On September 28, 2015, in the small village of Marshall, Alaska, 62-year-old Anna Rossman was fatally shot while she slept in her bed. The alleged perpetrator, 31-year-old Nick Coffee, was detained at the scene by a former Village Police Officer before Alaska State Troopers arrived. Coffee reportedly admitted to shooting Rossman with a. 22 caliber rifle, ceasing only when he ran out of ammunition.
The incident involved family members; Rossman was engaged to Coffee's father.
Following his arrest, Coffee was charged with first- and second-degree murder and was arraigned in St. Mary's court the following day. Rossman's body was transported to Anchorage for an autopsy, and her next of kin were notified.
This tragic event occurred in a community of approximately 350 residents on the lower Yukon River. It highlighted broader concerns about domestic violence in Alaska, a state that, in 2013, had the second-highest rate of men murdering women in the nation, more than double the national average. That year, all eight women murdered in Alaska were killed by men they knew.
