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Background: The courthouse in Palmer County, Alaska (Google Maps). Insets (left to right): Jackie Caswell and Sergie Krukoff (Alaska State Police).
An Alaska couple faces several criminal charges including second-degree murder after a 4-year-old girl who was placed in their care died of a brain injury.
Sergie Krukoff, 46, and Jackie Caswell, 47, were apprehended Saturday by Alaska State Police after the couple went into hiding following their indictment on several felony charges. Police said that an investigation into the couple began in August, when a 4-year-old girl the couple was caring for died of a brain injury. The girl’s death was ruled a homicide.
During the couple’s court appearance on Monday, Palmer County District Attorney Trina Sears said that a teenager living in the same house came forward after being told to lie to the police about what happened to the little girl.
According to courtroom reporting by the Anchorage Daily News, Sears told Palmer District Court Judge Shawn Traini that Caswell was seen “slapping and hitting the child.” Sears stated that the teenager who brought the allegations to light would bring the 4-year-old food because Caswell and Krukoff were starving her.
In an online alert, Alaska State Police said law enforcement’s first encounter with the family took place on Aug. 11, when troopers responded to a call to their home, where the 4-year-old girl was being treated with CPR. She was taken to the hospital, where it was discovered that she had a brain injury. The girl died on Aug. 24.
On Sept. 25, a grand jury returned a true bill on Caswell, charging her with second-degree murder, criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child. Krukoff was indicted for endangering the welfare of a minor in connection with the same case. A warrant was issued for their arrest the next day, and the couple “went into hiding.”
Both Caswell and Krukoff were located in Wasilla on Saturday and arrested by Alaska State Police.
Caswell was ordered to be held on $300,000 cash bail. Krukoff is in jail on a $35,000 cash bail, plus $1,000 cash bail in connection with a 2018 case of criminal non-support. Both are expected in court again on Oct. 14.
