A man who brutally murdered two Alaska Native women, and was heard on video saying "everybody always dies" in his films, has been handed a 226-year prison sentence . Brian Steven Smith was given two 99-year sentences for the horrific killings of Kathleen Henry, 30, and Veronica Abouchuk, who was 52 when her family reported her missing in February 2019, seven months after they last saw her.
"Both were treated about as horribly as a person can be treated," said Alaska Superior Court Judge Kevin Saxby during sentencing. "It's the stuff of nightmares," he added.
The remaining 28 years of Smith's sentence were for other charges, including sexual assault and tampering with evidence. Alaska does not have the death penalty. Smith, originally from South Africa and who became a naturalized US citizen shortly before torturing and killing Henry at an Anchorage hotel in September 2019, showed no emotion during his sentencing , reports the Mirror US .
He also remained emotionless when a jury deliberated for less than two hours and found him guilty after a three-week trial in February. During the trial, the victims were not identified by name, only initials. However, Judge Saxby stated during sentencing that their names would be used to restore their personhood.
Smith was arrested in 2019 when a sex worker stole his mobile phone from his truck and discovered the horrifying footage of Henry's torture and murder. The images were eventually copied onto a memory card, which she handed over to the police.
Smith ultimately admitted to the murders of Henry and Abouchuk, two Alaska Native women who hailed from small villages in western Alaska and faced homelessness in Anchorage.
The authorities pinpointed Henry as the victim in a gruesome video recorded at TownePlace Suites by Marriott in midtown Anchorage. Smith, an employee at the hotel, was booked to stay there from 2nd to 4th September 2019. The incriminating footage on the memory card, timestamped around 1 am on 4th September, revealed images of Henry's body, according to the police.
The final photo, taken early on 6th September, captured Henry's body in the bed of a black pickup truck. The charging documents disclosed that Smith's phone location data placed him in the remote area south of Anchorage where Henry's remains were discovered weeks later.
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Although the trial featured the memory card videos for the jury, they were concealed from public view. Smith's face wasn't visible in the recordings; however, his unique South African accent, which the police recognized from past interactions, could be heard.
He seemed to address an audience as he brutally assaulted and strangled Henry, insisting she die. The voice chillingly states in one of the videos, "In my movies, everybody always dies," and goes on to ponder, "What are my followers going to think of me? People need to know when they are being serial-killed."
During an eight-hour video-recorded police questioning, Smith admitted to murdering Abouchuk after picking her up in Anchorage while his wife was away. He brought her to his house, and she declined when he asked her to take a shower due to a smell.
Smith confessed that he became agitated, fetched a pistol from the garage, and shot her in the head, discarding her body north of Anchorage. He disclosed the location to the police, where officials later discovered a skull with a bullet wound.
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