The trial of a Maine man who has been charged in the murder and sexual assault of a woman in Alaska nearly three decades ago is set to begin.
The Sun Journal reports jury selection in the case of 47-year-old Steven Downs, of Auburn, Maine, is scheduled Monday in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Downs was charged in the 1993 death of 20-year-old Sophie Sergie.
Investigators said Sergie was shot in the back of the head with a .22-caliber gun, stabbed in the cheek and eye, struck with a blunt instrument, gagged with a ligature and shocked with a stun gun.
They said Sergie had been visiting a friend at a University of Alaska Fairbanks dorm when her body was discovered.
Downs’ arrest occurred after his DNA was matched in 2018 to evidence found at the crime scene through a random hit after Downs’ aunt submitted her DNA to a genealogy website.
