Charging documents shed new light on an incident last month that precipitated a Kodiak manhunt by Alaska State Troopers, with the suspect now in custody.
Troopers had initially asked Kodiak residents to be on the lookout in mid-January for 49-year-old Mark Benton, at large on a series of charges including kidnapping and assault. Benton was taken into custody about a week later by members of U.S. Marshals' Fugitive Task Force.
According to a criminal complaint against Benton by Trooper Ryan Lott, filed Jan. 9 and requested by Alaska Dispatch News, troopers responded at about 6:45 p.m. on Jan. 8 to a call from a woman at a home on Selief Lane, where Benton had allegedly discharged a gun during a fight. Lott said Benton was under a court order in a previous domestic-violence assault case to neither visit the home nor speak with the woman.
When troopers responded to the residence, she said she was at the home with two other men when Benton arrived armed with a handgun and fought with one of the men. The man told troopers he'd hidden in a bedroom but was discovered by Benton. When Benton ordered the man at gunpoint to stand, the man struck the gun as he stood, prompting a brief fight.
"(The man) stated during the struggle Benton 'pistol-whipped' him in the back of the head which caused him pain and fear for his life," Lott wrote. "(He) stated at one point he pushed Benton into a wall and the handgun discharged."
The man then ran from the home, the complaint said.
At that point, the woman told Lott, Benton struck her at least twice in the back of the head, leaving her in fear for her life until she was able to escape and call 911 from a nearby home.
"(The woman) stated Benton then forced her to get inside of her vehicle to take her to an unknown location," Lott wrote. "As Benton pulled out of the driveway with (the woman), she jumped out of the truck and ran to a neighbor's residence. (She) stated while she was running, Benton attempted to run her over with the vehicle."
Benton was arrested about a week later and taken to the Kodiak jail, where he was charged with multiple counts of felony assault along with a single charge each of kidnapping and weapons misconduct.