Anchorage man charged with Correira killing

WASILLA -- Anchorage resident Michael Lawson, 46, was charged Wednesday in connection with the killing of former Talkeetna resident Bethany Correira. According to an affidavit filed by Detective Glen Klinkhart of the Anchorage Police Department, the arrest was made after a lengthy investigation, which included a court-authorized warrant allowing for taped telephone conversations between Michael Lawson and his brother Robert Lawson.

Robert Lawson reportedly agreed to speak to Klinkhart about the disappearance of Correira, after he and his brother were arrested on Feb. 19 in Eagle River on federal charges pertaining to a now defunct business, Lawson Roofing, which the brothers owned.

According to Klinkhart's affidavit filed with charges against Michael Lawson in Anchorage Superior Court, Robert reported that he was awakened by a cell phone call on May 3. When he answered the phone, his brother Michael told him "I shot somebody." Michael then allegedly told Robert to get plastic bags and other items and come to the duplex at 622 M Street in Anchorage, near the apartment Correira had recently rented.

When Robert arrived at the duplex, he reportedly saw the nude body of a white female -- Correira -- on the floor of a first-floor bedroom. Michael Lawson told Robert there had been a struggle and the gun "went off," according to Klinkhart's affidavit. Robert reported that he observed a single gunshot wound to the right side of the woman's body.

Robert reportedly told Klinkhart that he agreed to help his brother dispose of Correira's body, which was wrapped in plastic and duct tape. Michael Lawson allegedly instructed Robert to plaster an indentation in the wall of the bedroom because Michael was concerned that there would be hair and/or blood in the indentation.

The affidavit then reports that the brothers decided to take the body to a gravel pit they both knew of in Fairbanks. They headed out of Anchorage the evening of May 3 but at mile 129, just outside of Talkeetna, the Lawsons pulled off the highway to the back of a gravel pit and dumped the body in a wooded area, before driving back to Anchorage.

Robert Lawson reportedly said his brother insisted that the duplex at 622 M Street needed to be destroyed. According to the affidavit, at midnight Michael Lawson waited in his vehicle while Robert started a fire in the downstairs bedroom where Correira had been killed.

On Feb. 20, Robert Lawson took members of the Anchorage Police Department and federal enforcement officers to the location off the Parks Highway where Correira's body had been dumped, Klinkhart wrote. Due to extreme weather and deep snow, a thorough search could not be conducted. Correira's skeletal remains were recovered at the location on May 3 and positively identified through dental records.

Michael Lawson is being held at the Anchorage Jail with a bail of $2 million, cash only.

His next hearing is set for June 7.

Contact Joel Davidson at joel.davidson@frontiersman.

com.