Suspect in shooting found in Missouri

HOUSTON — It’s been more than a year since Chris Green was shot in the chest in a home at Mile 53 Parks Highway, but prosecutors have finally charged three men with the crime.

Christopher Burleson, 24, was, as of last week, in the middle of court proceedings to extradite him to Alaska from Dexter, Mo. A grand jury indictment filed in Palmer on May 22 charges him with burglary, attempted murder and assault. Two more men are charged in the case, though neither of them with attempted murder.

Green was shot shortly before 9:30 a.m. April 1, 2008. Investigators say Burleson and one of his co-defendants, Lawrence Walker, showed up at the house and asked about a garage sale Green was having.

Josten said that once inside, the two men started asking Green about a crime they believed he’d been involved in and Green was shot.

“There is a drug nexus involved in the case and it is somewhat convoluted but the two — Walker and Burleson — did not get any drugs,” during the assault, said Investigator Ruthan Josten with the Wasilla Police Department. There wasn’t a marijuana grow at the house or anything of the sort, she said.

Josten believes Walker and Burleson were sent to Green’s house to intimidate him.

“They were paid to go over there,” she said.

And, she believes, she’s found the ringleader. A third man, Steven Samel, is charged with soliciting assault, conspiracy to assault and assault. Josten said she believes Samel set the ball in motion.

For his part, Walker is charged with burglary and hindering prosecution.

“He had contact with his co-defendant and we’re hearing that he basically told his co-defendant, ‘You better get out of here, the police are looking for you,’” Josten said of the hindering prosecution charge.

The Houston Police Department initially handled the case. Since then the department has lost both of its officers, hired two replacements, and is currently down to one officer.

Josten said Wasilla police were involved from the start — going up to the scene of the shooting on the day it occurred to process evidence.

“They had asked for our help when the initial scene happened because obviously there was a lot going on,” she said.

When Jason Holmgren, one of Houston’s officers at the time of the shooting, took a job in Wasilla, Josten said, he talked to his boss and they agreed the case should probably go with him.

“In having a discussion with his mayor they agreed to take the case down here,” she said.

She said it was a tough case to crack.

“At the time we just weren’t sure what the motive was and the victim didn’t know who these two people were or why they came to his house looking for him on that particular day,” she said.

But, through investigative work, none of which she wanted to discuss in detail for publication, they arrived at two suspects and ended up calling Burleson in Missouri, where he agreed to turn himself in.

“We are still waiting for some of the paperwork,” she said Friday of the extradition process. “It’s a possibility that he will be back in the state within the next week or so.”

As for Walker, court records seem to indicate he’s appeared at his hearings “out of custody,” meaning he apparently wasn’t incarcerated at the time. A search of prison records returned no listing of him either in custody or out on bail. Samel, on the other hand, was listed in prison records as of Monday afternoon as jailed at the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.