White/Caucasian, female, 51. On the afternoon of Tuesday, February 18, 2020, a 911 call reported a gunshot and a woman bleeding at a residence on Fourth Avenue in Kenai. Responding officers found Rita Marie Green, age 51, deceased on the floor of a garage with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Nearby Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Science briefly went into lockdown while police searched the area. The Kenai Police Department publicly identified the victim as Rita M.
Green, age 51, and said she had been sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy after next of kin were notified.
Witness accounts and an affidavit by Kenai Police Sgt. Ryan Grimm pointed investigators to a suspect: Rita Green's son, Philip S. Green, then 22. He was detained the same day and remanded to the Wildwood Pretrial Facility, initially charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of his mother. Early reports from local outlets and wire services confirmed his arrest and the familial relationship, noting that police had responded at around 3 p.m. and that a suspect had been taken into custody soon after.
Court filings later described how officers arrived at approximately 3:02 p.m., found the scene in the garage, and gathered statements alleging that Philip Green had shot and killed his mother before leaving on foot. Those details, drawn from the investigative affidavit, framed the case as a domestic homicide that unfolded rapidly on a weekday afternoon in a quiet Kenai neighborhood. Memorial and obituary notices later recorded Rita Marie Green's passing at her Kenai home on February 18, 2020, at age 51.
Years later, the criminal case concluded in open court. In December 2023, Philip Green pleaded guilty to the 2020 homicide of his mother and was sentenced to 70 years with 35 years suspended—effectively 35 years to serve. Local reporting tied the plea and sentence back to the original affidavit and arrest on February 18, 2020, closing a case that had begun with the swift detention of a suspect on the day of the shooting.
