Two men were charged with murder in the beating death of a man in Unalaska late Tuesday, according to a criminal complaint.
A woman driving on Gilman Road, on the west side of the Aleutian Island town, watched three men fighting, the criminal complaint says. She then saw a man later identified as Jonathan Adams lying on steps with two men standing over him, the court papers say. The woman called police.
Officers found Adams' head bent under his body in a position that indicated severe head and neck injuries, the complaint says. The officers reported Adams made a final gasp for air, and his already weak pulse disappeared, according to the court document.
Weather has prevented police from sending Adams' body to Anchorage for an autopsy, said Unalaska Public Safety Director Jamie Sunderland. A skull fracture likely caused his death, the court papers say.
"There was substantial trauma," Sunderland said. "We identified one suspect immediately. The other took a few hours to track down."
Officers talked more with the woman who made the initial report. She said she saw two men -- later identified as Leonardo Bongolto Jr., 34, and Denison Soria, 40 -- hitting Adams in the face on a deck outside a bunkhouse. After several blows, Adams fell at the top of a set of stairs and appeared to be knocked unconscious, the complaint says. Bongolto kicked Adams repeatedly in the ribs, eventually pushing him to the bottom of the stairs, the woman told police. Bongolto and Soria then split up, the complaints say.
The woman said she could hear Adams "gurgling and gasping for breath," but she couldn't move Adams and worried that she would cause a neck injury, the court papers say.
Another witness said he'd seen the two alleged assailants inside the bunkhouse earlier getting beers, which they splashed on Adams. When the witness went to use a bathroom, the three were outside fighting, according to the charging documents.
Officers interviewed Bongolto later. He told them he'd been drinking at a bar, and when someone offered him more booze back at the bunkhouse, he declined because he thought he might vomit. But Bongoltoa said Soria accepted a beer, and he shook the beer and sprayed it on Adams, who was sleeping, the court papers say.
Soria and Adams had been in a fight the day before, and Bongolto told the officers he figured Soria was trying to continue the fight. Bongolto also said he tried to break up the revived altercation, and Adams hit him.
Sunderland, the public safety chief, said he was unsure what provoked the original fight.
"There were some disagreements that occurred throughout the day," Sunderland said. "Certainly alcohol was a factor. It was just a fight that people kept pushing and pushing and pushing, and the harm was substantial, obviously resulting in this person's death."
Soria told police he had gone to Adams with a beer to see if Adams wanted to drink but accidentally spilled some on him, the complaint says. It was Adams who went to the door and suggested all three fight outside, Soria told the officers.
According to the criminal complaint, Soria said that "all three were punching each other. "Somehow, Adams was knocked unconscious and fell to the ground on the stairs that lead off the deck."
Soria told police he left as soon as Adams fell and that he didn't know who kicked Adams.
Police arrested both Soria and Bongolto, who are charged with first-degree murder and are in custody, court records show.
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
By CASEY GROVE
Anchorage Daily News