Crime & Courts

Troopers seek Fairbanks man suspected of killing 69-year-old woman

Authorities are searching for a man they suspect of killing a 69-year-old woman and fleeing in her Jeep, the Alaska State Troopers say.

Troopers said they responded to a call about a dead person around 12:44 a.m. Monday and found the body of Trisha Pearson inside a home on Yankovich Road in Fairbanks, according to an online dispatch. They initially called the death “suspicious,” according to the dispatch.

Troopers suspect Patrick Marsh, 25, of killing Pearson and then stealing her Jeep Cherokee from the home, the dispatch said. The Jeep was found abandoned later in the day in the Hamilton Acres area, troopers said.

A criminal complaint filed Tuesday says a home video surveillance system installed by another of Pearson’s tenants captured images of Marsh striking Pearson on Sunday with pieces of furniture and strangling her, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

His relationship to Pearson is still under investigation, said trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters.

More information may be released once Marsh is in custody and after an autopsy has been completed, Peters said.

She said she had no information about whether anything else was stolen from the home or whether were any signs of a struggle.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Madeline McGee

Madeline McGee is a general assignment reporter for the Daily News.

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