James Conrad Gelvin, 48, was shot and killed outside the shared cabin where he lived in Circle, Alaska, on January 2, 2025. Troopers and the Alaska Bureau of Investigation responded that afternoon; Gelvin was found collapsed on the porch and later taken to the state medical examiner’s office in Anchorage for autopsy.

A 26-year-old male cabinmate from Circle was arrested the same evening and booked into the Fairbanks Correctional Center on a charge of first-degree murder, with bail set at $500,000. Investigators alleged the younger man fired a single shot that struck Gelvin through the cabin’s front door after an earlier heated argument; relatives of the suspect told investigators Gelvin had acted erratically that day and made unspecified threats, and the suspect’s father had told him to bar Gelvin from entering. Temperatures that day were reported near 50 degrees below zero.

The case was in early court proceedings with a next hearing set for January 13, 2025. Does anyone in Circle remember the men involved or have information about what led up to the shooting?