Crime & Courts

Anchorage man sent to prison for 64 years after sexual rampage

An Anchorage man with a killing in his long-ago past has been sentenced to 64 years in prison for what authorities described as a bizarre sexual and violent rampage three years ago.

Travis Felder, 43, was convicted by a jury in March after a 17-day trial of nine offenses including first-degree assault and sexual assault.

Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton factored in Felder's prior criminal history, including prior assaults, a drug offense and manslaughter, according to the Anchorage District Attorney's Office.

The chain of events underlying the current case happened on June 18, 2014. Police said at the time they believed that Felder was high on drugs, possible methamphetamine, during his crime spree.

A woman called Anchorage police to say she had been raped and beaten by her ex-boyfriend, Felder. She had been sleeping in a storage unit on Gambell Street and was attacked there, she told police. Felder fled the area wearing a black bra and women's capri pants, police said at the time.

He entered one home without permission and lay on the bed, but left when the homeowner agreed to give him a ride.

Then around 10:20 a.m. the same day, police heard from another homeowner. A man had broken into his home in the Eastridge subdivision where the homeowner and his wife, both in their mid-60s, were watching their young grandson.

ADVERTISEMENT

The suspect, wearing only a black bra and later identified as Felder, began masturbating, police said. When the residents confronted him, he hit the woman in the jaw, causing her to fall, and kicked her husband in the chest, police said. They got away with the child. Police arrived to find Felder dressed in the homeowner's pajamas.

"It was a hard-fought trial," Anchorage District Attorney Clint Campion said. Assistant District Attorney John Darnall tried the case.

In 1992, Felder was sentenced to 17 years in prison after accidentally shooting his accomplice as they tried to collect a drug debt.

On Monday, Wolverton sentenced Felder to 47 years for the attack on his ex-girlfriend and another 17 years for what happened in the couple's home. The wife suffered serious injury, prosecutors said.

Felder will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Lisa Demer

Lisa Demer was a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Dispatch News. Among her many assignments, she spent three years based in Bethel as the newspaper's western Alaska correspondent. She left the ADN in 2018.

ADVERTISEMENT