Crime & Courts

Chenega Bay murder suspect told troopers he killed victim in alcohol-fueled fight

A charging document filed in a rural Southcentral Alaska murder case alleges a young man from Chenega Bay killed an acquaintance in a violent alcohol-fueled fight.

Tazman Selanoff, 20, faces a charge of second-degree murder following an investigation by Alaska State Troopers.

The charges say troopers got a call from a Chenega Bay resident on Saturday afternoon about the death of 42-year-old George Eleshansky. The caller told troopers Selanoff posted to Facebook about someone trying to stab him and teaching that person "a lesson."

A Seward-based trooper arrived in the Prince William Sound village about five hours after the 911 call and found Eleshansky dead in his home, covered in blood, according to the charges.

[Young man charged with murder in small island community in Southcentral]

Chenega Bay, population 56, is located on Evans Island at Crab Bay, 50 miles east of Seward.

The responding trooper found the victim's home in disarray. "There was evidence of a struggle with broken furniture in the dining room/living room and bloody footprints/shoe prints on the vinyl floor," the charges say.

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On the dining room table was a broken wooden chair partially covered in blood, trooper Sgt. Michael Zweifel wrote in the charges.

Zweifel interviewed Selanoff on Sunday evening in Chenega Bay, according to the charges. Selanoff told the trooper he smashed the wooden chair against a wall, and then he used a wooden rail from its debris to assault the victim, the charges say.

"Tazman said he punched George in the face and head 30-50 times with his closed fist and (the) wooden rail," the charges say.

Selanoff said he'd gone over to the home of the victim to play video games and to work on a broken record player, according to the charges. The violent fight between the men happened at around 4 a.m.; they'd been drinking vodka, Selanoff told the trooper.

Eleshansky insulted Selanoff's mother before punching his house guest in the nose and head, according to the suspect's version of events.

"Tazman said he snapped and took out his rage and anger toward George for what George had done to him in the past and just recently," the charges say. "The alcohol they had been drinking that night made the rage come out as he was punching and assaulting George with the wooden rail."

Troopers arrested Selanoff at 9 a.m. Monday on charges of first-degree assault and manslaughter. The Kenai district attorney altered the charges to a single count of murder in the second degree.

Jerzy Shedlock

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

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