Nevaeh Tuuaga, a 13-year-old Alaskan Native, female from Anchorage, Alaska, died on November 30, 2019. That day began with a domestic violence killing at the family's home, where her father, Tylan Lee-Kaulana Fely, shot and killed Nevaeh's mother, 30-year-old Cecilia Tuuaga, while the 13-year-old was present. He then drove with Cecilia's body in the vehicle and kept Nevaeh on the phone as she went into a gas station to buy a gas can and fill it on his instructions.
Fely took Nevaeh to a vacant lot and shot her, then set the car ablaze with both bodies inside. Firefighters and police found the victims after responding to a burning SUV in the 200-block of Newell Street.
Within days, detectives identified Fely as the suspect. On December 2, 2019, he was questioned, arrested, and remanded to the Anchorage Correctional Complex. A grand jury returned a 14-count indictment that included two counts of first-degree murder, four counts of second-degree murder, multiple counts of tampering with physical evidence, third-degree arson, third-degree criminal mischief, weapons misconduct, two counts of first-degree corpse misconduct, and second-degree criminally negligent burning.
The case moved through the courts over the next several years. On October 29, 2024, in Anchorage Superior Court, Fely pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder for the killings of his wife and his 13-year-old daughter. Under the agreement, he would receive a composite sentence of 100 years to serve, with no suspended time, and would be ineligible for discretionary parole until he had served 55 years; the remaining charges were dismissed as part of the plea. The state later noted he had a prior manslaughter conviction in 2008 stemming from a 2005 homicide, a history the court could consider at sentencing.
On March 7, 2025, Judge Jack McKenna accepted the agreement and sentenced Fely to 100 years in prison. In court, prosecutors recounted how Nevaeh, a 13-year-old female, had been coerced into buying the gas can before being killed, and family members described the lasting trauma of losing both mother and daughter. The judge emphasized the severity of the crimes, the need for isolation and community condemnation, and noted the sentence functioned as a life term; Fely remains in state custody.
