In the early minutes of April 27, 2025, 65-year-old John Gould, a white male resident of Fairbanks, was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds after Alaska State Troopers responded to a report of a shooting in the nearby community of Ester around 12:30 a.m. Authorities said a preliminary investigation identified a suspect on scene and confirmed Gould's death, while arrangements were made to transfer his body to the State Medical Examiner and notify next of kin.
What unfolded, according to contemporaneous accounts and court documents reported by the local press, began as a bonfire gathering at Gould's cabin on Midway Placer Road. Witnesses described Gould showing guests how to split wood when a comment directed at another attendee—Thomas Allen Wilson—sparked a confrontation. Wilson allegedly raised a hatchet and threatened a woman who fled, then returned to find Wilson arguing with a man before he walked off toward a nearby cabin, where he reportedly stole a. 40-caliber handgun. Multiple people recalled hearing a single gunshot near Wilson's cabin shortly afterward.
Troopers later announced that 38-year-old Thomas Wilson—identified as Gould's stepson—was arrested and booked into the Fairbanks Correctional Center on charges including first-degree murder, third-degree assault, and second-degree theft. A judge subsequently set Wilson's bail at $1 million as the case moved into the courts. The troopers' dispatch emphasized that all charges were accusations pending adjudication.
Gould's death reverberated beyond the crime scene. Obituaries published afterward noted that the 65-year-old male had lived in Alaska for three decades, was born in Seattle in 1959, and had served in the U.S. Army before making a life filled with varied work, outdoor pursuits, and fishing. Community tributes marked the date of his passing and the place he called home, adding personal contours to a life ended abruptly in the darkness of an Interior Alaska spring night.
Public records documenting the case list Gould by name, age, gender, city, and the April 27, 2025 date of death, and they align with the law-enforcement narrative of an arrest at the scene and an ensuing homicide prosecution.
