White/Caucasian female Renee Millard, 40, was found shot to death on February 1, 2016, inside a home on Autumn Lane in the Meadow Lakes area outside Wasilla, Alaska. Alaska State Troopers had been alerted to the sound of gunfire sometime after 8 a.m., and when they arrived they found two people dead: the mother, Renee Millard, 40, and her 10-year-old son, Dean.
Troopers said there was no broader danger to the community; two nearby elementary schools briefly enacted a “stay-put” mode that was lifted that evening. A dog found in the residence was taken into protective custody and later released to an authorized person.
Investigators identified the case as a double homicide and turned it over to the Alaska Bureau of Investigation. The initial 911 call had come from another juvenile in the home, a detail that guided early investigative steps and underscored that the violence had unfolded within the household. By the next evening, at approximately 6 p.m. on February 2, Alaska State Troopers took a juvenile into custody and transferred the minor to the Division of Juvenile Justice; because of state confidentiality rules, authorities did not release the juvenile's name.
Public records and memorial pages mark the date and place of the killing and the victim's age, reinforcing the stark brevity of that winter morning: Renee Millard, 40, lost to gun violence on February 1, 2016, in Wasilla. The killings brought an immediate and somber response in the community, with friends and local outlets noting the mother-and-son loss as troopers continued their work under the constraints of a juvenile case.
