Crime & Courts

Man indicted in the stabbing and killing of woman in Anchorage assisted living home

An Anchorage grand jury indicted a 73-year-old man Tuesday in the stabbing and killing of a woman in an assisted living home in late March.

Robert Joseph Thomas is accused of stabbing 71-year-old Rose Warren in the bedroom of the assisted living home where she resided, according to a statement from the Alaska attorney general’s office. Thomas is charged with first- and second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence.

On March 25, Anchorage police officers responded to a 1:30 a.m. report of a stabbing on the 8800 block of Cordell Circle, state prosecutors said. On the second floor of the assisted living home, police found a woman who had been stabbed multiple times in the upper body, according to the attorney general’s office.

An attendant at the home heard a scream that sounded like someone was “in dire need” and ran upstairs to help, according to the initial charging document, state prosecutors said. Thomas, allegedly covered in blood and carrying a knife, left Warren’s bedroom and was then seen by the attendant, according to the attorney general’s office, which said there is corresponding footage from one of the home’s security cameras.

Prosecutors said Thomas then began washing blood off the knife in a nearby bathroom sink. The attendant confronted Thomas, then took him downstairs before returning to help Warren, according to the attorney general’s office.

Warren was taken to a nearby hospital and died.

If Thomas is convicted of first-degree murder, he faces between 30 and 99 years in prison. The second-degree murder charge carries a sentence between 15 and 99 years, according to the attorney general’s office. His arraignment is scheduled for June 4.

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