The silence of a peaceful Sunday morning in Anchorage was shattered on March 15, 1987, when Cheryl Chapman received a frantic phone call that her sister Nancy Newman had not shown up for her breakfast shift at a local restaurant. Nancy’s car sat alone in the parking lot, but she was nowhere to be found. Cheryl and her husband Paul rushed to Nancy’s apartment, sensing something was deeply wrong.
What they discovered would test the mettle of even the most seasoned investigators and send shockwaves through the close-knit Alaskan community.
Cheryl and Paul arrived at Nancy’s apartment to find an eerie stillness. Coffee mugs from Cheryl’s Friday night visit with her sister remained in the sink, the remnants of breakfast left on the table, and the tin where Nancy kept her tip money sat empty. A brown cigarette, not a brand Nancy smoked, lay in the ashtray.
Paul rushed to Nancy’s bedroom and made a gruesome discovery: Nancy lay beaten and lifeless in her bed. He then hurried to the other bedrooms, where he found eight-year-old Melissa and three-year-old Angie brutally murdered. The scene was so horrific that even experienced police officers were shaken.
Within minutes, Anchorage police officers arrived and secured the area, careful not to disturb the crime scene. They worked to calm the distraught family until the crime scene processing unit arrived. What police found was beyond comprehension.
Nancy and Melissa appeared to have been beaten and strangled, while little Angie’s throat was cut so deeply she was almost decapitated. Anchorage Police Officer Bill Gifford later recalled the impact of such a case, noting that while the community was accustomed to typical murders, something of this magnitude was 𝓈𝒽𝓸𝒸𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 for both the public and the investigators. The brutality left everyone searching for answers.
Nancy Newman’s body lay on her bed, her nightgown hiked up around her chest, with abrasions on her nose, chin, and forehead. Bloodstains were at the foot of the bed, and a pair of olive green gloves sat on the dresser. Down the hall, Melissa was found on her back in the middle of her room, a bloody twisted pillowcase under her neck, another used to tie her arms.
Three-year-old Angie lay on her bedroom floor in a pool of blood, surrounded by her favorite toys. Bloodstain pattern analysis later helped investigators reconstruct the sequence of events, revealing that Nancy and Melissa had been forced down the hall to Nancy’s room, where they were assaulted, before Melissa was returned to her room and killed.
Investigators treated each area as a separate crime scene, meticulously processing every piece of physical evidence. Detective Sergeant Michael Grimes, in charge of the Anchorage Police Department’s homicide unit, knew immediately that this was a forensic case. The crime scene was largely undisturbed, which was fortunate for investigators.
They used vacuum cleaners with special filters to collect hair and fibers from each room, cordoning off three-foot by four-foot areas to ensure thorough coverage. A portable argon laser was also used to make unseen hairs and fibers fluoresce, while luminol processing revealed traces of blood invisible to the naked eye.
The luminol processing uncovered a luminescent impression that matched the width and length of a missing knife from the kitchen. The crime scene suggested the murderer had taken the victims by surprise, interrupting Nancy’s morning routine, which indicated she may have known the killer. The big question was motive.
Nancy was a popular waitress with no known enemies, and burglary seemed unlikely as the apartment had not been ransacked. Investigators struggled to find a solid lead, but Detective Bill Reader noted that the lack of forced entry pointed toward someone who had access to the apartment or knew the victims.
The questioning began immediately, focusing on neighbors, family, and friends. Paul Chapman, though distraught, had no alibi for the previous Saturday, but his reaction to discovering the bodies was clearly genuine. Investigators spoke with everyone close to the family and learned that Nancy was happily married to John Newman, who was in California training to be a locksmith at the time of the murders.
John was a suspect, as spouses often are, but he was extremely distraught and gave no indication of involvement. The Newman’s lived in a multi-unit apartment complex, making the task of interviewing neighbors daunting, as there were hundreds of dwellings in the area.
The close-knit Anchorage community was shocked by the brutality, and police felt pressured to determine what kind of person could commit such a crime. They quickly realized they needed help and turned to the FBI’s behavioral science unit in Quantico, Virginia. Special Agent Judd Rae, a profiler, was tasked with understanding the killer’s mind.
By analyzing crime scene photos and police reports, Rae provided a psychological portrait of the killer. He described the crime scene as disorganized, indicating a person with low self-esteem who had been rejected by society and was now rejecting it in turn.
