Alaska man arrested after memory card with footage of woman being beaten to death found on street
A man has been charged with murder after a memory card containing videos and images showing him assaulting and murdering a woman in a hotel room was found in the street.
Brian Smith was arrested as he flew into Anchorage airport in Alaska, where he lives.
Police were able to recognise him from the video footage, said officials, because he was considered a suspect in another separate investigation.
The woman’s body was found last week close to a road in Anchorage.
Smith, 48, appeared in court on Wednesday, and is originally from South Africa.
Police said they were given the memory card after it was a women apparently found it discarded on a street.
The card was labelled “Homicide at midtown Marriott”, according to court papers.
It contained 39 horrifying images and 12 videos, all apparently documenting violence against the victim, who has not yet been identified.
It is believed that Smith took the images and videos himself.
According to legal papers the woman was naked and beaten, and also strangled.
Other images showed her being strangled by a man who was yelling at her to die.
Police said: “We still don’t know who she is and we don’t know much about her.”
Smith was married though his wife is not implicated in the murder, according to reports in the press.
It is the second murder case to involve video footage in Alaska in recent months.
In June, two teens were caught on camera discussing the murder of 19-year-old Cynthia "CeeCee" Hoffman.
Denali Brehmer, 18, told police she directed another teen, 16-year-old Kayden McIntosh, to shoot Hoffman.
Both teenagers have been charged over the murder.
Brehmer told a court: "I know what I did was wrong. I know I could have probably done something different,"
