American Indian / Alaska Native female Della McFarlin Brown, age 33, died on September 2, 2000, in Anchorage, Alaska. Her body was discovered in an abandoned shed in the Spenard neighborhood, a place that quickly became synonymous with tragedy and outrage. The 33-year-old woman had been brutally beaten and sexually assaulted, and the condition of her body shocked even seasoned investigators.
In the aftermath, stories emerged that individuals had entered the shed in the days following her death, striking matches to look at her remains before authorities were finally notified. The gruesome nature of the killing and the indignity of those actions left a deep scar on the community and underscored the vulnerability of Native women to violent crime.
Attention soon focused on 20-year-old Joshua Wade. Witnesses later testified that Wade had shown them Della McFarlin Brown's body in the shed and even boasted of the killing. One acquaintance recalled that Wade had essentially confessed, matter-of-factly, to what he had done. Police arrested him later that month, and on September 30, 2000, he was formally charged with murder. The case was prepared for trial, and Wade remained behind bars as prosecutors pursued what they believed was a strong case built on witness accounts and circumstantial evidence.
The trial began in early 2003 and immediately revealed the weaknesses in the state's case. There was no physical evidence linking Wade directly to the killing—no fingerprints, no DNA, and no murder weapon. Despite harrowing testimony from witnesses who said Wade had led them to the scene, jurors found the evidence insufficient to convict him of murder. Instead, they returned a lesser verdict, finding Wade guilty of tampering with evidence. For the family of 33-year-old Della McFarlin Brown, the verdict was crushing, leaving them without justice for her death.
Justice finally came years later, after Wade murdered Anchorage nurse practitioner Mindy Schloss in 2007. Facing federal charges and the possibility of the death penalty, Wade entered into a plea agreement in 2010. As part of that deal, he admitted that he had killed Della McFarlin Brown in 2000 by striking her in the head with a large rock and abandoning her in the shed. Wade was sentenced to 99 years in state prison, along with a consecutive life sentence in federal custody. That confession, recorded in court documents, at last confirmed his role in the killing of the 33-year-old woman, closing a painful chapter for her family and the Anchorage community.
