According to court documents, two men and a teenager have been charged with murder, manslaughter, and burglary in the death of an Alaskan man. One of the men said that the man was attacked because of a social media post.
Moses Blanchard, 22; Blaise Dilts, 21; and Gonzalo Sanchez, 17, were indicted by a grand jury in Ketchikan on Thursday, the Alaska Department of Law announced Friday. They are accused of killing Klawock resident Lincoln Peratrovich, who was 80 years old and died last week.
Sanchez is being charged as an adult, department spokesperson Patty Sullivan said.
On Friday, Blanchard and Dilts’s lawyer did not answer a message asking for comment. The online court records system for the state did not show that Sanchez had a lawyer.
The Department of Law said that comments on a Facebook post about Peratrovich seemed to encourage violence against him. They based this on the investigation.
Adam Hawkins, an investigator with the Alaska Bureau of Investigation, said in an affidavit that on March 20, Alaska State Troopers got a report that a man, who was later identified as Peratrovich, whistled and called young girl names and followed her while carrying an axe.
Peratrovich told the police that he was cutting wood when he saw a woman and whistled at her. The affidavit says that he said he then realized she was “younger than he thought,” but he kept talking to her and invited her inside for food. According to the affidavit, he said he didn’t follow her and kept cutting wood after she said no.
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Blanchard Knew about the Facebook Post
Troopers found that no crime had been committed.
Troopers received a call early March 21 reporting an assault at Peratrovich’s home. When they got there, Peratrovich had no pulse, and it was later confirmed that he was dead. The affidavit said that investigators found a camping chair, a plastic box that looked like a crate, and a log with blood on it.
Dilts, when asked under interrogation why Peratrovich was attacked, said it was “because of what was on Facebook,” according to the affidavit. “There was a post on Facebook that said Peratrovich chased a 13-year-old girl with an axe after coming up to her. Blaise was asked if he knew if any of what was written on Facebook was true. Blaise told us “no.”
The affidavit says Blanchard told investigators he knew about the post.
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