On the morning of May 6, 2025, the body of 48-year-old Raymond Monty McPherson Jr. was found under a bridge at Whitefish Campground, about 21 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska. Alaska State Troopers responded to a call around 6 a.m. and determined McPherson had died of multiple gunshot wounds — six shots to the head, torso, and leg.

Investigators focused on 38-year-old Tessa Hillyer, who told her stepmother that she had killed someone and was taken back to the campground, where troopers found both women. Troopers observed a developing bruise on Hillyer’s eye and the odor of alcohol. A .22 caliber pistol lay on top of McPherson’s hand; the magazine was empty, the chamber was empty, and five spent casings were nearby. Testing later detected Hillyer’s DNA on the pistol’s trigger grip. Toxicology showed McPherson’s blood alcohol was .36 at death and Hillyer’s was over the legal limit six hours later.

Hillyer was arrested and charged with first-degree murder; her attorney said she acted in self-defense. She testified that McPherson struck her after she rejected his sexual advances, that she retrieved her pistol from her van, and that she fired until the magazine was empty when he lunged at her. What details from the campsite or witness accounts might clarify the sequence of events that morning?