A Kotzebue man has been charged in connection with the investigation into the death of Ashley Johnson-Barr, 10, who went missing on Sept. 6, and was found dead on the tundra on Sept. 14.
U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder said that Peter Wilson, 41, was scheduled to appear in court in Anchorage on Tuesday, Sept. 18, at 1:30 p.m.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, a person identified only as “JJ” advised authorities that on the night of Sept. 6 she found the girl’s cell phone in the pocket of a jacket belonging to Wilson, who occasionally stays with “JJ,” after she heard the phone ring repeatedly in the jacket.
The woman then called the child’s mother, who said Ashley was missing. Johnson-Barr’s father retrieved the phone from the JJ residence and gave it to Kotzebue police,
Wilson said that he found the phone near the NANA building in Kotzebue.
JJ also advised authorities that on Sept. 6 she and Wilson were at JJ’s mother’s house throughout the day, a location one mile from Rainbow Park, where Ashley was last seen. JJ and her mother both told authorities that at about 5:20 p.m. that day that the mother asked Wilson to pick up JJ’s child and one other child, not the Johnson-Barr girl, that he was gone until about 7:20 p.m., and when he returned he had no children with him.
The complaint alleges that when Wilson was interviewed by the FBI that he denied using a four-wheeler at any time on Sept. 6, denied that he knew Ashley Johnson-Barr and denied seeing the girl’s name on her cell phone while he had it in his possession.
During the interview, Wilson repeatedly said he found the cell phone near the NANA building. Investigators determined, however, that the cell phone had travelled to areas well south and east of the location where the girl was last seen and where Wilson said he found the phone.
