Crime & Courts

Man charged with murder in Ketchikan stabbing

A 31-year-old man was fatally stabbed in Ketchikan on Friday, and another man has been charged with his murder, Ketchikan police said.

Darrell T. Ryan, 38, was charged with murder in the second degree after police say he stabbed Aaron B. Dixon roughly 12 times. Ryan was being held at the Ketchikan Correctional Center on Tuesday without bail, according to the Ketchikan Police Department.

Ryan and Dixon were staying at a house on the 1600 block of Tongass Avenue the night that Dixon was killed, said Ketchikan police Sgt. Andy Berntson. Neither of them lived at the house. They two men knew each other, Berntson said.

Both men were reportedly drinking when a fight broke out, Berntson said. Police were called to the house around 9 p.m. Officers arrived to find Dixon lying on the floor, bleeding from multiple stab wounds to the chest. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

A woman and four children were home during the stabbing, Berntson said. A witness said that she saw Ryan stabbing Dixon "over and over," according to charging documents.

A 13-inch purple Cuisinart kitchen knife with an 8-inch blade, covered in a blood, was found at the scene, charging documents say.

Ryan was found around 1:30 a.m. Saturday at a different Ketchikan residence. He told officers that he stabbed Dixon because he felt threatened, according to police.

Ryan's next court hearing is Jan. 22, online records show.

Laurel Andrews

Laurel Andrews was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch News and Alaska Dispatch. She left the ADN in October 2018.

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