Wasilla man arrested for Plummer's murder

WASILLA — Spencer D. Johnson, 19, of Wasilla turned himself at about 3 p.m., Friday at the Anchorage Federal Courthouse after the Palmer District Attorney issued an arrest warrant for the charge of Murder in the First Degree.

The incident leading to his arrest was reported at 10:24 p.m., Wednesday by a caller at a home near Mile 15 Knik-Goose Bay Road who said someone had died, according to an Alaska State Trooper press statement.

Johnson is being held on $100,000 bail for stabbing to death Michael R. Plummer, 43, of Wasilla during an altercation involving three men over the ownership of a vehicle, troopers said.

There also was gunfire inside the home during the altercation, troopers say. Two different vehicles fled the scene and someone fired at them as they left.

Responding troopers found one of the vehicles at Mile 14 of Knik-Goose Bay Road, inoperable with a damaged tire.

They called in a search dog from the Wasilla Police Department to follow tracks leading into the woods.

“No persons were located but there were indications that a second vehicle had stopped at the location before continuing on toward Wasilla,” troopers report.

Soon after this, troopers got word that a man was at the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center’s emergency room with a gunshot wound.

Plummer was on the receiving end of a beating in 2005 that touched off a series of methamphetamine-fueled fights and break-ins that culminated in the Valentine’s Day death of Jeremiah Butler, who was trying to find the people who had badly injured Plummer.

Butler’s body was found propped up in a pickup parked on Barry’s Resort Drive. Though one man pulled the trigger and shot Butler — Claude Hale — seven people were eventually arrested in that case, all entered guilty pleas and were sentenced.

Plummer himself has an extensive history of low-level offenses dating back to 1989, according to court records. Charges include assault, drug possession and multiple violations for driving without a license.

The most serious charge he’s faced, according to the court system’s database, is third-degree assault, which is a C felony, or the least serious kind of felony.

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