Rae warned investigators that they might be facing a repeat performance, as the killer appeared out of control and could strike again soon. From autopsy reports, investigators learned that Nancy and Melissa had been sexually assaulted. Based on this and other crime characteristics, Rae concluded that the violent offender would have a history of sexual assault, be a white male in his early to mid-20s, and an underachiever.
This profile helped narrow the range of possible suspects, including a young man who had recently moved in a few doors down from the Newman’s. Investigators also questioned Kirby Anthony, the 23-year-old nephew of John Newman.
Kirby Anthony had an alibi for the morning of Saturday, March 14, but the neighborhood noticed a tremendous rage in the crime, particularly the near decapitation of three-year-old Angie. Rae’s insistence that the killer was known to the victims led investigators to focus on Anthony, as neighbors confirmed he had never met Nancy or her children. However, familiarity with the family was key, and Anthony came to mind as a nephew.
As investigators continued questioning suspects, the volume of evidence collected from the crime scene taxed the limits of Alaska’s state crime lab, so the evidence was sent to the FBI’s crime lab in Washington, D. C.
Hair and fiber expert Doug Deedrick took on the case, sorting through nearly 400 items of evidence, including hairs, fibers, blast particles, soil, and paint chips. Fibers are notoriously difficult to trace, and since no one knew what the killer was wearing, there was no basis for comparison. Deedrick’s expertise in fiber transfer allowed him to reconstruct the suspect’s movements during the crime, giving investigators a clearer picture of what transpired.
As his analysis progressed, Anchorage police asked Kirby Anthony to come to the station for more detailed statements, and they began to learn more about his story.
Anthony’s girlfriend had moved from Twin Falls, Idaho, to Anchorage 18 months earlier, and both had stayed with the Newman’s for a while but were asked to leave after finding jobs. Anthony and his girlfriend split up while working on a boat after he accused her of having an 𝒶𝒻𝒻𝒶𝒾𝓇 with the skipper. His mates described him as irrational and unstable, and after the breakup, he clashed with the skipper and was fired.
He returned to Anchorage alone on February 14, 1987, and took a taxi from the airport straight to the Newman’s. Through Cheryl Chapman’s assistance, police learned that John Newman was upset over his nephew’s return, and after a few weeks, Nancy asked Anthony to leave.
Anthony moved in with an acquaintance, Dan Grant. As the investigation focused on Anthony, Sergeant Grimes recalled his first encounter with him on the day of the murders. Grimes notified Anthony about the deaths, and Anthony grabbed his hair and started wailing and moaning, but there were no tears.
His demeanor did not fit that of a grieving family member, but Grimes knew that odd behavior alone would not justify an arrest. However, the autopsy report made investigators more suspicious, pinpointing the murders between 7 a. m.
and noon on Saturday, March 14. This timing made Anthony’s alibi, which was that he was at an all-night party until early Saturday morning, seem unreliable.
Anthony admitted to drinking, smoking marijuana, and using cocaine at the party, and said he returned to Dan Grant’s house about 7 a. m. and left again at 8:45 a.
m. Meanwhile, FBI agent Deedrick’s investigation into fiber and hair evidence grew more complicated. He had to process vacuum sweepings from different rooms, a monumental task that involved accounting for every hair found in the residence.
Each hair displays unique characteristics under a microscope, making it possible to trace its origin. Deedrick used high-powered comparison microscopes to examine the fibers and hairs, focusing on whether trace hairs were old or recent.
Because Anthony had lived with the Newman’s for a while, his hair was likely in the apartment, so Deedrick went through the contents of the vacuum used in the Newman house. He looked at the vacuum bag from a layer standpoint to determine what was most recently deposited. Since Anthony denied being in the apartment recently, Deedrick needed to determine the condition of the hairs, including their surfaces and ends.
Working through the layers, he found some hairs that did not belong to the Newman’s and had been recently deposited. Unidentified hairs were also found on the victims and inside their beds.
To understand how hair is transferred, Deedrick conducted his own experiment, vacuuming four bedrooms in his home over two weeks and comparing the hairs to his own. He concluded that hairs migrate from room to room, mostly by sticking to socks or clothing. Hairs deposited at the beginning of the experiment were deeper and more damaged, while recently deposited ones were not.
