Man on trial for murder calms down

Oct. 6, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

PALMER - A Wasilla man who admitted killing the woman he says he considered his wife and their infant son almost a year ago was relatively calm during his murder trial Tuesday.

Christopher A. Kevan, 25, didn't interrupt witnesses, deliberately spill water, or chew and spit pieces of Styrofoam cups on the sixth day of his trial for killing Brandie Burns, 26, and Ashton Burns, 7 weeks. Kevan, charged with two counts of first-degree murder and six counts of second-degree murder, did all those things last week, often drowning out other voices in court.

After a week of Kevan's profanity-laced interruptions, Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler warned Kevan his actions could lead her to preclude him from participating in court in person on Sept. 27.

Since then, Kevan ramped down his tone, temper and tirades, and he quietly twiddled his large hands while the deputy state medical examiner explained the manner and cause of death of the young mother and baby sometime between the afternoon of Oct. 25 and the morning of Oct. 26.

The victims' deaths were caused by homicide, said Dr. Stephen Erickson, a forensic pathologist. Erickson's external examination of the bodies on Oct. 27 showed &#8220the constellation of features of strangulation,” he said.

Erickson clarified his diagnosis that Brandie Burns died from strangulation and asphyxiation.

Burns' 63-inch, 122-pound body showed trauma from strangulation, but the brain of the &#8220healthy young woman,” shut down when it was deprived of oxygen, he said. When he examined her throat internally, there was no neck trauma, he said.

&#8220Asphyxia could mean someone laid on her and compressed her heart, lungs and chest as another component,” Erickson said.

The 6-foot, 4-inch Kevan listed his weight on his driver's license at 210 pounds.

But at the time of his arrest on Oct. 26, Kevan looked much heavier, said Sgt. Dallas Massie, an investigator with the Alaska Bureau of Investigation at the time.

Most likely, Burns died on her back at the Bogard Road apartment she and Ashton shared with Kevan, Erickson said. The doctor couldn't give a specific time of death, saying time is always stated within a range.

&#8220The solution is for the detectives,” he said. &#8220I help with the clues.”

Baby Ashton was a little less than 22 inches long and weighed 10 pounds, Erickson said.

&#8220You can hold a 10-pound infant in your hand if you want to,” he said. &#8220With an infant, you wouldn't need to squeeze hard to cause trauma.”

As he did with the mother's autopsy photos, Erickson pointed to distinct lineal and circular bruising that indicated manual strangulation on Ashton's neck.

A small, faint bruise on the baby's forehead couldn't be explained as part of his everyday activities, he said.

&#8220Toddlers are forward movers and forward bumpers,” he said. &#8220But at seven-and-a-half weeks, no.”

During the autopsy, Erickson found evidence of the skull fracture that put Ashton in the hospital a month before his death.

Although it had started to heal, the 2- to 3-inch fracture that ran from the top of the skull to the temple was the result of &#8220significant” trauma, he said.

&#8220You really have to bang the skull to cause that,” he said.

While Ashton was in the hospital, Brandie said she fell while holding her son, and he hit his head on the couple's wood bed frame. After his arrest for their deaths, Kevan told Alaska State Troopers that Burns lied about Ashton's injury to protect him. Kevan told troopers he had been drinking when he dropped his 3-week-old son.

Kevan's trial will resume Monday morning, and he most likely will take the stand. Before leaving for the week, jurors watched a video of Kevan's deadpan interview with Massie and Investigator Tim Hunyor at the Palmer post of the Alaska State Troopers.

&#8220A guy doesn't kill his girlfriend and baby every day,” Massie said in the video. &#8220I'm sure that image was burned into your brain. It's a significant emotional event.”

&#8220Yeah,” Kevan said. &#8220I don't really know what happened.”

&#8220You need to be honest with yourself,” Massie said. &#8220You know exactly what happened. Why is she dead?”

&#8220Oh, stuff like that,” Kevan said. &#8220Pointless questions. Maybe there's something wrong with me.”

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.