ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man has been charged with killing a 10-year-old girl who went missing for more than a week before her body was found near a remote Native village.
State prosecutors charged Peter Wilson of Kotzebue with first-degree murder, kidnapping, sexual abuse of a minor and tampering with evidence Monday in Ashley Johnson-Barr's death.
Prosecutors say an autopsy revealed signs of trauma, including strangulation and sexual abuse.
The 41-year-old Wilson has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of making false statements as FBI agents and others searched for Ashley in Kotzebue, a remote Inupiat town on Alaska's northwestern coast.
The girl disappeared Sept. 6. Her remains were found eight days later just outside the community.
A federal grand jury indictment says Wilson took a cellphone from Ashley and lied when he said he had found it.
