Hispanic/Latina woman Stephanie Morales, age 22, was found dead on the morning of February 17, 2023, inside a residence in the 6000 block of East 12th Avenue in Anchorage, Alaska. Responding officers discovered visible trauma to her upper body, and detectives opened a homicide investigation at the scene. News of her death quickly rippled through the city as police activity closed off the neighborhood and investigators began collecting evidence.
As officers searched the home, they discovered that the 22-year-old mother's 8-month-old son, Ahmiri, was missing. An AMBER Alert went out statewide naming the child's father, 23-year-old Eric D. Chaney Jr., as the suspect in the child's abduction. The alert intensified an already urgent manhunt while detectives continued processing the crime scene linked to the killing reported that morning.
By that evening, police located the infant safe after an hours-long standoff with officers. The child was recovered, and the suspect was taken into custody. Anchorage police announced that the 23-year-old father had been arrested and booked into the Anchorage Jail in connection with the killing, ending a tense day that had started with the discovery of the young mother's body.
Within days, authorities clarified the criminal case: prosecutors charged and then secured a grand jury indictment against Eric David Chaney Jr. on counts including first- and second-degree murder stemming from the February 17 homicide. Public notices and memorial pages marked the date of the loss, identifying the victim by name and age as the investigation moved forward through the courts.
