Going West: True Crime · Dark West Productions

The Memory Card Murders // 545

·59 min·5 clips

Brian Smith filmed himself taunting and killing Kathleen, saying 'In my movies, everybody always dies.'

The episode opens with hosts noting they originally covered this case in 2021 but have completely redone it given the 2024 trial outcome and the discovery of what appears to be another victim. Kathleen Jo Henry was born December 22, 1988 and grew up in Eek, a remote southwest Alaska village of around 250 people, over 98 percent Alaska Native, without running water until 2019. She dropped out of school at 14, experienced abusive relationships, eventually served time at the Highland Mountain Correctional Center in Anchorage and earned her GED at 23. After release she remained in Anchorage, struggled with trauma and drug use, experienced homelessness, but maintained an optimistic public face through social media posts expressing excitement about her future and sharing poetry. She was frequently seen at the Bean's Cafe homeless shelter and disappeared in September 2019. On October 2, 2019, her body was found near Seward Highway mile post 108. Three days before her body was found, an unhoused woman named Valerie Kassler found an SD card and eventually admitted to having stolen a phone from a man while he was at an ATM paying her for sex work. On the phone were nearly 50 photos and videos including a 20-minute recording of Kathleen's murder. The SD card contained more footage. Valerie tried to sell the card rather than go to police due to fear of implicating herself, but after failing to sell it she eventually handed it to authorities. The killer was arrested six days after Kathleen's body was found. The episode describes him as both one of the worst and one of the dumbest perpetrators they have covered, given the extraordinary self-incrimination involved in keeping such material. A second victim, Veronica Aboutchuk, is also named and discussed in connection with the same perpetrator.

As heard by us

A grim update that keeps the case moving and the uncertainty visible.

Going West returns to a case it first covered in 2021, then folds in the 2024 trial and the possibility of another victim. Brian Smith, Kathleen Jo Henry, Veronica Abachuk, and the evidence that keeps surfacing are handled as the story keeps widening.

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Why you'd press play

You want the updated version of a case that got messier fast.

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