(Kenai, AK) – 36-year-old Kirby Calderwood was sentenced to serve 87 years in prison Thursday for the 2019 murder of Anesha “Duffy” Murnane.

Calderwood pled guilty to Murder in the Second Degree on Feb. 5, 2026 under a plea agreement that called for him to receive a sentence of 99 years with 12 years suspended followed by 10 years of probation. Sentencing was held at the Homer Courthouse today where Kenai Superior Court Judge Kelly Lawson accepted the plea agreement and sentenced Calderwood in accordance with it.

Murnane, who was much beloved in the small Homer community, was last seen leaving the assisted living facility where she lived. When she did not return, a massive search involving the police, firefighters, and civilians was conducted for her. She was never found. Homer Police investigated the case as a homicide. In 2022, a Kenai Peninsula Crime Stopper tip named Calderwood as the person responsible for murdering Murnane. At one time, Calderwood had worked at the assisted living facility while Murnane lived there. He moved from Homer to Utah after Murnane went missing. Later in 2022, Calderwood’s wife told the police that Calderwood confessed to murdering Murnane in the crawlspace of his then girlfriend’s parent’s house. Homer Police and the FBI investigated the crawlspace and were able to recover Murnane’s DNA there. Utah Police and the FBI searched Calderwood’s Utah home and found Murnane’s watch in a drawer with a missing persons poster for her.

Murnane’s cousin, Heather Byrnes, spoke at sentencing on behalf of the Murnane family. She started by reading a letter from Murnane’s late mother that described the incredible trauma her daughter suddenly going missing had caused. Byrnes talked about how regimented and risk-adverse her cousin was, and that when her cousin did not return home the family immediately knew something terrible must have happened. She said that the family and Homer community went to incredible lengths to try and find her cousin.

In accepting the plea agreement that called for a much harsher than normal sentence for Murder in the Second Degree, Judge Lawson noted that “This is an exceptional case.” She called the crime shockingly violent. Judge Lawson quoted from a letter Murnane’s step-father wrote: “The idea that a woman can simply be grabbed off the main street in the middle of the day and dropped into oblivion” and commented, “That is something that is not, and cannot, be tolerated.” Judge Lawson also acknowledged that numerous letters were received showing community condemnation.

The case was investigated by the Homer Police Department with Investigator Matthew Haney leading the investigation. Multiple other law enforcement agencies provided assistance, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Alaska State Troopers, Ogden (UT) City Police Department, and the Weber Metro Crime Scene Investigation Unit.

The case was prosecuted by District Attorney Scot H. Leaders and Assistant District Attorney Jon Iannaccone with the assistance of Julie Craig and Anna LaRoche and Law Office Assistants Penny Marsters and Patrick Pilatti.