Sonya Ivanoff Wiki, Biography: What Happened to Her in Alaska (NBC Dateline Episode)

Sonya Ivanoff Wiki

Sonya Ivanoff (born 1984) is an American lady who was went missing in 2003 but was found dead after some days of intense searching. Her body was discovered in a pit, naked, by the rescue team. She took a bullet to the head.

What Happened to Sonya Ivanoff

Sonya Ivanoff went out with her friends on the night of August 10, 2003. She would never return to her hometown of Nome, Alaska.

Ivanoff’s roommate reported him missing to the Nome Police Department on August 12. They had gone out with friends, but Ivanoff, a 19-year-old Native woman, said she wasn’t feeling well and decided to walk home around 1 a.m. She hadn’t been seen in a long time.

Ivanoff, one of six children described as “goofy” and “fun,” had moved to Nome only a year before. According to family, she wanted to go to Hawaii for school in the fall and was saving money.

Sonya Ivanoff went out with her friends on the night of August 10, 2003. She would never return to her hometown of Nome, Alaska.

Ivanoff’s roommate reported him missing to the Nome Police Department on August 12. They had gone out with friends, but Ivanoff, a 19-year-old Native woman, said she wasn’t feeling well and decided to walk home around 1 a.m. She hadn’t been seen in a long time.

Ivanoff, one of six children described as “goofy” and “fun,” had moved to Nome only a year before. According to family, she wanted to go to Hawaii for school in the fall and was saving money.

Sonya Ivanoff’s naked body was discovered in a gravel pit, with only one sock on. She’d taken a bullet to the head.

A woman reported seeing Ivanoff the night she vanished while walking alone on the street. After a brief conversation, Ivanoff entered the police car that had pulled up next to her.

A few weeks later, on September 24, a police car, number 321, went missing. According to Byron Redburn, a retired officer with the Nome Police Department, authorities went out to look for the stolen vehicle. A police officer named Matt Owens contacted Redburn while he was at Bessie Pit, a sand and gravel mine.

“Over the radio, Officer Owens said there had been shots fired and that they were shooting at Officer Owens,” Redburn recalled.

Redburn rushed to the scene and discovered Owens unharmed. There was no one else present. However, the windows of the police car had been shattered, and inside was an envelope. The envelope contained a threatening letter and Ivanoff’s missing ID card.

“Pigs. “I despise cops, I despise everyone of you,” the letter said, according to “Fatal Frontier: Evil in Alaska.” “and threatened officers with withdrawing the Ivanoff investigation

The Alaska State Police, on the other hand, had concerns about the incident at Bessie Pit. When they attempted to reenact it, they discovered that it was virtually impossible for what Owens described to have occurred.

“What happened at the gravel pit in connection with the 321 incident didn’t add up. We suspected Owens staged the incident “Burroughs informed producers.

Owens was one of two officers on the scene the night Ivanoff went missing. The other officer arrived on time for a polygraph test and passed. Meanwhile, Owens “failed miserably.”

When Owens was questioned, he denied any involvement in Ivanoff’s murder and insisted he had not staged the 321 incident.

“You would have died, man. We would have been looking into a murder. “There is no way on God’s green earth this guy could have missed you,” an investigator is heard telling Owens during an interview tape obtained by “Fatal Frontier: Evil In Alaska.”

Owens, however, maintained his innocence. Authorities, on the other hand, had plenty of evidence against Owens, and he was arrested on October 25, 2003.

Following his arrest, a number of women came forward to claim that Owens had sexually harassed them while on duty and threatened to kill them if they told anyone.

“He told them no one would believe a drunk active female over a police officer,” Burroughs told producers.

There was no evidence that Ivanoff had been sexually abused. Investigators told “Fatal Frontier” that Owens noticed Ivanoff and approached her for sex while on patrol. When she refused, he realized she wasn’t drunk and that reporting him would give her more credibility. Then there was a fight, and he killed the 19-year-old.

“I never imagined losing a daughter to a police officer. They are meant to protect. It messed with my trust in police officers “Producers were informed by Ivanoff’s mother.

Owens was also seen burning items around the time Ivanoff was killed. Investigators discovered buttons that matched the brand of jeans Ivanoff was last seen wearing, as well as other burnt clothing remnants, when they examined the burn pit.

Owens was charged with first-degree murder on November 4, 2003. The first trial, however, in 2005, ended in a hung jury and a mistrial was declared.

“I knew from the start that Nome wasn’t the right place for the trial. The jurors had gone to the same church as Matt Owens. I suspected there was some sort of buddy buddy system at work there “Jacob Ivanoff, Sonya’s brother, told producers.

The trial was relocated, and Matthew Owens was eventually found guilty of Sonya Ivanoff’s murder later that year. He received a sentence of 101 years in prison.

The Sonya Ivanoff Bill was signed into law in 2007. Any officer who murders someone while on duty faces a maximum sentence of life in prison under the law.

“Matt Owens was a hunter. I believe he intended to kill again. On the first one, we most likely had a serial killer,” said Burroughs.

Who Killed Sonya Ivanoff

Matthew Owens, a police officer, was later found guilty of Sonya Ivanoff’s murder. He received a sentence of 101 years in prison.

Authorities had plenty of evidence against Owens, and he was arrested on October 25, 2003.

Following his arrest, a number of women came forward to claim that Owens had sexually harassed them while on duty and threatened to kill them if they told anyone.