The memory card containing brutal video and photographs led to the arrest of an Alaskan man, police said.
A chance discovery of a memory card containing brutal images and video of a woman being beaten and killed has led to the arrest of a man in Alaska, police said.
Police arrested Brian Steven Smith, 48, earlier this week as he arrived at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
Anchorage Police Department spokesman MJ Thim said detectives reviewing the videos recognized the voice of Smith from an unrelated investigation.
He did not specify the nature of that separate investigation or Smith's role in it. The suspect is a native of South Africa and has an accent, police said.
The card containing 39 still photos and 12 videos was labeled "Homicide at midtown Marriott" and was discovered in September by a woman out for a walk. She viewed the disc on her computer and then contacted police, authorities said.
On Oct. 2, two days after the card was found, a woman's remains were discovered along a busy highway in Anchorage. On Thursday, police identified them as belonging to 30-year-old Kathleen J. Henry, a Native Alaskan.
Smith is charged with first-degree murder in Henry's death. He has not yet entered a plea.
The images and video showed a naked woman being beaten on the floor of a hotel room, police said. At one point, a foot is seen stomping on the woman's throat as a man yells "Just die!" authorities said. In another snippet the man is heard laughing, according the court documents, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Investigators using phone records tracked Smith's cellphone to the area where Henry's body was discovered, authorities said.
At a Wednesday court appearance, Smith was appointed a public defender and ordered held in lieu of $750,000 cash bail.
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