Rachel Elizabeth Wright, an 18-year-old female, was killed by gunfire in Fairbanks, Alaska, in the early morning of August 7, 2022. She and 28-year-old Ricardo James Duperior were found inside a townhouse in the Birchwood Homes subdivision on the city's east side after police responded just before 2:30 a.m. Both had sustained fatal gunshot wounds. The police classified the incident as a double homicide and requested any surveillance footage from the area between about 1:30 and 2:30 a.m. to aid their investigation.
Investigators arrested two young men in connection with the murders: Kapri Raymond Saleem Willis and Joshua Marquez Bell, both age 20 at the time of arrest. During Willis's trial, prosecutors introduced an audio recording of Bell confessing to the murders in a conversation with another inmate, recorded in January 2023 at the Fairbanks Correctional Center. Willis denied involvement, stating he neither planned the crime nor fired any shots.
In August 2025, a jury acquitted Willis of two counts of first-degree felony murder and two counts of tampering with a witness. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining counts, which leaves parts of the case unresolved. Bell, the co-defendant, is scheduled to go to trial in October 2025.
Family and friends remember Rachel Wright as kind, outgoing, and generous. After the acquittal of Willis, they expressed grief over the loss and frustration that full legal resolution has not yet been achieved. A GoFundMe was organized shortly after her death to help her family with burial expenses and other immediate needs.
