An Alaska man’s fate appears sealed after he was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a teenager.
The Justice Department announced on Wednesday that David Anderson, 52, will almost certainly spend the remainder of his life behind prison.
The sentencing came after he was sentenced to 85 years in prison in October on State of Alaska Department of Law charges by an Alaska Superior Court judge.
Prosecutors described a horrific November 2022 afternoon in which Anderson’s victim survived thanks to her “extraordinary bravery.” According to authorities, Anderson’s efforts to flee after being left for dead almost certainly insured that she would “never walk free or harm another child.”
On November 2, 2022, a 14-year-old girl from Wasilla, Alaska, stepped off her school bus and began walking home. It’s cold in that city in November, as it was that year, with temperatures hovering around freezing, according to meteorological Spark, a historical meteorological data source.
Anderson allegedly followed the girl in his car and claimed he was lost. According to The Anchorage Daily News, the man got the youngster inside the vehicle, pointed a revolver at her, and urged her to smoke a meth pipe, which she pretended to do.
The defendant is accused of duct taping her hands, placing a blanket over her head, hitting her, and sexually assaulting her before concealing his eyes and firing the pistol in her direction. He abandoned her in a wooded place, dismantled and ditched the rifle, and drove off. However, Anderson later discovered that the girl was not dead.
The girl reportedly told investigators she chewed through the duct tape and then found help on a nearby road. Anderson was arrested the very next day and imprisoned at at Anchorage Correctional Complex.
The victim participated remotely in his federal sentencing hearing that ended this week, according to the Daily News.
Anderson, who was already a registered sex offender in 2022 after being convicted in 2000 of sexually abusing a minor, was alleged to have struggled with a methamphetamine addiction prior to that November day. He allegedly told detectives after being apprehended that he had “let the monster out.”
According to the local newspaper, Anderson’s state conviction last year resulted from a plea agreement with prosecutors that reduced counts such as attempted murder.
Authorities celebrated Anderson’s imprisonment, while also appearing unsettled by his “unimaginable” crimes.
“Mr. Anderson perpetrated an unimaginable random act of horror and will spend the rest of his life in the only appropriate place, prison,” U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman for the District of Alaska said in a press release. “The survivor showed extraordinary bravery in escaping this horror and the Alaska State Troopers and FBI mounted an incredible investigation to hold this predator accountable.”
Alaska State Trooper Colonel Maurice Hughes said: “Today’s federal sentence, combined with the State of Alaska’s sentence of 85 years means that this violent man will never be released back into our community to victimize another Alaskan child.”
“Your Alaska State Troopers most important duty is to protect our most vulnerable, and this case stands as a powerful example of how federal and state law enforcement can work together to bring the full weight of justice to bear,” Hughes added.
Wasilla is about 40 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska’s biggest city. There is a sprawling wooded area near the small city, which has a population of just about 10,000 people.
