The Newman Family Murders

Who brutally assaulted and killed Nancy Newman and her two daughters?

Robin Barefield
10 min readMay 18, 2020

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Anchorage, Alaska

The 1987 brutal murders of a mother and her two daughters in Anchorage, Alaska, terrified residents, and they wondered who could commit such a barbaric act, and would he strike again?

People move to Alaska for a variety of reasons, including adventure, the chance to make good money, a desire to live in the wilderness, and a chance to escape the problems in their lives. Alaska is not a good refuge for people with serious issues, though. Harsh weather and endless winter nights lead to depression. If a person has psychological problems to begin with, they are likely to get worse in Alaska. Kirby Anthoney was so flawed before he moved to Alaska, it is difficult to say whether his condition worsened once he lived here for a while, but from his actions, we can guess it did.

Nancy Newman and her sister, Cheryl Chapman, were waitresses at Gwennies, a popular Anchorage restaurant still in business today. Nancy’s husband, John, worked as a heavy equipment operator for MarkAir until he was seriously injured in a forklift accident. Workman’s Compensation paid to have him retrained in California as a locksmith, and he was in California at his training in March 1987. Meanwhile, Nancy and her two daughters, Melissa, age eight, and Angie, age three…

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Robin Barefield

I am an Alaska wilderness mystery author and a podcaster: Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. https://murder-in-the-last-frontier.blubrry.net