Houston man free in wake of roadside fight that left man shot to death

BIG LAKE - Charged with murder less than two weeks ago, Larry Mayo is now a free man.

A Palmer magistrate on Wednesday dismissed charges of second-degree murder against the 53-year-old Houston man accused of killing 24-year-old Christoffer Inman on a dark local side road in mid-December.

Witnesses told Alaska State Troopers that Mayo and Inman - described as former friends - encountered each other on Victor Road as they traveled in two pickups the night of Dec. 16. Mayo confronted Inman and the men began to argue, then grappled over a handgun, witnesses said.

A woman driving with Inman - 38-year-old Patricia Wilds, apparently married to Mayo - told troopers that she saw Mayo shoot Inman in the chest. Mayo, however, told troopers that the gun went off while the two men fought over it.

Confusion over the particulars of the shooting may have led to the dismissal.

Palmer prosecutor Mike Walsh told a magistrate during a hearing Wednesday that he "wasn't ready to proceed," according to a transcript of the hearing.

Mayo's public defender moved immediately for dismissal.

Walsh in an interview Thursday said he couldn't get specific, but said he "needed to complete an evaluation" of the case before moving forward. "That is under way," he said.

Inman's father, Mark Inman, said the possibility the men struggled with the weapon in the moments before the shooting complicated matters, as did Wilds' relationship with Mayo.

"It's an injustice ... a tragedy," Inman said of the dismissal. "Our justice system ... wow."

On Wednesday, the same day Mayo got out of jail, Inman and his wife requested and received short-term protective orders against him.

"He murdered my son and I think he will (murder) me and my husband and family," Lisa Inman wrote in her petition for the order. "He knows where we live and has made many threats to our family, many times in (the) middle of the night (to) intimidate us and scare us."

Mayo could not immediately be reached for comment. His voice mailbox was full. A woman picked up the phone at Wilds' number but hung up when she learned a reporter was calling.

Mayo and Wilds are apparently married and lived together as recently as early December, according to a protective order petition she filed. Mayo filed for divorce in 2009, but the case was dismissed some months later. Wilds obtained a 20-day protective order against Mayo on Dec. 19.

She and Mayo were "having problems" in early December, so she left to stay somewhere else, Wilds wrote in her petition. She returned to fetch a vehicle about a week later. On the day of the shooting, Mayo came to the house where Wilds was staying and took the vehicle back, she wrote.

Inman also had domestic violence allegations against him. In February, he was charged with domestic violence assault against his girlfriend, who said he dragged and beat her in front of her young son, according to an Alaska State Troopers affidavit. Inman was wanted on a $2,000 warrant after he failed to show up for a court-ordered batterers' intervention program.

Mark Inman said his son wasn't always an angel, but he was trying to distance himself from people like Mayo and was just trying to help Wilds the night he was murdered.

Christoffer Inman would have turned 25 on Christmas Day. Inman owned Cruz In Auto and Tire in Bethel, according to a state business license listing. He had one biological daughter. His father said he was a whiz with cars who'd start your engine for free if you needed help.

Inman said he made himself visit the scene of the shooting. He cleaned up his son's blood, frozen into the snowy road. He didn't want people driving over it.

Last Sunday, Inman was reading over Christoffer's obituary at a local gas station. A cashier looked upset. He asked why. She asked if he had any ungrateful children.

No, he told her. He had a son in the obituary section.

"I just said, ‘Love your children,'" he said. "If I could just get that message out, it's just love your children because you just don't know."