Anchorage Daily News

Two girls, one 16 and the other as young as 12, were killed early Saturday crossing the Glenn Highway at Bragaw Street when they were struck by a truck, according to Anchorage police.

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The 16-year-old girl was intoxicated, and they were with two women who also were drunk, police said.

Police are awaiting test results for the other girl to determine if she had been drinking.

Police identified the 16-year-old as Jenilee Francis. She is from the Western Alaska village of Chevak but had recently moved to Anchorage to go to high school and live with a sister who was adopted by another family, said her father, Nicholas Atcherian.

"She didn't want to attend school here. She wanted to attend school with her adopted sister," her father said from their home in Chevak. "We tried to tell her not to go." But she kept pushing, and they gave in. The family is full of grief, he said.

He said Saturday evening that they didn't know why she was out so late at night, and they haven't yet connected with the family she was staying with.

Jenilee was taken to Alaska Regional Hospital, where she died about three hours later, said Anchorage traffic Sgt. Matt Bloodgood.

The other girl killed has been tentatively identified as a 12-year-old from another village. Bloodgood said that police are trying to confirm the information, and that troopers need to get to her remote village to notify her family.

Both girls suffered severe head and upper body injuries, Bloodgood said. The younger girl was taken to Providence Alaska Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

The foursome also included Maryann Kanrilak, 18, and Leona Asicksik, 23, who live in Anchorage. Kanrilak was charged with minor consuming alcohol, police said. Both have previous underage drinking convictions, according to an online database of court records.

The truck driver was Joseph Gilpin of Wasilla, police said. He told police he did not see any of the pedestrians until he hit the two girls. He was driving a Dodge truck and towing a large boat. Police say he didn't appear to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and that speed wasn't a factor.

The crash happened about 12:13 a.m. It was raining and dark. The girls were wearing dark clothes, police said.

The girls climbed over a concrete wall in the construction zone for the overpass being built over the Glenn. They then tried to dash north into Mountain View across the Glenn. It's illegal to cross there, about 75 to 100 feet east of the marked crosswalk, Bloodgood said.

They made it across the three lanes of eastbound traffic and crossed a grassy median spotted with litter. They were hit just after stepping into the leftmost turn lane of the Glenn, police said. The truck driver had been heading west on the Glenn and was preparing to turn left onto Bragaw.

Early Saturday afternoon, little from the crash was apparent on the roadway. Orange and white barrels blocked off one of the turning lanes. The crosswalk was visible.

Asicksik, the 23-year-old, is originally from Tununak in Western Alaska and has lived in Anchorage for more than three years. She's worked as a hotel front desk clerk and housekeeper but is currently unemployed.

From the doorway of her apartment in East Anchorage, Asicksik spoke a little about what had happened.

She said that Kanrilak is a cousin who called her Friday night, maybe around 10 or 11, to hang out. They met at the Shell station at 15th and Gambell. The other girls came with her cousin; Asicksik said she didn't know them before Friday night. Jenilee's father said Kanrilak also is related to their family.

Asicksik said she had been drinking Ronrico rum and Coke at home. Her boyfriend dropped her off. She said she didn't bring any alcohol with her. But her cousin and the younger girls had already been drinking too, she said.

"They were drinking before I came to see them," Asicksik said.

She said she doesn't remember where they were, really, just walking around.

Asicksik said she and her cousin ran across the road because a man was chasing them. They were ahead of the younger girls. She didn't even know the girls had been hit until her cousin saw one of them in the road, she said. She didn't see or hear the crash, she said.

The fellow was the boyfriend of a girl that her cousin had gotten into a fight with, Asicksik said. She didn't know his name.

"We were running away from someone," she said.

Bloodgood said neither of the young women told police anything about being chased, and they were interviewed separately soon after the crash.

"I think if they were being chased, that would be the first thing that came out of their mouth," the sergeant said.

Asicksik said she was put in the back of a patrol car. She didn't know that both girls had been killed until her cousin called her later Saturday, she said. She said she felt scared about the whole ordeal.

In Chevak, it was difficult for the family to talk about Jenilee so soon.

"She loved taking care of children. She liked babies. She was baby-sitting a lot. She loved little children," Atcherian said of his daughter.

The family worried about her moving to Anchorage too young. Her parents last talked to her a few days ago and warned her not to go out, her father said.

Her Chevak High computer teacher, Stan Atchak, said she was a good student, quiet but with a lot of friends. He used to tease Jenilee, calling her "General Lee."

"She used to smile about that," Atchak said.

Police are still looking into how the younger three got alcohol. The investigation is continuing.

Find Lisa Demer online at adn.com/contact/ldemer.

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