing person's flyer. And he was shocked because he's like, I just saw her driving a car. Then there was the owner of the post office.

He testified there was no way Matt could have a copy of his uncle's key. Because that wasn't allowed. He said it is illegal to make a copy of a PO box key. But maybe you stole it. Who knows? these things do bring in reasonable doubt, though. Then Owens' ex-wife testified, and she said that Owens responded to the missing person's report

on Tuesday the 11th, 45 minutes before the report was filed. But Owens himself took the stand in his own defense. And as part of his testimony, he said that his ex-wife's memory was faulty, that it was actually Tuesday the 19th at 4.30 p.m. And he was doing an evidence search, not a search for Sonia on her body. Their biggest argument,

and defense was that he was not the officer involved. They pinned everything on another officer, Byron Redburn. And I have to say, this argument's pretty convincing. After all, Redburn was the one corresponding with the Alaska State Troopers. He'd also been the one to suggest that Burroughs go to that evidence room to look for the murder weapon. And he had a motive to blame everything on Owens. because Owens had an affair with Redburn's daughter, Jennifer. Owens also witnessed Redburn punched someone while he was on duty,

and he reported this assault to the other officers. So it was argued that Redburn was mad at Owens. He was mad that Owen snitched on him, and he was mad that he slept with his daughter. So Redburn had been the one to stage the 321 incident because he was also on duty that night. He staged everything to pin it on Matt Owens. Now, this might have been the one.

had been enough to sway the jury, but Owens did admit to talking to Sonia with other officers before her murder. Apparently, they had a disagreement on whether or not she was 21, so he looked her up on the police computer. But why did it matter if she wasn't 21? The fact that he was looking her up online did give him more of a motive, like he had been targeting her. Remember, he liked to go up to intoxicated women and try to take advantage of them. But the jury never got to hear from the six women who came forward about their sexual incidents because they were not deemed admissible in court.

The jury was divided. Half of them were friends with Owens and his family. The other half were friends with Sonia and her family. And after 40 hours of deliberation, they were unable to come to a decision. It was a mistrial. So they had to go through all of this, all over again. Sonia's parents, Larry and Maggie,

who were there every step of them, said that having to go through this again, they wouldn't wish not anyone. Sonia's brother Jacob didn't think that the Nome trial was good in the first place. He knew that half the jurors were Owens' church buddies. He hoped that the next trial would be moved. The lawyers did petition for it to be set in Anchorage or Fairbanks, where the victim and the accused would be more anonymous. Anywhere but Nome. The judge decided on Katsubu. I'm probably not saying that right, but it's a smaller town in Alaska that has an even smaller population, but more neutral jurors. The second trial started on October 17th of 2005, and I know, bear with me.

I know this is a long process, just imagine how long it was for all the investigators, the police officers, and the family. But the trial went virtually the exact same way. But when the defense began their testimonies, Burrell got a call from Wayevana, who was still a gnome. Apparently Wayevana, was having this casual conversation with one of his neighbors, Dealey Blackshare. Dealey asked, did it ever come up in trial that Charlotte Calendrelli saw Sonia's ID in Matt's bedroom? Now recall, she was the one renting him a room after him and his wife separated. So this is where he would have been staying at the time of Sonia's murder. Way ofana's mouth just dropped open.

And he told Burroughs immediately. And Burroughs took the first flight back to Noam to talk to Dealey about Charlotte. Dealey told Burroughs that he was talking to Charlotte a week after Sonia's death when she mentioned seeing a woman's wallet in the living room, as well as Sonia's a rec center ID card. Burroughs knew he needed Charlotte's testimony for this trial, but she was never going to go against Matt. She was friends with him. So he got a warrant to record a phone call between Dealey and Charlotte. In the recording, you can hear Dealey say to Charlotte. You know, the conversation, remember you were concerned that you had seen, along with Matt's other stuff, Sonia's ID or rec card?

Charlotte replied that she never told anyone about it. She figured if Owens did have the ID, then the cops would already know about it. But remember that the same rec card was eventually found in an envelope on the seat of the so-called stolen 321 car. There was no reason why it should have been in Matt's possession. Over the phone, Charlotte said she had no idea why Matt had the idea. why Matt had the ID, but she never denied telling Dealey that she had seen it. All of this work, and they were denied allowing her to testify. However, later on, when he was being cross-examined, he denied ever owning Sonia's ID,

and the prosecution was able to bring Charlotte in as a rebuttal witness. But she never said she saw the ID. Now on the stand, she said she never saw it. She never saw Sonia's ID or the wallet. So now, in response to this, the prosecution plays that taped conversation. And really what it looks like is she's lying at some point. She either lied about seeing it in the first place or she's lying on the stand. And all of this is quite a mess.

