BLUDGEONED, STABBED: Alleged killer had earlier pleaded guilty to assault.
By JAMES HALPIN
jhalpin@adn.com
Published: August 6th, 2010 03:27 AM
Last Modified: August 6th, 2010 03:28 AM
A North Pole man stabbed and bludgeoned his female companion to death with a sledgehammer in a booze-fueled rage after accusing the woman -- whose family says she was trying to flee the relationship -- of cheating, according to documents filed in Palmer court Thursday charging him with murder.
Andrew Victor Thomas, 47, was being held Thursday without bail on charges of first- and second-degree murder in the death of 43-year-old Susanna Braden, who was found dead at a cabin near Mile 49 of the Parks Highway on Wednesday.
The slaying follows a series of assault charges and restraining order petitions involving Thomas -- who had allegedly taken a hammer to Braden before -- and came just hours after Houston police were called to a report that Thomas had a rifle and was looking to kill Braden, according to troopers.
Court records indicate that Thomas most recently pleaded guilty on July 14 to assaulting Braden in Fairbanks and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. It wasn't clear Thursday why Thomas was out of jail this week.
Braden, a mother of four, was trying to get the money to go home to her village, Toksook Bay, said Pearl Chanar, Braden's aunt.
"It was not the first time she was violently abused," Chanar said. "She was afraid to leave and she finally decided to leave him this week, while he was in jail, and that was what she was doing -- she was trying to get away from him when this happened."
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CAR WINDOWS SMASHED
Thomas allegedly got in a tangle about 9:35 p.m. on Tuesday, a little more than 13 hours before Braden was killed. Houston police were called to a Big Lake home to a report that Thomas was breaking car windows, was armed with a rifle, and was threatening to kill people, according to police.
Bertha Nick, whose Ford was the target of the aggression, said Thursday that three of her windows were broken out after Thomas went into a rage while drinking at a neighbor's home with her and Braden.
"He was drinking and I was trying to help my friend (Braden) from him being mean to her," Nick said. "He was a very, very jealous and controlling person. ... This time she was telling him that it was quits, and he didn't like that."
When police arrived, Thomas was gone and the person who had called police was a landlord who hadn't seen the incident and was relating information from a tenant, said Houston police Officer Charley McAnally. Police found that the tenant was drunk and claiming that Thomas had left hours earlier. No gun had been seen and they weren't sure if Thomas had broken the windows, the police officer was told.
"The only thing he could offer us was a clip with a single bullet in it, and he said he never saw him with a gun," McAnally said. "Pretty much what we had was three broken windows in a car and they believed it was Thomas, but nobody saw it."
MULTIPLE PAST ATTACKS
Braden's body was found lying on a futon at a Land and Cabins building after neighbors called to report a stabbing at 10:44 a.m. Wednesday. A sledgehammer rested across her chest and left shoulder. She had been stabbed and brutally beaten, according to an affidavit filed in court by troopers investigator Mark Granda.
Braden had gone to the cabin after the altercation the night before to stay with a friend, Phillip Cummings, because of the problems with Thomas, Granda wrote. But about 5 a.m., Thomas "came charging into the house," accusing Braden of cheating on him, Granda wrote.
Cummings and another man, Ken Rawson, kicked Thomas out of the home and Cummings told Braden to get a restraining order. Cummings left the cabin about 8:30 a.m. to go to Talkeetna, Granda wrote. Just two hours later, Thomas returned and again started arguing with Braden, who threatened to leave him, Rawson told troopers.
"Andrew started to walk out of the house, stopped at the kitchen counter and grabbed a knife, then turned around and started stabbing," Granda wrote. Rawson told troopers Thomas stabbed Braden about seven or eight times before he got up and ran out of the cabin to a neighbor's to call police.
Moments after the attack, neighbors spotted Thomas walking around with a beer in his hand. He told at least two people in the area that he had killed "his wife" and should be either jailed or shot, Granda wrote. Court documents refer to Braden as his wife, though her family said they had lived together but never married.
Troopers arriving on the scene also found Thomas reeking of alcohol at a neighbor's place. He was arrested and jailed at the Mat-Su Pretrial facility.
According to court records, Thomas has been charged in six assault cases since 1993 as well as with drunken driving, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief. Braden got a restraining order against Thomas after a domestic violence assault on April 2, 2007.
"Andrew Thomas punched me in the face, used a hammer on my body," she wrote in the petition. Thomas was charged with felony assault but pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
"Her sisters tried to talk her into getting away from him and every time she was afraid," said Chanar, Braden's aunt. "He always found her and always took her back to North Pole, where she was never around anyone else, so no one could help her."
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North Pole man charged in killing
BY ANDREW WELLNER
Frontiersman
Published on Thursday, August 5, 2010 10:02 PM AKDT
PALMER — Less than a week after being released from prison for assaulting her, Alaska State Troopers believe a North Pole man killed a woman Wednesday in one of a string of cabins along the Parks Highway.
Alaska State Troopers were summoned to the Mile 49 Cabins in Meadow Lakes at 10:30 a.m., where they arrested Andrew Victor Thomas, 48.
Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters on Thursday identified the woman Thomas is alleged to have killed as Susanna B.R. Braden, 44, of North Pole. Sgt. Mike Burkmire, who is overseeing AST investigators working the case, said that identification is not 100 percent.
“We’re confident, but we’re not positive,” he said. “The actual family members were not the individuals that made the identification; they were just friends and the neighbors.”
Burkmire said Braden had been living at the cabins when she was killed. Nearby residents were the ones who called for help. Burkmire described it as a “disturbance call.”
“The first 911 call was, ‘There’s something happening, I don’t know what it is. Please send the troopers,’” he said.
Peters couldn’t say how Braden died, nor could Burkmire.
“The autopsy was today or actually still in progress. We don’t know the actual cause of death,” Burkmire said Thursday. “I cannot confirm anything as far as the weapon that caused any of the injuries.”
Thomas made his first appearance in court Thursday afternoon wearing blue prison garb and walking as the first in a chain of detainees shackled together. In the gallery, prosecutors and investigating officers conferred with Braden’s family, more than a dozen of whom showed up for the hearing.
Thomas wasn’t asked to enter a plea and didn’t.
Assistant District Attorney Trina Sears asked Magistrate Craig Condie to set bail at $500,000 and require Thomas locate a third party to watch over him before he can be released.
She noted that Thomas had twice before been convicted of assaulting Braden and has criminal mischief and a third assault conviction on his record. Condie acquiesced to her request.
When it came time to decide if he qualified for a free, publicly appointed attorney, Thomas said he hadn’t been working, having just gotten released from jail after serving an 83-day sentence.
Sears noted that that sentence was for assaulting Braden.
Asked when he’d been released, Thomas replied, “A couple weeks ago.” Burkmire said that as far as investigators have determined, Thomas was released from the Fairbanks Correctional Center on July 30. Thomas described himself as a heavy equipment operator, but said prior to being locked up he’d been collecting unemployment. Condie assigned his case to the Public Defender Agency.
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