14 people have been the victims of homicide in Alaska’s most-populous city so far in 2017.
Anchorage reached that number with the alleged murder of a 92-year-old woman by her 91-year-old husband on Sunday.
The 2017 homicides include the three deaths in the alleged arson that burned the Royal Suite Lodge in February.
In 2016, when 34 people were the victims of homicide in Anchorage – the most ever recorded in the city – there had been only 10 by this time of year.
The annual national average for a city the size of Anchorage is about 16 homicides.
Update: This story has been updated to reflect that the Royal Suite Lodge was the location of a February arson, not the Executive Suites Hotel.
Casey Grove is host of Alaska News Nightly, a general assignment reporter and an editor at Alaska Public Media. Reach him at cgrove@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Casey here.
