In once-closed case, Anchorage man charged with teen's Mat-Su shooting death

Alaska State Troopers said in a statement Friday night that a 19-year-old from Anchorage has been charged with killing a 16-year-old in the Mat-Su in June in a case that had once been closed.

Damien Peterson was arrested and charged Friday with second-degree murder, stemming from the death of Frank Woodford, according to the dispatch.

Peterson was taken to Mat-Su Pre-trial Facility in Palmer and is being held with no bail set, troopers said.

Relatives previously told Alaska Dispatch News that Woodford was a runaway when he died from a gunshot wound in late June.

[In June, a teen died from a gunshot wound in Wasilla. Now the once-closed case is getting another look.]

According to a troopers report released by Woodford's family, Woodford was shot in a room of a Wasilla home, and in that room were two other teenagers. One of the teens, Austin Barrett, is the oldest of five Valley teenagers charged in connection with the high-profile death of 16-year-old David Grunwald in November.

The report said Peterson — the older brother of another teen accused in the Grunwald case — was also in the room when Woodford was shot.

Peterson also is one of three defendants in a kidnapping and assault case that began in Eagle River and ended in Wasilla.

Troopers declared Woodford's death investigation closed due to "no conclusive evidence of foul play" but opened it for review after Grunwald's death, according to a spokeswoman.