Bethel Police are asking for the public’s help identifying and locating a person of interest in the homicide of Eunice Whitman. Whitman was found stabbed to death early Sunday morning along a boardwalk in a Bethel park.
Police Thursday released a video from the Bethel AC Quick Stop store. Police have already arrested the primary suspect, but Lieutenant Joe Corbett says they’re trying to identify another male who appears with him in the video taken around the time of the murder.
“The man with the gray sweatshirt over his head, we have not been able to identify yet,” said Corbett.
The video shows two men walking down a hallway at the AC Quick Stop store apartments early Sunday morning. Whitman’s boyfriend Justine Paul walks ahead while the person of interest trails behind in a gray hooded sweatshirt. Paul, the primary suspect, was taken into custody and arraigned on first-degree murder charges Tuesday. But police say they want to talk with the other man in the video.
“We know that he was there right around the time of the homicide or at least the time of the report. He was with our primary suspect, so his role in it is unclear to us and that’s why we want to talk with him and figure out how he was involved,” said Corbett.
Bethel Police are asking anyone with information about the man in the images to contact Investigative Sergeant Amy Davis at the Bethel Police Department.
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.
Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.
Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
