Boyfriend charged with murder after woman found dead in tent in northeast Anchorage
Sep. 30—A 26-year-old Anchorage man was charged with second-degree murder Wednesday after his girlfriend was found dead in a tent near Muldoon Road last week.
William Gonzalez III was arrested this week after the woman's death was classified as a homicide, police said. Detectives determined she died from injuries suffered during an assault Gonzalez committed, according to an update Wednesday. They served a warrant on Gonzalez at the Anchorage jail, where he was already incarcerated on other charges.
The woman's body was found around 5 a.m. Sept. 22 when police responded to a wooded area near the intersection of Muldoon Road and 32nd Avenue, according to a criminal complaint written by an Anchorage police officer as part of the charges.
One of Gonzalez's family members had asked an employee at a nearby McDonald's to call for help for a woman in a tent, the complaint said. The relative came to the area after Gonzalez called family to say his girlfriend wasn't moving, according to the complaint.
He arrived at the tent and left to get help when he saw the woman's condition, the complaint said, and when police arrived Gonzalez was no longer there.
First responders declared the woman dead when they arrived. Police have not identified her.
At the scene, police saw indications the woman had been dragged into the tent, the complaint said. She had other injuries to her face, the officer wrote.
Security footage from McDonald's showed Gonzalez leaving the woods with his family member as police neared, the complaint said. During a police interview, Gonzalez said he hid behind the Regal Totem theater on Muldoon until another family member picked him up, according to the complaint. He showered at their home and his family later gave police Gonzalez's clothing as evidence, it said.
Family members told police that Gonzalez had described drinking with his girlfriend in Centennial Park before going to a nearby grocery store where the couple fought, the complaint said. He told family he'd hit his girlfriend with a rock, it said.
Police found Gonzalez at a friend's home and arrested him on an outstanding warrant for pending criminal charges that included assault and violating court orders.
During an interview, the complaint said, Gonzalez admitted he had struck his girlfriend with a rock.
