Crime & Courts

Former Arizona lawmaker charged in fatal shooting at Excursion Inlet cabin

The man accused of killing a jeweler from Juneau at a remote Southeast Alaska cabin is a former Arizona state legislator, according to a state prosecutor.

Troopers said in a Tuesday dispatch that Mark De Simone, 53, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 34-year-old Juneau resident Dulio Rosales. Court records also indicate that he has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder, plus one count each of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

"Our investigation is ongoing but our preliminary research suggests (De Simone) was a former state legislator in Arizona," said Assistant District Attorney Amy Paige.

Rosales died of a gunshot wound, troopers said.

Troopers previously said a U.S. Coast Guard cutter informed them of Rosales' death at a location in Excursion Inlet at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Responding troopers traveled to the cabin and arrested De Simone, and members of the Alaska Bureau of Investigation traveled to the scene, a cabin in the inlet some 35 miles west of Juneau in the Haines Borough.

According to a charging document against De Simone filed Monday by Paige, arriving troopers found him and five other men at the scene. Rosales' body was under a picnic table, and he had been shot twice in the back of the head.

"Rosales appeared to have been sitting on the picnic bench removing his boots when he was shot and rolled onto the ground," Paige wrote. "Rosales was wearing an empty holster on his right hip."

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One of the men handed troopers the alleged murder weapon, a .41 Magnum revolver. Witnesses, who heard but didn't see the gunfire, told troopers that they had detained De Simone and called the Coast Guard after he confessed to shooting Rosales, according to the charging document.

Rosales' family has been notified of his death.

De Simone made an initial court appearance in Juneau District Court on Tuesday. Paige said she requested a total bail of $1 million for De Simone but that amount was halved by the judge.

Prosecutors believe De Simone was working as a kind of day laborer at The Jewel Box, a jewelry store in Juneau. Rosales was a jeweler at the store, according to Paige and a donation page set up for his family.

De Simone's Facebook page says he attended Juneau-Douglas High School, but the alleged shooter was Outside for some time, having served as a Democratic State House Representative in the Arizona State Legislature in 2007.

He was arrested by Phoenix police in 2008 for holding his wife down and punching her in the face and arms, according to an article published in the Arizona Republic in July 2008. The New York Times later reported that the misdemeanor assault charge against De Simone was dropped after he resigned from the Legislature and agreed to undergo counseling.

Chris Klint

Chris Klint is a former ADN reporter who covered breaking news.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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