Public Safety

Pressure bombs – plastic bottles filled with Drano, water and tinfoil – have been exploding around Juneau.

Police have received several calls in recent weeks about the homemade bombs found in various places; the remnants of one near the road on Dudley Street just last week. There’ve also been reports of explosions, then pieces of bottle and tinfoil found.

JPD spokeswoman Cindee Brown-Mills says the bombs apparently are easy to make.

“The acids in the Drano react with the tinfoil and cause a vapor so what you’re going to see looks like foggy stuff inside the bottle. And then pressures going to build up and expand the bottle and the bottle’s going to explode. It looks like it happens pretty fast in the video that I watched,” Brown-Mills says. “If they don’t shake it and just leave it and then somebody disturbs it that may cause it to start (blow up).”

Police say the pressure bombs can cause serious injury and even death. That’s due to the unpredictable nature of the explosive time frame and blast pressure, coupled with shrapnel.

Possible indications of the bomb are strips of metal foil inside a plastic soda or water bottle, or a cloudy buildup inside the bottle.

Anyone who finds such bottles should leave them alone and call police. JPD also would like information on the previous incidents. Call Juneau Police at 586-0600 or log onto juneaucrimeline.com.

A 20-year-old Juneau man is behind bars after allegedly leading police on an early morning chase Sunday.

Keith Hanson is charged with driving under the influence, failure to stop, and driving without a valid license.

According to a JPD press release, police responded to a report of a vehicle fire near Douglas Harbor at about 3:30 Sunday morning. At about the same time there was another report of a single vehicle collision with a utility pole at the corner of St. Ann’s and Savikko Park Road. A witness told police that a van sped away from the area. Officers located the van and tried to pull it over. It eventually came to stop at the Channel View Apartments, where Hanson allegedly got out and tried to run.

Hanson was booked at Lemon Creek Correctional Center on 10-thousand dollars bail. Investigation into the vehicle arson and utility pole accident are ongoing.

A Soldotna woman has been indicted for lying on her 2010 Permanent Fund Dividend application.

According to the state departments of Law and Revenue, a Juneau Grand Jury has charged 62-year-old Sherrie Ann Ace of one count of unsworn falsification in the first degree, a Class C felony. The indictment also charges Ace of second degree attempted theft, a Class A misdemeanor.

Ace could face a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of $50,000 if she is convicted of lying on her PFD application. If she is convicted of the attempted theft charge, the maximum sentence would be a year in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The body of a Juneau woman was found in a ditch Friday morning near the intersection of Valley Boulevard and Mendenhall Loop Road.

Juneau police have identified her as 48-year-old Marilyn Williams, born on February 26, 1963.

A witness on his way to a bus stop saw the body and called police. Capital City Fire and Rescue also responded. A medical team pronounced her dead at the scene, according to police spokeswoman Cindee Brown-Mills.

“It doesn’t appear to be foul play at this point,” Brown-Mills said. “They’ve requested an autopsy.”

The body will be sent to the state medical examiner’s office in Anchorage for the autopsy.

During the investigation, police closed off Valley Boulevard at Diane Street and Kiowa Drive for about an hour, as well as the outbound lane of Loop Road between Floyd Dryden Middle School and Valley.

Brown-Mills said Williams was found face down in the ditch just before Kiowa. She was dressed in a jacket, jeans, shoes and a hat.

Williams lived close by. Her family members have been notified.

The case remains under investigation.

Alaska State Troopers are reporting a big break in a cold case of a child kidnapping and sexual assault.

Brooks E. Jackson of Wasilla has been linked to the crime, twenty years after it occurred.

The eight-year girl was abducted by a stranger from a bus stop near Wasilla in February, 1991. She was taken to a home and raped, then released a few hours later. After an investigation and a search, no suspect was ever identified.

Jackson was arrested and convicted in 2005 for a marijuana grow operation in his home. He was required to submit a DNA sample as part of his conviction. But Troopers say that Brooks committed suicide just before the sample could be analyzed.

The sample that Brooks provided was one of nearly ten million in the federal DNA database, but Troopers says it was a perfect match to a sample collected after the Wasilla abduction. After the DNA connection was made last September, Troopers say they began investigating Brooks, what he was doing in February in 1991 and what vehicles he was driving. Troopers say they were not able to locate the vehicle or home with a porch described by the girl during the abduction. But the DNA sample is an explicit tie to the case and they consider it closed.

There is no statute of limitations for such a crime in Alaska. But with the main suspect dead, Troopers say there will be no prosecution or conviction.

The girl is now 28-years old. The woman and her family were informed of the break in the case last week. She was not specifically named in an announcement on Tuesday and Troopers, Palmer District Attorney’s office, and the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory are asking everyone to respect her privacy.

This week’s segment focuses on a recent opinion issued by the Alaska Supreme Court on whether a police officer and the municipality can be sued for some conduct, such as tasering an 11-year old child.