Crime & Courts

Police arrest two suspects — one after SWAT standoff — linked to Spenard slaying

Anchorage police arrested two men Sunday accused of killing a man in a Spenard hotel parking lot.

One of the suspects surrendered to police only after a SWAT team tear-gassed the downtown motel room he was hiding out in.

Dwayne Nelson, 35, and Ryan Edwin, 22, both face charges of second-degree murder in connection to the slaying of David Welch, a 27-year-old Anchorage man.

Welch was found shot in the parking lot of the Spenard Holiday Inn Express hotel. He died at a hospital of gunshot wounds the next day.

Police have described the killing as a drug deal gone wrong.

On Sunday at 7:30 a.m., officers showed up at a home on the 300 block of East 15th Avenue to arrest Nelson. During the search, they learned that Edwin might be hiding at the Backpackers Inn, a cluster of low-rent, short-term rentals on Eagle Street, east of downtown Anchorage.

But Edwin refused to leave his room when officers arrived. A full SWAT team -- complete with drone, robot and canines -- arrived. Police eventually used tear gas to force Edwin out of the room. He was arrested.

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Several people who were in the room with Edwin are being detained for questioning by police, said APD spokesman MJ Thim.

Court records show that Edwin has five open felony cases --- in addition to the new murder charge filed Sunday.

In less than a year, he’s racked up felony charges for promoting contraband, being a felon in possession of a weapon, failure to stop at the direction of an officer and failing to appear in court on a felony charge.

It appears he most recently bailed out of jail Oct. 8.

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on in-depth stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers up and down the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.

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