State won’t seek to try man a third time in Unalaska cliff crash deaths case

An exhibit in Anchorage Superior Court on March 26, 2025 shows the location of a 2019 incident involving a truck that fell from Mount Ballyhoo in Unalaska, resulting in the death of two teenage passengers. Dustin Ruckman, the truck's driver, faced two counts of criminally negligent homicide in the case. (Marc Lester / ADN archive)

The state of Alaska will not seek to try an Unalaska man on criminally negligent homicide charges for the third time in the deaths of two Unalaska teenagers, prosecutor John Skidmore said Thursday.

A trial for Dustin Ruckman, 25, ended in March with an Anchorage Superior Court judge declaring a mistrial after jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

The case stemmed from a 2019 incident in which Ruckman, then 18, was driving classmates Karly McDonald, 16, and Kiara Renteria Haist, 18, on a cliffside path on Unalaska’s Mount Ballyhoo when the vehicle went over the edge. Both girls were thrown from the vehicle and died.

A previous trial in 2025, delayed by the pandemic and other factors, also ended in a mistrial.

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers on the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.