Man dead, wife wounded in weekend shooting

PALMER — A man accused of fatally shooting a Trapper Creek man and wounding his wife entered a plea of not guilty at his first appearance in court Monday.

Jeremy Christopher Nelson, 37, faces murder and attempted murder charges in the case, which began late Saturday evening at a home on Wolf Trail near Mile 115 Parks Highway. He is alleged to have murdered Robert Carey, 66, and wounded Verna Carey, 58.

At Monday’s hearing, he appeared in orange prisoner garb, was assigned a public defender and had his bail set at $750,000. Nelson told the court he used to work in drywall and has been unemployed since moving to Alaska about six months ago. Palmer District Court Judge David Zwink told him the murder charge carries a 20- to 99-year sentence and attempted murder carries a seven to 99 year sentence.

Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak outlined a history of misdemeanor convictions Nelson had while living in Washington state, charges like reckless driving, theft, driving without a license and violating a restraining order. Though most of the Washington charges were minor, Kalytiak said Saturday’s shooting put Nelson in a special category of dangerous offenders, since the people he’s alleged to have shot had no personal relationship with him.

“He’s at the upper end of the scale in terms of public danger,” Kalytiak said. “Clearly, he doesn’t have any ties to the state or the community where one person was killed and another seriously injured.”

Zwink set bail at $750,000 and required a court-approved, third-party custodian.

Verna has 10 children and two of her daughters and one grandson attended Monday’s hearing. They said they believe Nelson stalked their mother and stepfather and cut power to the Careys cabin purposefully to draw them outside.

But they say their mother is tough. While police worked to coax Nelson to give himself up, Verna had already been treated and released from the hospital.

“Mom was home with me by then trying to rest,” said her daughter, Sapphire Rossi.

According to an affidavit AST Investigator Sherry Ferno filed in the case, troopers were summoned to the home when Verna called 911 saying she’d been shot and her husband killed shortly after 10:20 p.m. Saturday.

In an interview, Ferno said troopers didn’t have a whole lot to go on. Carey was familiar with Nelson — she didn’t know him, but knew of him — but didn’t know where he’d gone. Nelson was apparently on foot the whole time, Ferno said, so he didn’t get far.

“He stayed in the area,” she said, and was found holed up in a vehicle parked at a nearby home. “The vehicle belong to someone he knew and the residence wasn’t his.”

Nelson didn’t want to give himself up at first. Troopers called in the Special Emergency Response Team, which is akin to what other law enforcement agencies might call a SWAT team. One member of the SERT team was a Wasilla police officer. Troopers also brought in a helicopter — which a spokeswoman said spent a number of hours in the air and was instrumental in tracking Nelson — and highway patrol officers, one of them a Palmer police officer.

“It was just a matter of getting him to give up willingly and take him into custody, which at about 5 o’clock he did. He was apprehended without any further incident,” said trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen, who noted that the case warranted a large response. “This is a small residential area littered with trees and we didn’t actually know where he was, so that definitely does warrant a response like that.”

Ferno caught up with Verna at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. The investigator’s affidavit contains an account of their conversation.

According to Verna, she and her husband were sitting in their house when the power went out. Robert went outside to see what was wrong and Verna followed. Outside, she said, she saw a man wearing camouflage and snowshoes standing next to their generator with a long gun and a handgun. Verna said she recognized the man as Nelson.

“Jeremy said he was looking for a man. Robert told Jeremy he was on private property and would have to leave. Verna observed Jeremy point the rifle he was holding at Robert and shoot Robert in the chest,” Ferno writes in her affidavit.

Verna told troopers Nelson fired a second shot, which hit her right arm.

At the courthouse Monday afternoon, her daughters said their mother might have been more gravely injured if she hadn’t tripped over one of the family’s goats while fleeing the shooter.

“She tripped over a goat and stumbled through the doorway of the cabin,” her daughter Hannah Ehrman said. “Otherwise it would have got her in the chest.”

She said she also believes her mother was smart to play dead until Nelson left.

In an interview, Ferno said troopers had talked to Nelson, but gained nothing of value from the conversation. She said it’s still unclear exactly what kind of gun Nelson used.

“We’re still working on that,” she said.

The Careys had lived in the area for three or four years, according to their daughters, living a simple life caring for goats and chickens, reading the Bible and writing letters. Her daughters said the family is trying to put together the funds to bury Robert. The family doesn’t believe in cremation for religious reasons, the daughters said.

As for Nelson, in Ferno’s affidavit she said he lived in a two-story house with several outbuildings on Wolverine Trail. Troopers spoke to his girlfriend, Kerry Cook, who told them Nelson had left that afternoon around 3 p.m., armed and saying “he was going to take care of some business,” according to Ferno’s affidavit.

As for reports that Nelson had been something of a troublemaker in the area in the short time he’d lived there, Ferno said that if he was, troopers didn’t know about it.

“Nobody called us. Not until last night,” she said.

Verna’s daughters said they had heard tales of erratic behavior on Nelson’s part from their mother’s neighbors.

“The whole community was afraid of this guy,” Ehrman said. “People shouldn’t be afraid of their neighbors.”

Rossi said there’s a lesson here.

“When there are signs that people aren’t right, whether it’s drugs or mental health issues, don’t ignore it. Call the cops and keep calling,” she said. “It’s so important to take care of each other.”

A savings account has been set up at Alaska USA for Verna Carey — Act. No. 1579570 — to help with her medical expenses and with expenses associated with the burial of her husband. The family also is accepting donations of building materials to construct a small residence for their mother on the property. For more information about donating building supplies, call 354-8920.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270. Contact Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.