This finding was significant because Cheryl had told police that Nancy vacuumed her house on Friday, meaning the unidentified hairs on the victims would have been deposited right at the time of the murders.
Under microscopic scrutiny, a crucial piece of evidence emerged: a pubic hair with a partial egg casing, the kind associated with genital lice, was clinging to a damp washcloth found in the Newman’s bathroom. Deedrich told investigators of his findings and waited for a sample from a suspect. There were at least half a dozen prime suspects, including individuals recently released from prison with histories of 𝒔𝒆𝒙 crimes or violence.
Each was extensively questioned, and their alibis were checked. Police continued to question Anthony, who admitted nothing, but with each interview, the details of his whereabouts on the morning of the murders changed slightly.
Unaware of Deedrich’s hair analysis, Anthony voluntarily submitted hair and blood samples. They were rushed to Deedrich for comparison, and the next day, he notified investigators that Anthony had pubic lice. This was a significant breakthrough, allowing them to focus on Anthony as a suspect.
When confronted with the evidence of the hair and egg casing on the washcloth, Anthony admitted he had lice and said he had showered at the Newman’s a week before the murders to avoid spreading it at Dan Grant’s house. For Judd Rae, the dirty washcloth left at the crime scene told much about the suspect: the killer had cleaned himself there, taking a risk rather than going home, suggesting he did not live alone.
Rae’s behavioral profile also predicted the killer would have been associated with a previous sexual assault. This prompted investigators to look deeper into Anthony’s past, and they learned he had been the central suspect in an Idaho case that remains open. The victim, a 12-year-old girl, suffered brain damage in the attack and was unable to testify.
Rae also predicted the killer would want to appear cooperative with police, interjecting himself into the investigation to find out what the evidence showed. Anthony started doing just that, calling to ask about the evidence.
What investigators did not share with Anthony was that Deedrich’s other hair comparisons were also pointing to him. The pubic hair on the washcloth was only one of many positive associations. Deedrich found a number of pubic hairs like Anthony’s in the rooms of both victims and on the mother’s bed.
A hair from Anthony’s head was found in a top sheet of Nancy’s bed, and facial hairs matching his beard were found on all victims and in their beds. The vacuum sweepings from Melissa’s room contained nine of Anthony’s pubic hairs, and those from Angie’s room included two, one with blood and one with lice casings.
Investigators felt it was time to keep tabs on Anthony’s movements. From surveillance, they learned of his hangouts and discreetly followed him, hoping he might reveal something to his friends. The effort paid off when one acquaintance told investigators that Anthony was writing poetry and, while passing it around a table, told a woman that Nancy Newman was forced to watch part of the assault.
Investigators also learned that after the murders, Anthony called his ex-girlfriend’s mother in Idaho to describe the crime, mentioning that Angie had been stabbed and that Nancy and Melissa were sexually assaulted. In both instances, Anthony could not have known these details, as they had not been released to the press or mentioned during questioning.
Since surveillance was not 24 hours a day, investigators would often drive by Anthony’s house to see if his vehicle was parked out front. If he was home, they would ask him to answer some questions. The circumstantial evidence against Anthony was mounting.
During a visit to his residence, investigators noticed a manually operated camera belonging to John Newman that had been reported missing after the murders. Anthony said the Newman’s lent it to him, but when asked to demonstrate how it worked, he seemed unable to operate it. Another missing item, the tip money from the cookie tin, consisted only of coins, and three of Anthony’s friends told police they saw him rolling coins into wrappers or paying for items with wrapped coins.
Then there were the prints. Anthony’s palm print was found on the wall over the bed where Melissa had been assaulted. Prints on the empty cookie tin and the kitchen table matched his.
His prints were also found on the living room closet door and the inside and outside of the apartment. One fingerprint was located on the back side of the door to the mother’s bedroom, a position that led investigators to believe someone was trying to escape, and the killer slammed the door shut, transferring not only the print but other trace evidence. The evidence was overwhelming, and every other suspect had been cleared except Anthony.
It was time to obtain an arrest warrant. Judd Rae had previously cautioned that the killer might try to flee if the pressure became too much, and the increasing intensity of police questioning had made Anthony nervous. Rae was right again.
Anthony confided to his roommate, Dan Grant, that he was leaving town and asked him not to tell police. Grant was afraid to contact police because of Anthony’s notorious temper, but he finally did call seven hours later. By then, Anthony was heading to the Canadian border, an eight-hour drive away, and he had a seven-hour head start.
