Anchorage Daily News

Joshua Wade could face the death penalty on allegations handed down in federal court Thursday that he tortured and killed Mindy Schloss, an Anchorage psychiatric nurse whose body was found in a remote wooded area last fall.

The eight-count grand jury indictment adds to the charges against 28-year-old Wade -- who is already in jail on other federal charges -- those of carjacking and using a gun to kill Schloss, charges that both carry a maximum penalty of death.

According to "special findings" filed with the indictment, Wade "committed the offense in an especially heinous, cruel and depraved manner, in that it involved torture and serious physical abuse to Mindy Schloss."

The indictment did not elaborate on that assertion.

"This is good. This is wonderful," said Mary Schloss, Mindy's sister-in-law, upon hearing of the new charges. "I'm just glad it's getting done."

She said federal investigators, who have released few details on the case, told her months ago that they believed Wade murdered Schloss but were still gathering evidence to build their case.

Before Thursday's indictment, Wade was already facing charges of bank fraud, identity theft and illegally possessing a firearm -- specifically a .45-caliber Glock 30 semiautomatic pistol -- as well as a federal drug charge for possessing marijuana in jail.

He has been in custody since September, but he was transferred to a federal facility in Seattle earlier this year to save money and so that he could be closer to his court-appointed attorney, Gilbert Levy. Levy did not return phone calls seeking comment Thursday.

Schloss, who lived next door to Wade in Sand Lake at the time of her disappearance, vanished Aug. 3. Her body was found Sept. 13 in woods off Knik-Goose Bay Road in Wasilla.

According to Thursday's indictment, Wade, intending to kill Schloss, took her red Acura on Aug. 4. Over the next two days, he used her bank card twice, withdrawing at least $1,000, the indictment alleges. Wade's DNA was found in her car, which was abandoned near the Anchorage airport. Police also discovered a receipt from a transaction using her ATM card in his jacket pocket.

Police arrested Wade on Sept. 2 -- 11 days before Schloss's body was found -- after a brief standoff at an East Anchorage apartment. He was transported to FBI headquarters in Anchorage after his arrest and questioned, a dialogue he has challenged in court as involuntary. FBI Special Agent Dave Heller said his agency could not comment on the case.

FEDERAL CASE

It was unclear why the feds, instead of the state, decided to pursue the Schloss case, but Alaska prosecutors were in on the decision.

"The Anchorage district attorney's office and the U.S. attorney's office have agreed that Joshua Wade will be prosecuted in federal court for the crimes related to the death of Mindy Schloss," District Attorney Adrienne Bachman said Thursday. She said she couldn't comment on the case further.

Carjacking is a federal offense that in some circumstances can bring the death penalty, said Bob Bundy, a former U.S. attorney in Alaska and now in private practice.

"There is no federal murder statute, per se, except under certain circumstances," he said. "It is not against federal law to commit murder unless there is an additional factor to give the case federal jurisdiction."

There are several reasons authorities would choose to pursue the case federally, Bundy said. One is that, in some cases, rules of evidence can be more favorable to the government in federal court. The other is the option of capital punishment, which the state does not have.

"It could be that they thought this is an appropriate case for the death penalty," Bundy said. "It looks like they've already decided because they've filed these aggravating circumstances."

There were 19 such factors for both of the charges in the indictment, including that Wade intentionally killed Schloss and committed the crime with premeditation. Under federal law, a defendant can be sentenced to death for the crimes Wade is charged with if, after consideration of aggravating factors, such a punishment is warranted.

If the government intends to pursue the death penalty, prosecutors must inform the court a reasonable amount of time before trial -- a period the judge will typically set, he said.

Assistant U.S. attorney Tom Bradley said his office could not comment on the possibility of the death penalty or any other aspect of the case.

FAMILIES' FEELINGS

Reached by telephone Thursday evening, Wade's father, Greg "Bubba" Wade, said he was disappointed to hear about the new charges, although he expected them.

"I hope justice is done for these families, and if he's guilty of what he's being accused of, I hope he would cooperate and make it easier on other people," he said. "I'm praying he doesn't get the death penalty, but I can understand people wanting to have revenge."

Mary Schloss said the family would support applying the death penalty, which Alaska law does not allow.

"Even in biblical times, they had the death penalty," she said. "There are reasons for it."

Wade achieved notoriety in Anchorage after the slaying of Della Brown in 2000. In conversations taped by investigators, he bragged that he killed her and brought friends to see the body. He was eventually charged with rape, robbery and murder.

His defense attorneys, however, argued that he lied to his friends to impress them and that he had just found the body. He was acquitted of the more serious charges but convicted of tampering with evidence.

Greg Wade said the new charges make him wonder about his son's involvement in the Brown case.

"It makes me more apt to question whether or not he was guilty in that."

He said the public ought to be questioning the work of the Anchorage police in the Brown case.

"If the evidence had been there to convict him in the Della Brown case, then I'm sure he would have been in prison and this woman wouldn't be ... dead, would she?" he said of Schloss.

Anchorage police declined to comment on the case Thursday.

Greg Wade said the Della Brown case always cast a shadow over his son -- with many people believing he got away with murder.

"That being rehashed over and over again certainly didn't help to get him on the straight and narrow," he said.

Brown's mother, Daisy Piggott, reached by phone Thursday afternoon, said she still believes Wade killed her daughter.

"If (prosecutors) got a conviction on Della, this wouldn't be happening again," she said. "I knew he was going to do it again. I knew it in my heart. ... This has been a long time coming."

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589. Find Megan Holland online at adn.com/contact/mholland or call her at 257-4343.

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