A Klawock man accused of murdering his girlfriend, whose body was found near the Southeast Alaska town last week, has been arrested after barricading himself inside his home Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers reported.
Court records show Albert Macasaet III, 27, charged with first-degree murder in the death of Judylee Guthrie, a 27-year-old Hydaburg woman. An initial report that Guthrie's body had been spotted in woods near Klawock reached troopers on the night of July 31.
Macasaet was taken into custody Tuesday following a nearly 10-hour standoff with authorities at a home in Klawock that began around 1:30 p.m. when troopers arrived to arrest Macasaet. According to a dispatch from troopers, Macasaet produced a firearm when confronted by officers and barricaded himself inside the home with two other adults and three children, aged 3, 7 and 13.
After about five hours, the other two adults and the 13-year-old were able to leave the home, though the 3-year-old and 7-year-old remained inside. The troopers' Southcentral Special Emergency Reaction Team made a "tactical intervention" just before 11:30 p.m. resulting in Macasaet's arrest, troopers said. No one was injured in the standoff.
A criminal complaint against Macasaet, written by Ketchikan District Attorney Stephen West, said Macasaet had reported Guthrie missing to Craig police just after 11:30 a.m. on July 31. Roughly an hour later, troopers found Macasaet and his mother at the site of a pickup truck that had crashed into a ditch near Mile 2 of the Craig-Klawock Highway.
West said Macasaet told troopers Guthrie had been in the truck with two other people when it crashed — but Craig police who responded to the crash just before 3:30 a.m. that day found only two people there, not Guthrie.
West said Macasaet "contradicted himself" when he then told troopers he had last seen Guthrie walking away from him at the Sunnahae trailhead, between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m.
Surveillance video from a local bar showed Macasaet and Guthrie leaving around 3 a.m. Several people later told troopers Guthrie hadn't been in the crashed truck as Macasaet had claimed, and Guthrie and Macasaet had been fighting when they left the bar.
Craig police got a call from Macasaet just before 5:30 p.m., saying he was searching the Sunnahae Trail for Guthrie; about half an hour later he called again, reporting he had discovered Guthrie's body. Responding investigators found Guthrie lying in a puddle of mud about 6 miles from the trailhead, with her clothes partially removed and one of her sandals missing.
"The string from her hoodie was wrapped tightly around the upper part of her neck," West wrote. "Her face was red and swollen on the right side."
An autopsy by the State Medical Examiner's Office in Anchorage determined Guthrie had been strangled or asphyxiated. The medical examiner found dried and green grass in the string around Guthrie's neck.
Macasaet handed over his cellphone at the request of a trooper at the scene; Macasaet's mother provided Guthrie's cellphone to troopers shortly after her body was found, West wrote.
When troopers seized Macasaet's Mazda 626 sedan, West wrote, they found a sandal matching the one on Guthrie's body.
"When the seats in the rear of the sedan were let down so the trunk could be viewed from the passenger compartment, the seat backing behind the driver's seat had dry grass and small blades of green grass on it," West wrote. "The other seat back was clean."
According to West, Macasaet's record includes two previous incidents in which he had tried to strangle Guthrie, including a third-degree assault conviction in December 2009. Troopers also responded to a report of fighting at their home in October 2014, when Guthrie claimed she couldn't breathe and troopers observed "bruising around her neck;" Macasaet admitted to fighting with her, but denied putting his hands on her neck.
During extensive questioning of Macasaet, troopers eventually asked "if he would reveal where Judylee was killed," West wrote. He was also told he would be arrested for Guthrie's murder, with investigators asking if he wanted more time with his children before he was taken into custody.
"Albert did not deny killing Judylee and asked if he could have a few more days before he was arrested," West wrote. "He agreed that it was hard to talk about what he had done."
Troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain did not immediately address questions Wednesday about why Macasaet was allowed to return home instead of being arrested at that time.
When troopers visited Macasaet's home in Klawock at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to arrest him, West wrote that "he produced a firearm and barricaded himself in the residence."
Following the standoff, troopers said in the dispatch that "… Macasaet was transported to Ketchikan to receive medical treatment for a possible drug overdose" and would be taken to jail on the murder charge once he's released. He's also expected to face resisting arrest and assault charges in connection with the standoff, troopers wrote.