Three Suspects Indicted for August 9th Northern Lights Murder

Anchorage police revealed that the three men implicated in the death of 28-year-old Philip Cleveland, formerly of Kotzebue, have been indicted by an Anchorage Grand Jury on Monday.

APD reports that:

  • 32 year old Bert Jones, Jr., originally from Kotzebue, was indicted on charges of murder in the first and second degree.
  • 27 year old Shalom Gilmore, originally from Kodiak, was indicted on one count of murder in the first degree.
  • 39 year old Ralph Jim, originally from Sitka, was indicted on one count of murder in the second degree.

It  was on August 9th, at 10:52 pm responded to the scene at 202 East Northern Lights after receiving a report that a man had had his throat cut at that location. When officers and medics arrived at the scene, they discovered Cleveland deceased from wounds.

With video footage from surveillance cameras provided by businesses in the area, witnesses were located and interviewed. On August 10th, two of the suspects were located and arrested in the general area, and the remaining suspect was arrested the next day.

Police advise that “Murder in the first or second degree is an unclassified felony offense. If convicted of murder in the first degree, Jones and Gilmore face a prison sentence of 25 to 99 years. If convicted of murder in the second degree, Jones and Jim face a sentence of 15 to 99 years in prison.”

Jones had his bail set at $250,000, and the other two suspects had their bail set at $50,000. All three are also required to have Court-Approved Third Party Custodians.

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The  three suspects are due to be arraigned in Anchorage Superior Court at 1:45 pm on Wednesday.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]