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Bobby
Pfister 6/5/98 Thunderbird Falls Murder
Camper
Murder Suspect Arrested At
Airport By Elizabeth Manning, ADN
6/7/98
Anchorage International Airport police Saturday night nabbed
a 19-year-old suspect in the murder of a man whose body was found hidden
near Thunderbird Falls a day earlier.
Jamie Lynn Douglas was
apprehended in the airport parking garage about 7:40 p.m. Anchorage police
earlier in the day had identified him as a suspect in the murder of
29-year-old Bobby Pfister and alerted airport police and others to be on
the lookout for him.
Anchorage police Sgt. Mike Grimes said Douglas
apparently had been trying to catch flights out of town all day. He
had approached the Alaska Airlines counter at least three times for
information on flights, had finally checked in on one, and apparently had
returned to his car when airport police arrested him, Grimes
said.
He offered no resistance, police said.
Grimes said
Douglas and Pfister were friends. They and two teenage females were
partying with cocaine and marijuana Thursday night at Douglas' apartment
when the two men decided they wanted to go shooting, he said. Late
Thursday night or early Friday morning, all four drove out to the
Thunderbird Falls trail head in Chugach State Park, Grimes said.
They hiked out the trail about a mile, carrying handguns, and one of the
girls told police the men seemed to be getting along fine when Douglas
suddenly shot Pfister in the back, Grimes said. He then fired two
more shots into Pfister, according to the girl.
''It was like a
thrill killing,'' Grimes said. ''There was no argument. Everyone was
friends and they were getting along.''
Grimes didn't identify the
female witnesses.
Officers had been searching for Douglas since
early Saturday morning. They had described him as armed and
dangerous.
Police said Pfister was shot once in the head and twice
in the body around 2 a.m. Friday on the popular trail just west of Eklutna
Village. His body was concealed in a pile of leaves, twigs and moss about
a mile in from the Thunderbird Falls trail head.
Police spokeswoman
JoAnne Brandlen said Pfister probably had been dead for more than 12 hours
when two hikers, a man and a woman, spotted his shoes and part of his
maroon jacket under brush near the trail.
Detectives said they
received a call late Friday night from one of the girls who had been with
Pfister and Douglas earlier. The call arrived while investigators
were still examining the crime scene.
Police at first reported that
Pfister was female because the body was found face-down, and Pfister was
slight of build and had a long ponytail.
Police said Douglas was
charged with first-degree murder and lodged in the Cook Inlet Pre-Trial
Facility in lieu of $500,000
bail. |