Crime & Courts

Wasilla woman charged with murder of man, 76, claims self-defense

WASILLA -- April Cox contended during a sometimes combative court hearing Monday that she shot 76-year-old Phillip Gray in self-defense on Easter Sunday.

Cox, 27, walked out of the woods near Knik-Goose Bay Road on Sunday afternoon, barefoot and bloody-handed, to tell two men she'd just killed someone and needed help burying the body, court documents say.

The claim eventually led Alaska State Troopers to Gray, dead in his Horizon Drive home nearby, and to second-degree murder charges for Cox.

The Wasilla woman was taken into custody and arrested just before 10:30 p.m. Sunday at the Palmer trooper post and jailed at Mat-Su Pretrial Facility, troopers spokesperson Beth Ipsen said in an email. Cox is currently on court-ordered probation for two 2014 assault convictions involving a relative in Anchorage, as well as violating a protective order.

Another woman caught speeding away from Gray's home in his pickup on Sunday was arrested for driving under the influence after admitting to being high on methamphetamine, according to a prosecutor.

That woman -- 25-year-old Janelle Marquis -- and Cox appeared separately in a Palmer courtroom by video on Monday afternoon.

Cox, a slight woman with long, dark hair, became agitated as Palmer Magistrate Judge Tara Logsdon approved the $100,000 cash bail plus third-party custodian release conditions requested by assistant district attorney Michael Perry.

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"It was self-defense!" Cox shouted. "He pointed the gun at me first and I'm getting charged with this (expletive)."

She abruptly left the room before the judge finished asking if she had any questions.

Marquis appeared next on the screen. She was charged with DUI and driving on a revoked license, Perry said. The judge entered a not-guilty plea on her behalf. He said he didn't yet know why she was driving the truck or whether additional charges might be pending.

Both women were assigned public defenders. Cox described herself as unemployed.

It wasn't immediately clear what led to the shooting. The troopers involved in the investigation went off-duty Monday morning, Ipsen said.

The court documents provided what few details emerged.

A resident of Overlook Drive called 911 at 12:42 p.m. and said a woman, later identified as Cox, walked out of the woods between Horizon Drive and his house, according to a sworn affidavit from trooper Andrew Adams filed with the charging documents.

Cox asked the man and a friend for help with the body and requested a ride to the end of Knik-Goose Bay Road "to get a flight out of the area," Adams wrote. The man called 911. He told the trooper that Cox left, barefoot and with "a red substance consistent with blood on her hands." The man followed her in his pickup, according to the affidavit.

Cox walked down Overlook to another home and banged on the window, asking to use the phone, the document says. The resident told her to leave but she entered and said, "They have a gun," Adams wrote. The resident called 911 and asked for help, and noticed that Cox had a sock around her hand before she went into the bathroom with a handbag.

Cox came outside when troopers got to the house, sat on the porch and told them she had left a gun in the bathroom inside and that she had killed Gray, Adams wrote. They found a handgun and Gray's phone in the bathroom.

Troopers went to Gray's home and found him dead of an apparent gunshot wound, according to the affidavit.

Cox was sentenced to five years of probation in April, and again in November, in separate convictions last year for assaulting an older relative, once with a bottle, court documents show. She was also on five years' probation for a December conviction for violating a protective order obtained by the same relative, documents show.

Cox was convicted of driving under the influence in 2011.

Gray was arrested on drug charges in 2005 after troopers seized a commercial marijuana grow operation involving 73 plants and other materials at the Horizon Drive home. His conviction was set aside in 2007, according to a discharge order.

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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