(Anchorage, AK) – Following a two-week trial, on Friday, April 11, an Anchorage jury found 43-year-old Andrew Byrd guilty of multiple counts of sexual assault and physical assault for a sexual assault committed at a Portage campground in 2015. The jury deliberated for approximately 11 hours before finding Byrd guilty of two counts of Sexual Assault in the First Degree, one count of Assault in the Second Degree, and one count of Assault in the Third Degree.
On May 16, 2015, a woman reported she had been sexually and physically assaulted while camping in her car at a Portage campground. The woman reported to police, and later testified at trial, that she awoke to a male, who had been camping at a nearby site, holding his hand over her mouth. She said he then strangled and sexually assaulted her. Law enforcement, working with a sexual assault response team, conducted an investigation and sexual assault nurses collected evidence from the victim’s body as part of a sexual assault kit.
In 2016, the Alaska State Troopers applied for and received a grant under the federal Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (“SAKI”) Program to test all of the Troopers’ untested sexual assault kits. As part of this grant program, the victim’s kit was tested, and a male DNA profile was identified. That profile was entered into CODIS, a nationwide DNA database, however no match was discovered. Despite a thorough investigation into multiple leads and suspects, the case went cold.
In 2023, the Alaska State Crime Detection Laboratory advised the Alaska State Troopers that there was a potential “match” in CODIS that linked the unknown male DNA profile collected from the victim’s sexual assault kit to a DNA sample collected from Andrew Byrd. AST investigators contacted Byrd, who denied knowing the victim or having sex with her. At trial, jurors heard testimony from the victim, who described the sexual assault, as well as from other witnesses and DNA analysts. Byrd also chose to testify.
The case was initially investigated by Alaska State Trooper Investigator Steve Kevan, as well as by SAKI Investigator Michael Burkmire. In 2023, Investigator Adam Hawkins became the lead investigator. All three investigators testified at the trial, along with members of the Alaska State Crime Lab and BODE Technologies.
Assistant Attorney General Maggie Burgess of the Office of Special Prosecutions and Assistant District Attorney Zachary Reeder of the Anchorage District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case for the State.
Byrd is being held without bail pending sentencing, which is not yet scheduled.