Anchorage and the Canadian border are separated by hundreds of miles of uninhabited wilderness, so Anthony could be hiding anywhere. Anchorage police quickly contacted U. S.
Customs at the Alaska-Canada border, describing Anthony and his vehicle and telling officials he was a suspect in a triple homicide. Less than an hour later, Anthony arrived at U. S.
Customs, unaware that investigators had been tipped off. He calmly pulled up to the customs gates and was detained and questioned until Alaska State Troopers arrived. He was arrested for driving on a suspended license and returned to Anchorage, where he was read his rights and charged with three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of sexual assault, and one count of kidnapping.
Under Alaska law, kidnapping can be charged if the victim is restrained during an assault, and the victims may have been tied up during the attack. When Anthony heard the kidnapping charge, he jumped up and screamed, “What is this kidnapping stuff?” This struck investigators as odd, given he was charged with three counts of murder and two counts of sexual assault.
By this time, the forensic evidence was complete enough for police to reconstruct how Angie, Melissa, and Nancy were brutally murdered.
The last time Cheryl Chapman saw her sister alive was Friday, March 13. Cheryl, Paul, and Nancy had met at the restaurant where Nancy worked for drinks. Cheryl’s daughter Kelly had taken Nancy’s girls swimming, so the adults had a night out.
Paul left early to pick up his son but planned to meet them later at Nancy’s apartment. As they were leaving, Cheryl suggested Nancy leave her car at the restaurant and ride home with her, as Nancy had Saturday off and Paul would give her a ride back to her car the next day. At 11:30 p.
m. , Cheryl, Paul, and Nancy all ended up at the Newman’s apartment to wait for Kelly and the girls, who arrived at about 9:45 p. m.
Kelly had treated them to hamburgers. At about 10 p. m.
, Cheryl and Paul were ready to leave. Cheryl helped Nancy clear the table and put the used coffee mugs in the sink. Angie was already in her pajamas, and Melissa had gone to her room to get ready for bed.
As they said good night, Paul told Nancy to call him the next day if she wanted a ride back to her car.
Sometime between 7 a. m. and noon on Saturday, March 14, Kirby Anthony arrived at the Newman’s apartment.
Only Kirby Anthony knows what happened next. Perhaps Nancy refused to lend him money or rejected his sexual advance, or perhaps she ordered him out of the apartment. In any case, his anger boiled over.
Evidence indicated that part of the assault on Melissa occurred in her mother’s room. Both would have had to be restrained, and their bodies showed signs of having been bound. Serological findings showed that Melissa, the eight-year-old, had been assaulted in the mother’s bedroom, crossed the bed, and was actively bleeding at the time.
She was then subdued and held in a position in that room for a period of time. Melissa Newman probably witnessed the rape of her mother before she was taken back to her bedroom and assaulted again.
The knife used to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 Angie was never recovered. It was unclear whether she was killed first or last, but what was certain was that she seemed to be the target of a horrible, uncontrolled rage. Nancy Newman did not call Paul Chapman the next day for a ride to her car, nor did she answer the phone when her sister tried to reach her repeatedly.
Instead, she and her two daughters lay dead for nearly a full day before their bodies were discovered. The particular grudge against Angie may have grown out of the few times Anthony babysat the girls; reportedly, he had called her a tyrant. But for those close to the victims and for investigators, nothing could explain Kirby Anthony’s savagery.
A grieving John Newman sat in stony silence throughout his nephew’s trial. After eight weeks of testimony, the jury reached a verdict on June 3, 1988. A clean-shaven Anthony seemed confident as he waited for the verdict, but as each guilty verdict was read, his composure disintegrated until it shattered completely.
He was sentenced to 357 years for his crimes. Kirby Anthony’s conviction represented an almost textbook example of cooperative police work. Anchorage Police provided the FBI with evidence collected from a meticulously preserved crime scene.
Doug Deedrich carefully analyzed the hairs and fibers and anticipated Kirby Anthony’s excuses, conducting his own home experiment to do so. Judd Rae helped police stay several steps ahead of Anthony’s thoughts and actions. For the first time, testimony from an FBI profiler was accepted in court, opening the door for future cases.
The case remains a chilling reminder of the depths of human depravity and the relentless pursuit of justice by law enforcement.
