An Idaho prison inmate has been charged in a decade-old killing that troopers say unfolded in a Mat-Su home.
Keenon Keyes, 36, was connected to the death of 30-year-old Loy Suthammavong after the case was reopened last year by the Alaska State Troopers’ Cold Case Investigation Unit, according to a statement from the Alaska Department of Law.
Keyes and Suthammavong knew each other and were both believed to be in Suthammavong’s Houston home when he was fatally shot on Dec. 3, 2011, said Patty Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the law department.
Suthammavong was reported missing to troopers three days later because his family had not seen him in several days, troopers said at the time. His vehicle was found on fire in Anchorage, and investigators said the fire was believed to be arson.
His body was found near Eklutna Lake Road in March 2012.
Cold-case investigators took over last fall and conducted more interviews and reviewed physical and digital evidence that led them to Keyes, Sullivan said. She did not say what new evidence surfaced or what motivated the shooting.
Keyes was indicted on first- and second-degree murder charges on June 29. His indictment was the fifth for an Alaska cold case so far this year.
He is currently serving a 15-year-sentence in Idaho for felony domestic violence assault charges, the law department said.