Brian Steven Smith, who killed two Alaska Native women and recorded the torture of one, was sentenced on Friday to 226 years in prison.
Smith received 99-year sentences for the murders of Kathleen Henry, 30, and Veronica Abouchuk, 52. Abouchuk was reported missing in February 2019, seven months after her family last saw her. "Both were treated about as horribly as a person can be treated," said Alaska Superior Court Judge Kevin Saxby during the sentencing.
"The case is the stuff of nightmares," Saxby added.
Smith also received an additional 28 years for charges including sexual assault and tampering with evidence. Alaska does not have the death penalty.
A South African native who became a U.S. citizen, Smith showed no emotion during the sentencing or when the jury found him guilty after a three-week trial in February. The jury deliberated for less than two hours.
During the trial, victims were identified only by their initials. Judge Saxby used their full names during sentencing to restore their personhood.
Smith was arrested in 2019 after a sex worker stole his phone and found footage of Henry's torture and murder. She copied the images onto a memory card and turned it over to the police. Smith confessed to killing both Henry and Abouchuk, whose body had been found but misidentified.
Both women were from small villages in western Alaska and experienced homelessness while living in Anchorage.
Henry's death was recorded at TownePlace Suites by Marriott in Anchorage, where Smith was staying from Sept. 2-4, 2019. The first images of Henry's body were timestamped around 1 a.m. on Sept. 4. The last image, dated early Sept. 6, showed her body in a black pickup truck. Smith's phone data placed him in the same rural area south of Anchorage where Henry's body was found weeks later.
During the trial, the jury saw videos from the memory card, which were not shown to the gallery. Smith's face was not seen, but his distinctive South African accent was heard. He narrated the torture, repeatedly urging Henry to die as he beat and strangled her.
"In my movies, everybody always dies," Smith said on one video. "People need to know when they are being serial-killed."
Smith confessed during an eight-hour police interrogation to killing Abouchuk after picking her up in Anchorage. He took her to his home, became upset when she refused to shower, and shot her in the head. Smith then dumped her body north of Anchorage. Police later found a skull with a bullet wound at the location he provided.
