ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A suspect in one of the most grisly crimes in Anchorage history was in custody Sunday in the brutal killings of his two young cousins and their mother.
Kirby D. Anthony, 23, was jailed in Anchorage Saturday night on $3 million bail for the bloody March 14 slaughter of family members from Idaho who had put him up when he needed a place to stay.
He was to be arraigned later Sunday.
He was arrested last week in Fairbanks in the middle of a failed, alleged attempt at fleeing to Canada.
When Anthony's uncle, John Newman, was out of Alaska last month, police said Anthony let himself into Newman's apartment and murdered Nancy Newman, 33, raped and killed her 8-year-old daughter Melissa, and slit 3-year-old daughter Angie's throat from ear to ear, leaving her to bleed to death.
'Because of the ages of the children and the nature of the crime itself, I think it is one of the worst homicides I've investigated,' Anchorage police Sgt. George Novacky said.
Police speculated that Anthony was reacting to being asked to move out of the Newman apartment earlier. The Newmans and Anthony separately had moved to Alaska from Idaho two years ago, Anthony from Twin Falls.
A meticulous police investigation of the bloody apartment led investigators to Anthony by body hairs found at the murder scene. Police also found Anthony's fingerprints on a cookie jar where Newman kept her tips from her waitress job.
Anthony had been a suspect in the crime, police said, but they dropped their surveillance net when it led nowhere. Then, last week, Anthony's Anchorage roommmate tipped authorities that Anthony was driving to the Canadian border instead of keeping an appointment for a police interview.
He was stopped at the border and taken into custody for driving with a suspended license and jailed in Fairbanks.
Police revealed that Anthony has a criminal history in Idaho and, when he left, was being investigated for the rape, beating and choking of a 12-year-old girl.
