Crime & Courts

Man killed in Wasilla pursuit earlier burglarized home, stole urn holding infant's ashes

WASILLA -- The driver killed Thursday afternoon following a short Alaska State Troopers pursuit near Wasilla was caught burglarizing a home in the area before he died in a rollover at Church Road.

Troopers on Friday identified the man as 54-year-old Anchorage resident James Bain.

Bain was driving a 1991 Chevrolet pickup reported stolen by Wasilla police on Wednesday, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said in an email. He showed up around 2:30 p.m. Thursday at a construction site on Patsy Drive in Wasilla; somebody there who talked to him told troopers that he "was behaving in a strange manner," she wrote.

Troopers used the vehicle description and plate number the person at the site gave them to identify the truck as stolen. It also matched the description of a truck used at a burglary reported that day.

Troopers spotted the truck on Spruce Avenue at 2:44 p.m. But when Bain saw them, he drove the truck around them and accelerated away, Peters said.

Two minutes later, he ran a stop sign at Church Road and the truck flipped over a concrete barrier on the far side of the road and caught fire, she said. Bain was pronounced dead at the scene.

The person who reported the burglary before the pursuit was Kerry Niles, who lives near Seldon and Wasilla-Fishhook roads, a few minutes from the pursuit area.

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Niles said Friday that the man he saw trying to break into his shop on Thursday looked to be in his 50s or 60s, with a big, bushy beard.

"When I pulled into my house, that Chevy truck was there backed up to my shop, and he immediately hopped into his truck and darted out of there and raced past me," he said.

Niles tried unsuccessfully to block the truck and was not able to find a break in traffic to chase him down. He returned to his home.

What he saw when he went inside left him stunned and saddened.

The urn containing his infant son's ashes was gone. The baby died 12 years ago. Niles couldn't believe anyone would steal it.

"It obviously looks like an urn," he said.

The burglar -- Niles said troopers came to his house but Peters couldn't immediately confirm that Bain was the burglar -- trashed the house after apparently entering through a partly open kitchen window. Nothing expensive was taken, just other random items: electronics, jewelry, cologne, clothing and the entire contents of the medicine cabinet, though no prescription drugs were inside. The man also took sliced cheese and leftover pizza, Niles said.

He still hadn't gotten the urn back as of Friday afternoon.

None of the other stolen stuff matters, Niles said. "That's all I want back. Everything else is replaceable."

Contact Zaz Hollander at zhollander@alaskadispatch.com.

Zaz Hollander

Zaz Hollander is a veteran journalist based in the Mat-Su and is currently an ADN local news editor and reporter. She covers breaking news, the Mat-Su region, aviation and general assignments. Contact her at zhollander@adn.com.

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