Brian Smith: Stolen memory card containing video of woman strangled to death leads to double-murder trial

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA: A woman with a criminal history, including theft, assault, and prostitution, was picked up by a man for a date in Anchorage, stole a digital memory card.

Now, over four years later, what she discovered on that card is crucial to a double murder trial that is scheduled to start this week.

The video on the card displays graphic images and videos showing a woman being beaten and strangled at a Marriott hotel.

Her attacker urging her to commit suicide while speaking in a thick accent, and her body covered in blankets being secreted outdoors on a luggage cart.

Brian Steven Smith entered not guilty plea to charges

On one video, the voice says, "In my movies, everybody always dies." "What are my followers going to think of me? People need to know when they are being serial-killed."

The woman gave the SD card to the police about a week after she took it, and they claimed to have identified the voice as that of 52-year-old Brian Steven Smith, a native of South Africa who they had previously investigated, according to court documents, Star Advertiser reported.

“In my movies, everybody always dies, "the voice says on one video. “What are my followers going to think of me? People need to know when they are being serial-killed.”

Smith has entered a not guilty plea to 14 charges pertaining to the deaths of Veronica Abouchuk, 52, who was reported missing by her family in February 2019, seven months after they last saw her, and Kathleen Henry, 30, which include first-and second-degree murder, sexual assault, and tampering with evidence.

Both Henry and Abouchuk were Native American women from Alaska who had been homeless. Henry was from Eek, and Abouchuk was from Stebbins; they were both from tiny towns in western Alaska.

Henry was the victim, according to the authorities, whose passing was noted at the TownePlace Suites by Marriott in midtown Anchorage.

Smith was scheduled to stay there from September 2 to September 4, 2019, according to the police. The first photos revealing Smith's body were time-stamped around one in the morning on September 4.

According to charging documents, the last photos on the card were taken early on September 6 and showed Henry's body in the back of a black ute.

Brian Steven Smith accused of murdering woman

The location data indicated that Smith's phone was in the vicinity of Rainbow Valley Road, south of Anchorage, along the Seward Highway at the time of the photo, which coincided with the discovery of Henry's body a few weeks later, according to the police.

Smith provided more information to police when they led him to a bathroom during his questioning by detectives regarding the Marriott case, according to the authorities.

He had killed a second woman, whose identity he later gave to police based on a photo, and he also gave the location of her remains, which were found along the Old Glenn Highway north of Anchorage.

During a court hearing last week, District Attorney Brittany Dunlop stated, "With no prompting, he tells the troopers in the bathroom, 'I'm going to make you famous.'"

"He comes back in and says ... 'You guys got some more time? You want to keep talking?' And then discloses this other murder."

Timothy Ayer, Smith's lawyer, attempted in vain to have any mention of the digital memory card—or any evidence of it—excluded from the trial, as reported by 9News.

He said that the woman who turned in the card first claimed to have just found it on the street, and that she didn't admit to stealing it from Smith's truck while he was trying to get money from an ATM until a second interview.

She also admitted to keeping the card for a week before giving it to the police. He claimed that as a result, the prosecution would be unable to prove where the 39 images and 12 videos came from, determine whether they were duplicates or originals, or determine with certainty whether they had been altered.

Woman testified about her possession of card and authenticity of recordings

Late on Friday, February 2, night, Third Judicial District Judge Kevin Saxby made a decision stating that the woman could testify regarding her possession of the card prior to giving it to the police and that the recordings could be authenticated correctly.

Henry's family has not publicly discussed her passing, and attempts to get in touch with family members have not been fruitful. The Associated Press has not received a response from Abouchuk's family.

"These were two Native Alaskan women," stated Dunlop, the assistant district attorney at the time, following Smith's indictment in 2019. "And I know that hits home here in Alaska, and we're cognizant of that. We treat them with dignity and respect."

Smith, who is being held at the Anchorage Correctional Facility, was reportedly born in Alaska in 2014 and naturalized as a US citizen in the same month that Henry was killed.

He declined to talk about the case in a 2019 letter to the AP. He continued, saying he was doing well. "I have lost weight, I have much less stress and I am sober," he said.

Both his sister serving as a family spokesman in South Africa and his wife Stephanie Bissland of Anchorage declined to comment until after the trial.

The jury selection process for the trial, which is anticipated to run three to four weeks, was set to start on Monday. To stop the public from seeing the graphic videos, the prosecution had proposed that the courtroom be closed.

Attorney General plans to prevent public access to man accused of distributing graphic videos

Following the trial, Saxby stated that he does not plan to bar the public from entering the courtroom, but that measures will be taken to ensure that those in the gallery or following the trial on livestream cannot see them.

Both his sister serving as a family spokesman in South Africa and his wife Stephanie Bissland of Anchorage declined to comment until after the trial. The jury selection process for the trial, which is anticipated to run three to four weeks, was set to start on February 4.

To stop the public from seeing the graphic videos, the prosecution had proposed that the courtroom be closed. In a letter to the court's presiding judge, the Associated Press, the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska's News Source, and Alaska Public Media objected to any such action.

Following the trial, Saxby stated that he does not plan to bar the public from entering the courtroom, but that measures will be taken to ensure that those in the gallery or following the trial on livestream cannot see them.