Murder In Alaska The Boyfriend Who Shouldn’t Have Been Arrested

Alaska has yet to solve the murder of 23-year-old Eunice Whitman, but its justice system did imprison the wrong man for seven years, according to a ProPublica investigation examining two strikingly similar unsolved murders.

Whitman, from Bethel, Alaska, was discovered in May 2015 on the tundra at the end of a heavily-trafficked boardwalk. She had been stabbed in the throat and chest, with her clothes removed and placed nearby. Authorities quickly arrested her boyfriend, Justine Paul, claiming her blood was found on his clothing. A grand jury indicted him just 11 days later.

The case then stalled as the alleged key evidence fell apart. State lab testing eventually showed that the blood on Paul’s clothes actually matched him. Prosecutors dropped the charges in 2022, by which point Paul had already spent seven years in jail awaiting trial.

Paul’s defense attorney, former prosecutor Marcy McDannel, believes police focused on the wrong man and ignored other potential suspects. Male DNA recovered from Whitman’s body did not match Paul, the four men who found her, or a registered sex offender in the area. A defense expert later identified at least a dozen higher-priority suspects based on their proximity to Whitman or previous contact with her. These included a man with a history of violence on the same boardwalk, an ex-boyfriend she had listed in a restraining order, and a man who possessed Whitman’s phone with a bandaged hand a week after her death. None were charged, and two have since died.

After Paul’s release, McDannel turned her attention to another possible suspect: convicted killer Samuel Atchak. Nine months before Whitman’s death, Atchak killed 19-year-old Roxanne Smart in the nearby village of Chevak. Smart was also found partially nude on the tundra, stabbed in the throat and torso, with her clothes arranged nearby. Atchak confessed to that murder and is now serving a 115-year sentence.

In a 2022 prison interview, Atchak discussed Whitman’s killing, speculating about the attacker’s method and motive, including a surprise attack from behind with a “chokehold.” He also recalled being in Bethel around the time of the murder during a flight stopover. State troopers later told McDannel that travel and medical records ruled Atchak out, but they did not provide the underlying evidence. Atchak has declined further interviews.

Public attention returned in January when an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous people posted about Whitman online, prompting renewed calls for action. In March, Alaska’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons unit took over the case and says it is starting from scratch. However, Whitman’s family reports they have yet to be re-interviewed and still do not know who killed her. Officials acknowledge “unacceptable” delays in the case, citing heavy turnover among rural prosecutors, but insist that everyone involved acted properly.

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