NORWICH – A 21-year-old Norwich native has been charged along with two other U.S. Army soldiers with robbing and killing an Alaskan businessman and then hiding his body.
Brian S. Towndrow, 21, originally of Norwich, was arrested Dec. 20 in the parking lot just outside of his alleged co-conspirator’s Fairbanks, Alaska apartment as police were preparing to storm the residence.
The Fairbanks Police Department’s (FPD) Christmas eve felony complaint states that Towndrow’s accomplices said he was the one who strangled 62-year-old Daniel Frederick, owner of an antiques and military supplies store.
The other two men charged in the Dec. 11 homicide are soldiers from Fort Wainwright in Alaska: Raymond Jones, 29, and Michael C. Moore, 23.
The Associated Press reported both men had been deployed to Iraq earlier in 2008 with the Army’s 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry.
After his arrest and while in incarceration, police said Towndrow told a correctional officer he wished to meet with FPD detectives and during the subsequent interview, Towndrow led investigators to where the trio had hidden the body.
The department reported that Towndrow was also once stationed at Fort Wainwright, but was discharged earlier in 2008 after their investigators arrested him April 10, 2008 for the sexual assault and abuse of a 15-year-old relative.
Towndrow was awaiting his sentencing in that case when he was picked up by the FPD for the murder, said a statement released by the department.
Norwich High School said Towndrow was a local senior who withdrew from classes in 2006. His family still lives in the area, but could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The motive of the crime is only described in the complaint as a plan “to kill Frederick because of a matter that military authorities were investigating.”
Based on admissions made to police by Moore, the following is the chain of events listed in the document:
Jones waited in Towndrow’s truck outside of the victim’s residence while Towndrow and Moore went inside to meet with Frederick.
Moore told police that at some point during the meeting he got cold feet and excused himself outside, telling Jones in the parking lot that he could not go through with the murder.
However after a brief discussion, Moore said he reentered the residence and eventually helped pin Frederick down to the floor while Towndrow strangled him with a ligature.
The three men then attempted to cover up the scene of the murder and placed the victim’s body in a sleeping bag taken from the store before loading it into Towndrow’s truck. Moore said Towndrow tried to clean up the area using Windex.
The men then drove the body to a remote location and dumped it beneath some snow. A few days later, the men returned to the site and moved the body to a second location in an attempt to conceal it from authorities.
The men initially admitted to purchasing thousands of dollars worth of items on Frederick’s credit cards when they were picked up by police, but denied they were involved in the victim’s disappearance, reported the AP.
Police said that action was what eventually allowed them to trace the transactions to Jones who purchased an iPhone on his personal account at AT&T with the stolen cards.
Investigators began searching for Frederick after a concerned neighbor reported he had not seen him for over a week.
Each of the three men have been assigned public defenders and are currently being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Fairbanks Correctional Center.
All three have been charged with first-degree murder, first-degree robbery and tampering with evidence.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.