Lost Women of Alaska: The Anchorage Killer Who Preyed on Women He Thought No One Would Miss

Anchorage, Alaska. In 2018, Veronica Abouchuk, 52, is killed. In 2019, Kathleen Jo Henry, 30, dies inside a midtown hotel room. Both were Alaska Native women struggling with homelessness, living on the edges of the city. Prosecutors later said that was exactly why they were chosen.

Executive produced and narrated by Octavia Spencer, Lost Women of Alaska is the latest chapter in her Lost Women franchise with Investigation Discovery and October Films. It premiered as a three-hour event on February 25, 2026, and keeps the focus where it belongs: on Veronica and Kathleen, their families, and the systemic failures that leave Indigenous women so vulnerable. Spencer has said she wants stories like theirs told, seen, and resolved.

The case broke open thanks to a piece of evidence that surfaced in the most unlikely way imaginable, and the series traces every step from that discovery to an arrest. Police charged Brian Steven Smith, a South African-born hotel worker, and in February 2024 an Anchorage jury convicted him of both murders after deliberating for less than two hours. As of early 2026, his appeal was still pending before the Alaska Court of Appeals, and Alaska's News Source has reported on the possibility of additional victims.

This is a hard watch, and a necessary one. Find where to stream Lost Women of Alaska and start it tonight.