Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Brian Smith’s murder trial and sentencing has been in the glare of the national media for much of the year. But on Friday, the drama moved from an Anchorage, Alaska courtroom to the streets downtown.
As Rhonda McBride from our flagship station KNBA reports, the family of a missing woman wants answers in the case.
Protestors stood in the rain across from the Anchorage Police Department. They carried signs that said, “Bring Cassandra home.”
Raindrops rolled, like tears, down a poster-sized photo of Cassadra Boskofsky face.
She was 38 when her family reported her missing in August 2019.
Her family believes she’s the woman whose image police recovered from a cell phone that belonged to Brian Smith.
Detectives seized it from the killer when they took him in for questioning in another case, about a month after Boskofsky disappeared.
That was almost five years ago.
In February, Smith was convicted of the murders of two other Alaska Native women.
The photos of the unknown woman came to light just before Smith’s sentencing earlier this month.
Prosecutors made them public when they attached them to a sentencing memorandum.
Her aunt Lisa Ann Christiansen said she recognized the photos right away.
“I cried. It went straight to my heart, because I had been wondering about her for a long time.”
The images show a woman laid out on the grass, who appeared to be dead.
In the court filing, prosecutors said she was likely another of Smith’s victims and used the photos to make a successful case for a 226-year sentence.
Now Cassandra Boskofsky’s family wants justice for their loved one.
Her cousin Marcella Bofskofsky-Grounds says she doesn’t understand why police didn’t share the photos sooner.
“She didn’t matter. That’s how I felt, like she didn’t matter to them.”
Anchorage police say it’s the department’s policy not to comment on active investigations – and that police avoid contacting a victim’s family unless they have solid physical evidence.
The police did show the photos to the family days before Smith’s sentencing but have not yet publicly confirmed the woman’s identity.
The family says police have failed to act – and are calling on them to help them recover Cassandra’s remains.
Democratic delegates in South Dakota are voicing support of Vice President Kamala Harris for president, including an Indigenous delegate.
South Dakota Public Broadcasting’s C.J. Keene has more.
After ending his campaign, President Joe Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming election.
In turn, the state’s Democratic delegates unanimously voiced their support for the Vice President following a recent party meeting.
Delegates are party representatives who cast the official votes for their party’s candidate at an election convention.
This year, the Democratic National Convention is scheduled for late August.
Kellen Returns From Scout.
One of South Dakota’s delegates is Kellen Returns From Scout (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe), finance director at the Great Plains Tribal Chairmans Association.
As a two-time delegate supporting President Biden, he says his background made it difficult change his support.
“With my tribal philosophy, culture, and traditions, you aren’t critical of an elder person in that capacity. For me, it was really difficult to see these otherwise strong and dedicated supporters abandon (President Biden) in that capacity, but politics is a part of governing.”
Despite this, Returns From Scout says he believes Harris will continue the work of the current administration.
“She was elected as Attorney General (of California), and as United States Senator. You don’t get elected that many times because you’re this or that, you get elected because people see you as effective and you’re successful and you do what you said you were going to do. I see that as a stark contrast to the alternative.”
Get National Native News delivered to your inbox daily and stay up-to-date on the 2024 Native Vote. Sign up for our daily newsletter today.
