The suspect in a fatal downtown assault was arrested Friday afternoon by Juneau Police Department officers.
David Valentine Evenson, 51, was taken into custody at about 1:45 p.m. Friday and has been charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, JPD Lt. Kris Sell said in a press release.
“We had been knocking on doors and talking to people all over town,” Sell said, adding that officers had been encouraging Evenson’s friends to tell him to turn himself in.
Evenson called JPD Friday and arranged to be picked up, she said. He was taken to Lemon Creek Correctional Center, where he is being held without bail.
It is not clear which criminal charge will actually be filed by the District Attorney, which likely will depend on autopsy results; Sell said evidence still is coming in on the case.
JPD had been searching for Evenson since the June 30 assault, and ramped up their search after the victim, Aaron G. Monette, died on July 4 at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
According to police, JPD received a report about the assault at just before 1 p.m. June 30, that Evenson had kicked Monette, 56, in the head near the Downtown Transit Center.
Both Capital City Fire/Rescue and police officers were dispatched to the scene and found Monette lying on the ground unconscious. The suspect reportedly had fled the scene prior to the officers’ arrival.
Monette was transported to Bartlett Regional Hospital by ambulance; he was later medically evacuated to Harborview Medical Center for advanced trauma treatment, where he died July 4.
