Jennifer Kirk, an Alaskan Native woman aged 25, was found dead inside a small house on property owned by then–Northwest Arctic Borough mayor Clement Richards Sr. in Kotzebue, Alaska, on May 23, 2018. Officers arriving after a neighbor called encountered Anthony Richards, one of the mayor’s sons, holding Kirk’s body in a bedroom; she lay curled at the foot of a bed with a .22-caliber rifle nearby, a gunshot wound beneath her chin and marks on her neck that the medical examiner described as indicating strangulation.

Police closed the case as a suicide the following day, before the final autopsy was complete. Investigative records raise unanswered questions: measurements showed the rifle’s barrel-to-trigger distance (27⅛ inches) exceeded Kirk’s arm length (26⅜ inches), and a retired firearms expert said reconstruction was needed to assess the feasibility of self-firing. Anthony Richards reportedly admitted earlier that same day to causing the neck marks, yet investigators did not test his hands or clothing for gunshot residue, an omission Kirk’s family later discovered. No arrests or charges have been announced, and authorities have named no suspects. The family continues to press for a fuller accounting of what happened on May 23, 2018.

If anyone knew Jennifer, was at that house, or has information about the scene that evening, please come forward.