Just after midnight on December 21, 2015, winter quiet in west Anchorage broke with reports of gunfire and a vehicle chase along West Tudor Road near Lois and Harding Drives. When officers arrived minutes later, they found a young man lying near the railroad tracks—22-year-old Jeramyha Talauega, Black male—who was pronounced dead at the scene. About twenty minutes after that first discovery, 33-year-old Robin Porter, mortally wounded, arrived at an Anchorage hospital where he died shortly
after. His wife, Meghan Porter, had driven him there, and she told detectives the shooting erupted during a drug sale gone wrong.
Detectives pieced together a tight, violent timeline. According to police, Jeramyha Talauega, male, had arrived in a Toyota Corolla driven by 26-year-old Linda Chattell; a third passenger, 23-year-old Solomon Brown Tavita, rode with them. The meeting spot was a red Dodge Durango occupied by Robin Porter and his wife, Meghan. Jeramyha stepped from the Corolla into the Durango to complete the deal. An argument erupted inside the SUV; in that cramped space, gunfire came from all three—Jeramyha, Meghan, and Robin—before Jeramyha fled or was forced out of the vehicle, collapsing nearby. Meghan then sped Robin toward the hospital while, for a brief stretch, the Corolla pursued before breaking off. Police later said they were no longer looking for additional suspects connected to the case.
Arrests followed quickly. On December 21, 2015, officers arrested Meghan Porter on suspicion of second-degree murder, manslaughter, and third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. The next day, December 22, police took Linda Chattell into custody and charged her with second-degree murder, manslaughter, and third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. On December 23, detectives located Solomon Brown Tavita at a Spenard residence and arrested him on two counts of second-degree murder and one count of third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance.
In early January 2016, a grand jury handed up indictments refining and expanding the allegations. Tavita, then 23, was indicted on second-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, first-degree robbery, and first-degree weapons misconduct. Chattell, 26, faced second-degree murder and first-degree robbery. Meghan Pugh, 31, was indicted on second-degree murder, manslaughter, third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, and third-degree weapons misconduct. Authorities stated that if convicted on the murder counts, the defendants faced the possibility of lengthy prison terms under Alaska law.
The portrait that emerged was stark and swift: a planned drug exchange in a Durango, a flash of fear and anger inside a moving vehicle, shots fired in close quarters, and a desperate drive to a hospital that came too late. By week's end, the arrests and subsequent indictments set the contours of the case, with Anchorage police indicating they sought no further suspects in the deaths of Jeramyha Talauega, male, age 22, and Robin Porter.
