Chilling clue in Sonya Ivanoff’s murder that led to cop Matt Owens’ arrest after 19-year-old’s naked body found in pit | The US Sun
INVESTIGATORS desperately searched for answers after a beloved 19-year-old woman was murdered, stripped, and left in a pit outside a small Alaskan community.
A staged shooting led to the arrest of Nome police officer Matt Owens, who was implicated in the disappearance and death of Native woman Sonya Ivanoff.
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Alaska woman Sonya Ivanoff disappeared after a night out with friends on August 10, 2003
Credit: Oxygen
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A search and rescue team discovered her naked body in a pit
Credit: NBC News
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An anonymous tipster said that they saw Ivanoff get into a police car the night of her disappearance
Credit: NBC News
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Police officer Matthew Owens (second left) staged a shooting and claimed a perpetrator shot at him before leaving a chilling note
Credit: AP
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Officers found that his story didn’t make sense, and eventually indicted him in Ivanoff’s horrific death
Credit: NBC News
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He was found guilty of first-degree murder
Credit: NBC News
Ivanoff was enjoying a night out with friends on August 10, 2003.
At around 1am that night, Ivanoff said that she wasn’t feeling well and decided to walk home.
Two days later on August 13, her roommate called the Nome Police Department to report her missing after she failed to return home.
A search and rescue team immediately went to work, eventually discovering her naked body in a gravel pit. She had been shot in the head.
“Sonya was very prominent in the community,” former Alaska state trooper Eric Burroughs told Oxygen.
“She was very well known in the [surrounding communities] as a very good basketball player. She was known and liked.”
Ivanoff, who was one of six kids, was described as “goofy” and “fun” and established herself in Nome despite moving there a year prior.
Her family said that she was saving money to attend school in Hawaii that fall.
With a population of 4,000 people, there are few secrets in Nome, Alaska, and investigators immediately went to work to try and find what could have possibly happened to the beloved young woman.
Police decided the best place to start was a man who Ivanoff sometimes dated as he had a bad reputation in the tight-knit community.
However, investigators couldn’t pinpoint any hard evidence against him, and he was cleared as a suspect.
Eventually, a woman called with an anonymous tip that she had seen Ivanoff walking alone the night of her disappearance.
The tipster said a police car pulled up to her, and after a brief moment, Ivanoff got inside.
Weeks after the woman’s tip, one of the town’s three police SUVs went missing, and cops began to search for the vehicle.
Retired officer Byron Redburn said that he was contacted by another officer named Matt Owens who said he discovered the vehicle.
“Over the radio came Officer Owens saying there’d been shots fired and they’re shooting at Officer Owens,” Redburn said.
Redburn arrived at the scene to discover Owens uninjured and by himself.
He also found the police car. Its windows had been broken and inside there was an envelope with Ivanoff’s missing ID and a chilling letter.
“Pigs. I hate cops, I hate everyone of you,” the letter reportedly read.
The anonymous writer threatened any cop who was looking into Ivanoff’s death saying: “You leave me alone and I leave you alone.
“I will also shoot you in the head if you get close,” Dateline reported.
Owens’ description of what happened raised suspicion among investigators, and they decided to press him on the issue.
“We believed the incident was staged by Owens,” Trooper Burroughs said.
Investigators made Owens and the other officer who was on duty the night Ivanoff disappeared take a polygraph test.
While the other officer passed, Owens “failed miserably.”
Owens denied having anything to do with Ivanoff’s murder, but investigators had already found plenty of evidence to use against him.
The dirty cop was arrested on October 25, 2003.
After his arrest, women in the community began to come forward about interactions with Owens.
Several claimed that he sexually harassed them and threatened to kill them if they ever spoke up about it.
“We were informed he told them no one would believe a drunk active female over a police man,” Burroughs said.
Because there was no evidence that Ivanoff was sexually assaulted, investigators believed that Owens tried to harass the victim, and panicked when he realized she wasn’t drunk.
They also found that Owens had been spotted burning things in the wake of Ivanoff’s death.
When they found a burn pit, they discovered buttons that matched the jeans Ivanoff was last seen wearing.
Owens was indicted for first-degree murder on November 4, 2003.
While his first trial in 2005 ended in a hung jury, he was later found guilty and sentenced to 101 years in prison.
NBC’s Dateline is set to air an episode detailing Ivanoff’s story at 9pm EST on Friday.
