A North Pole man is being held at Fairbanks Correctional Center on murder charges in a double homicide Friday near Delta Junction.
Thirty-three-year-old Daniel Serkov of North Pole was arraigned Saturday on charges that he shot two men to death the day before at a facility just north of Delta. Fairbanks Correctional Center booking office staff say the presiding magistrate ordered Serkov held on two counts of first-degree murder, and set bail at $2 million.
Troopers identified the two victims as 44-year-old Andrey Dorozhin and 35-year-old Dmitriy Sergiyenko, both of Delta Junction.
The Alaska Bureau of Investigation says troopers got a report about a double homicide at around 1 p.m. Friday. When they arrived, they found the bullet-riddled bodies of the two men and a dog at what authorities say is a drug-rehab facility on the Tanana Loop Extension.
By then, rumors were flying on social media, as area residents tried to find out what was going on. One woman who lives a few miles away from the murder scene and asked not to be identified says the uncertainty made her worry even more.
“I’m a widow. It’s just me,” she said. “And I’m armed, but I’d feel safer if I’d had more information that I could’ve gotten from the troopers had they put it out.”
Soon after troopers discovered the bodies, they were contacted by Fairbanks police, who advised them that Serkov had just informed them that he’d violated the terms of his release for an earlier unrelated case by possessing a gun that he used to shoot an aggressive dog in Delta.
According to the Alaska Bureau of Investigation report, troopers then talked with Serkov and determined he was involved in the homicides. They confiscated his 9mm handgun they suspect was used in the shootings and remanded him to Fairbanks Correctional Center on two counts of murder and evidence tampering. He was later also charged with criminal mischief.
The woman in Delta concerned about the lack of information from troopers says they should’ve contacted area residents after they arrested Serkov to let them know a suspect was in custody.
“If they already had the guy, they didn’t let us know,” she said. “So, a lot of people are sitting at home that are worried about their own safety.”
Alaska Department of Public Safety spokesperson John Dougherty said troopers do have a system that Alaskans can sign up for to get text or email alerts by going to the DPS website. He said troopers didn’t issue an alert in this case because they found the victims’ bodies only a few minutes before Fairbanks police called and said Serkov was at the police station.
“That alert system was not activated, as there was no action that the troopers needed the Delta Junction community to take,” Dougherty said.
This is believed to be the Delta area’s first double homicide. An investigation into the shootings continues.
Tim Ellis is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
