JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A Utah man has been indicted for first-degree murder in the death of an Anchorage man.
Jason Michael Coday, 28, is accused in the Aug. 4 fatal shooting of painting contractor Simone Yung Kim, 26, who was shot while standing behind a grocery store undergoing renovation.
Coday, who lived in Utah and Nevada before showing up in Juneau this month, was indicted Aug. 14 by a grand jury on murder and weapons misconduct charges.
According to court documents, Kim was discussing tree removal with landscapers when a man with a sawed-off rifle approached and shot him in the head and the upper body. One of the landscapers took the gun, and the assailant ran into the nearby woods.
Coday was arrested after police found him hiding in woods behind near the store, where the unemployed man told police he was living.
Police Chief Greg Browning said police did not immediately know of a motive for the killing or any connection between the two men.
If convicted, Coday faces 20 to 99 years in prison on the murder count and up to five years for the weapons charge.
Juneau court records also show the Vernal man failed to show up for a July court hearing on drug and weapons charges in Clark County, Nev.