FAIRBANKS, ALASKA 1993: Sophie Sergie was a first generation college student from a small village in rural Alaska who set her eyes on building a better future for herself and her family. In April of 1993, someone cut that future short.
This case played out on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks over 4000 miles from New England and nearly three decades in the past, but the long arm of justice knows no limits of distance or time. DNA evidence reached across the farthest corners of the United States to implicate the alleged killer of Sophie Sergie. He was working as a nurse in Auburn, Maine.
The 2019 arrest of Steven Downs seemed like the first sign of real closure for Sophie’s family, but as the trial proceedings play out in Alaska Superior Court right now in January of 2022, what seemed like a clear answer on the surface gets more difficult to pin down each day.
This is Part I of Sophie Sergie's story.
View source material and photos for this episode at darkdowneast.com/sophiesergie
Dark Downeast is an audiochuck and Kylie Media production hosted by Kylie Low.
The Suspicious Death of Patricia Wing (Maine)
The Survival Story of Kayleigh Ballantyne (Massachusetts)
The Disappearances of William Sanborn and Alphonse Cote Jr. (Maine)
The Murder of Mary Catherine Olenchuk (Maine)
The Murders of Stella Bolton & James ‘JJ’ Moore (New Hampshire)
The Murders of Dr. and Mrs. Littlefield (Maine)
The Murder of Sarah Cherry (Maine)
The Murder of Leslie Spellman (Maine)
The Murder of Kathy Frost (Maine)
The Murders of Janet Brochu & Geraldine Finn (Maine)
The Disappearance of Daniel K. Wood Jr. (Maine)
The Murder of Lizzi Marriott (New Hampshire)
The Murder of Sonny Grotton (Maine)
The Disappearance of Pauline Rourke (Maine)
The Disappearance of Ayla Reynolds (Maine)
The Disappearance of Virginia Sue Pictou Noyes (Maine)
The Murder of Pearl Bruns (Maine)
The Disappearance of Amy St. Laurent (Maine)
The Disappearance of Shirley Moon-Atwood (Maine)
The Victims of the River Spree Killer (Maine)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Deck
Going West: True Crime
Crime Junkie
Dateline NBC
Scaredycast