2nd teen charged in homicide

PALMER — A second high-school-aged boy has been charged with murder in adult court related to the March death of a Palmer man, documents show.

Ethan Angasan, 16, of Palmer faces charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter, tampering with physical evidence and criminally negligent homicide in connection with the March 13 slaying of Frank Pushruk, 45, according to a grand jury indictment filed Friday.

Another Palmer teen, Jacob Allen Dvorak, then 17, told authorities he had sought “justice” in connection with a purported March 10 sexual assault of a then-16-year-old female acquaintance, according to an affidavit in the Dvorak case.

Acting with another teen, identified in the affidavit only by the initials “E.A.,” Dvorak drove Pushruk to the Matanuska River overlook on the pretense of buying hallucinogenic mushrooms, according to the affidavit. Dvorak confronted Pushruk and used a stolen .45-caliber handgun to shoot him three times — once in the face and twice in the back of the head, according to the affidavit.

Angasan and Dvorak then allegedly dumped Pushruk’s body over the edge of the scenic overlook, according to the affidavit. Authorities recovered Pushruk’s body later that day.

Dvorak, now 18, faces charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and two counts of evidence tampering in the case. He has been held since his arrest in the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility on $100,000 bail, where he remained Monday afternoon.

Two expert witnesses in the case have been identified in court filings: Tom Wortman, a latent print examiner with the Seattle Police Department, and Debra Gillis, a forensic scientist with the state crime lab, according to documents. A trial date has not yet been set.

In the affidavit, E.A. told police he had urged Dvorak not to kill Pushruk and instead favored beating him up in retaliation when they had discussed the plan in the days leading up to the shooting.

After the shooting, he felt threatened and told police he was afraid Dvorak would shoot him, according to the affidavit. Dvorak told E.A. to tell the police that “Riddles” (Dvorak’s nickname) had killed Pushruk, according the affidavit.

The victim of the assault and two others were parked near the scene and later called police to report the homicide based on hearing the three gunshots, according to the affidavit.

Angasan’s case has been assigned to Superior Court judge Vanessa White, who has issued a $20,000 warrant for his arrest, court documents show.

Calls to Dvorak’s defense attorney and the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case went unreturned Monday.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com.