In 1993, Sophie Sergie was sexually assaulted and murdered, her body found in a second-floor bathroom in Bartlett Hall at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. Thirty-two years later, the man found guilty of the crime is appealing his conviction. Steven Downs, 50, is currently serving a 75-year prison sentence for Sergie’s murder, handed down …
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Genealogy Identifies 2001 Jane Doe Never Reported as Missing
Credit: Placer County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook The Placer County Sheriff’s Office (California) has officially identified the remains of a woman found on March 20, 2001 as Zania Lynette Williams, also known as Zenia Williams. Williams, 34 years old at the time of her disappearance, was last seen around Christmas of 2000 at her residence in …
Appeals Court Hears DNA Privacy Arguments in UAF Cold Case Murder Conviction
The Alaska Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Monday in the case of a 50-year-old Maine man convicted of the 1993 rape and murder of a University of Alaska Fairbanks student. Steven Harris Downs was convicted in 2022 of the rape and murder of 20-year-old Sophie Sergie and sentenced to 75 years in prison. Investigators cracked the cold case …