2 Alaska Teenage Girls Were Stabbed to Death After ‘Argument Escalated,’ Police Say Suspect’s Texts Connected Him to Scene
Roy J. Riley
2 min read
Shaquille Carawan is facing two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in the Oct. 2 stabbing deaths of Novely Rivers and Abigail Olson
Authorities have accused an Alaska man of fatally stabbing two teenage girls.
Shaquille Carawan, 20, is facing two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in the Oct. 2 deaths of Novely Rivers and Abigail Olson, both 18. Carawan is also charged with tampering with physical evidence and furnishing or delivery of alcoholic beverages to persons under the age of 21.
Alaska Department of Public Safety spokesman Austin McDaniel said investigators believe the attack occurred after “an argument escalated into a physical altercation,” per the Anchorage Daily News.
McDaniel said Carawan and Rivers were cousins, according to the Daily News.
According to a police affidavit obtained by PEOPLE, officers were called to Rivers’ home in Hooper Bay after receiving a report of two “unresponsive females.”
At the scene, police discovered the bodies of Rivers and Olson.
Both teens were stabbed multiple times and suffered blunt force trauma, per the affidavit.
Police said phone records showed text messages between Novely and Carawan prior to the murders. Carawan allegedly texted that he planned to bring over marijuana and a torch for smoking and “made home brew at his house and would also bring that over to her house to drink,” per the affidavit. “The conversation continues until he arrives and says, ‘I’m by the porch now,’ and no texts follow.”
At Carawan’s home, investigators found bloodstained shoes “under Carawan’s sleeping area with tread patterns that matched unique bloodstained tread patterns found on the scene,” per the affidavit.
Investigators also found a blue Cuisinart knife with a broken tip hidden between the refrigerator and the wall.
The knife allegedly matched “the color of the sheath located at the incident location,” according to the affidavit.
During an interview, Carawan initially denied having anything to do with the murders but “later confessed to killing both victims with the blue knife and explained the event in full detail.”
“Carawan admitted to taking both victim’s phones and said that he threw them in a lake while he was running back to his house after the incident,” per the affidavit. The phones were later recovered, according to police.
According to the affidavit, Carawan allegedly admitted he put his bloody clothing in a plastic bag with weights and tossed them in the river. He also told police he cleaned the murder weapon at his home and hid it between the refrigerator and wall.
Police said investigators found a bag of bloody clothing in the steam bath on his property. “Clothing located in the bag matched clothing that investigators had previously observed Carawan wearing in photos on his Facebook.”
