On March 8, 2015, in the early morning cold above Eagle River, Alaska, June Mary McCarr—a 56-year-old Alaskan Native, female—sat in a parked vehicle near the top of Mile High Road by Brownie and Barclay Drive. Six people, including the driver, had driven up from Anchorage and were gathered inside the car. What began as a stop in the dark turned into chaos when the driver, 32-year-old James Andrew Baker, produced a firearm and opened fire inside the vehicle.
Police later found June Mary McCarr, a 56-year-old female, shot to death inside that car; two other occupants were wounded and the remaining passengers fled on foot into the surrounding neighborhood.
According to investigators, the vehicle belonged to James Andrew Baker. After roughly fifteen minutes parked at the turnout, he retrieved a gun and started shooting. In the aftermath, two men—Roy Boswell and Kurtis Reed—were hit by rounds, while other occupants, identified as Alexandria Ewan and Samuel Davis, escaped on foot. Baker himself left in the opposite direction, discarding the firearm along a trail. He then went to a Carrs grocery store in Eagle River and called police with a false report that his vehicle had been stolen. Officers responding to multiple 911 calls found June Mary McCarr, a 56-year-old female, dead inside the vehicle.
Anchorage police quickly identified and arrested James Andrew Baker that same day. He was booked without bail and charged with one count of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree attempted murder, and one count of third-degree assault. Authorities publicly named the victim as June Mary McCarr, a 56-year-old female, and reported the injured survivors were hospitalized in stable condition.
The criminal case moved from arrest to conviction. In August 2016, James Baker pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and to a consolidated count of first-degree attempted murder in connection with the shooting that killed June Mary McCarr, a 56-year-old female, and wounded others. On May 12, 2017, Superior Court Judge Michael Corey sentenced Baker to serve 45 years in prison—35 years for the murder and 10 years for attempted murder—with an additional 25 years suspended and 10 years of probation to follow. The state's account detailed how Baker gathered five people in Anchorage, drove them to the top of Mile High Drive, and then, after approximately fifteen minutes, retrieved a firearm from the trunk and began shooting.
From the first 911 calls to the courtroom's final order, the case of June Mary McCarr—a 56-year-old female—unfolded swiftly and decisively. The arrest arrived within hours, the plea within a year and a half, and a prison term fixed the outcome: James Andrew Baker was held responsible for the killing in Eagle River on March 8, 2015, and for the injuries to those who survived that night in and around the parked car on Mile High Road.
Family notices filled in the quiet details left by police reports: June Mary McCarr—a 56-year-old female—died on March 8, 2015, two days before her birthday. Obituary records preserved her full name and dates, anchoring the official accounts of a life cut short on a hillside above Eagle River.
