Crime & Courts

Life sentence for Anchorage man who left brothers for dead at Hatcher Pass

An Anchorage man convicted of kidnapping and shooting two brothers and leaving them for dead on the side of a road was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday, federal prosecutors said.

Matthew James Scharber, 36, received a life sentence, plus another 10 years on a firearms offense, for the October 2016 kidnapping, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Alaska said Tuesday. Scharber pleaded guilty to all five charges, including kidnapping and carjacking.

Federal prosecutors had sought a life sentence, citing "extremely violent actions" carried out by Scharber.

"The defendant undertook every step necessary in order to commit a coldblooded double homicide," prosecutors wrote.

The two brothers only survived due to two unique circumstances, prosecutors said.

In late October 2016, Scharber "lured" two brothers to his Anchorage apartment, according to prosecutors. The men were held at gunpoint and then bound with speaker wire and handcuffs, prosecutors said. They were beaten with a wooden pole and pistol whipped by Scharber and two co-defendants, Corey Sylva and Michael Elder, prosecutors said.

[Brothers kidnapped, shot, left for dead in Hatcher Pass; Anchorage man charged]

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Prosecutors said the brothers had stolen Sylva's wallet about a week before.

After being beaten up, the brothers were loaded into their own car and blindfolded. Scharber drove them to Hatcher Pass, a rugged alpine area north of Anchorage.

There, Scharber made them get out of the vehicle as they pleaded for their lives, prosecutors said. He shot both men multiple times — one man in the upper arm, thigh and stomach, and another in the chest and elbow, prosecutors said.

"He then left them on the side of the freezing mountain in the snow to die," prosecutors said.

The men spent about three hours bleeding and bound on the side of the road, they later told investigators. Multiple cars drove by before someone stopped to help them, the men said.

Prosecutors said the brothers only survived due to unique circumstances – cold weather had prevented excessive bleeding, and Scharber had loaded the wrong size of ammunition in the handgun, making the shots non-lethal.

The men were flown to a hospital where they were treated for gun wounds, as well as exposure from being out in the cold.

Police linked the brothers' descriptions of the man to Scharber. When troopers arrested Scharber in early November 2016, they found a "large amount of methamphetamine," along with a scale and packing equipment, in his Anchorage apartment. Two firearms and a wooden rod were also found inside his home.

A letter submitted to the court by Scharber's mother described Scharber as a "rough and tumble boy which led to a rough and tumble young man."

"Somewhere in recent years my (son's) life got out of wack … I believe that if it (weren't) for the drugs he (wouldn't) be here today," Scharber's mother wrote.

On Nov. 14, 2016, while Scharber was being transported to state court, he was found with a note naming the two brothers, saying they "are rates I need them dealt with," prosecutors said.

Prior to sentencing, Scharber asked the judge for 180 months in prison, and five years supervised release. He argued in part that he did not play a leadership role in the incident as defined by federal sentencing guidelines.

In May, Sylva was sentenced to 122 months in prison after pleading guilty to the carjacking offense. Elder, who also pleaded guilty to car jacking, is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 12.

Scharber was also indicted on a separate federal drug trafficking case dating from August to October 2016. His trial in that case is set for Oct. 22, prosecutors said.

Laurel Andrews

Laurel Andrews was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch News and Alaska Dispatch. She left the ADN in October 2018.

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