But at the end of the day, there was too much pointing in Owen's direction, and he was found guilty of first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence by staging a cop car robbery. In December of 2005, he received 101 years in prison. At the end of this entire ordeal, Sonia's parents cried. Justice was served, even though Owens' family and his church were still in denial. And they thought he was innocent. Owens appealed his sentence over and over again in 2010, in 2015, 16, 2021, and he'll probably do it again.

Sonia's family continue to go to every appeal hearing. Tom says he isn't sure how Larry stands reliving his daughter. daughter's death, but Larry will do whatever it takes to make sure that Matt stays in prison until the end of his days. Sonia's mother, Maggie, said she will never trust a police officer again. And Sonia's brothers say that no amount of justice will ever make up for Sonia's loss, or the amount of suffering caused by a failed justice system. Women had come to the known police department with stories of Owen's cruelty and they were

turned away. His coworkers knew he was dangerous and they didn't do anything about it. Chief of Police Taylor ended up stepping down in January of 2004, and the new Chief of Police did his best to sweep everything under the rug. He paid out settlements to any indigenous women who had sued the city of Nome. Young women disappear in Alaska more than anywhere else in the United States. Four and five American and Alaskan Native women have experienced violence in their lifetimes, and Nome is still a very dangerous place for indigenous women.

From 2008 to 2000, only 8% of the calls reporting sexual violence against indigenous women resulted in charges. There have been hundreds of women taken advantage of, and there's no doubt that Sonia was one of them. It's a long process of rebuilding trust, and the police department's reputation suffered for one man's evil actions. Tim Marie's report was laughed at. Florence's tip fell through the cracks. In more recent news, an officer in the known police department told a dozen women that he was working on their cases, including a 911 dispatcher herself, and then he never

provided them with case numbers. Despite all this, the department is still trying to improve. It hired more officers and even a native victim advocate. In 2007, the Sonia Ivanov Act was signed into law, mandating that any officer who committed murder on duty would be sentenced to 99 years in prison. But the stories of violence against women perpetrated by the justice system is proved, that stories like this need to be told so there can be change. I want to tell you what Burroughs things happened that night. Owen spent weeks targeting young women, including Sonia, something he regularly did with the resources that he had at his disposal.

And that night, he caught Sonia walking home from what he thought was the bar. His M.O. was to approach intoxicated vulnerable women and manipulate them to get into his vehicle, pushing them with his authority. He tried this with Sonia, thinking thinking she was drunk, but she wasn't. Then he did his routine sexual advances,

but Sonia resisted. Owens came prepared with the Jennings 22 pistol to threaten anyone who wouldn't comply. This may have worked in the past, and he was smart enough to use a weapon that wasn't his service one. When he suggested that Sonia have sex with him, and she refused, he forced himself on her

and she fought back. Burroughs believes that Sonia most likely threatened to tell everyone a gnome that he, a 28-year-old cop, was trying to pray on a drunk 19-year-old girl on the job. When he realized the amount of power she now had, he got afraid. He thought she would tell on him, and people would actually believe her. Sonia was credible, respected, and loved by her community, and he was evil.

And the only way to keep his secret was to kill her. He reached across the passenger seat and hit her, which caused bruising to the left side of her face. Then he took control of her while he drove them out of town. Owens murdered Sonia on that dirt road, covered up the evidence, and staged stealing the car to distract the police from the truth. I think this shows you how strong Sonia was. She stood up for herself, and she brought a voice to many women who had been silenced and the future women that Owens would have tried to pray on. It's just sad that she had to lose her life for it. Sonia will never have her own children, but her nieces and nephews are now growing up. Sarah, Gabby, and Ethan have been raised fishing, hunting, playing basketball, and looking over their shoulders.

Gabby said she talks to Sonia's spirit all the time and asks her for guidance. As for Tim Marie, she left college because there were too many uniformed officers that she got PTSD from the entire experience. She will never trust law enforcement again for good reason. She lives in Unalocally with her daughter, who was born on April 12th, which is just a day before Sonia's birthday. Timorey's daughter is just as tall and goofy as Sonia, and they share the same name. She named her daughter after her best friend. That's part of their culture, the culture that Sonia embraced. You find pieces of someone, little things that represent them like their name, or even something they loved,

and you carry those pieces with you for the rest of your life. I want to thank you so very much for listening to Sonia's story, and I hope to see you in my next video. Bye.