Sophie Sergie of Pitkas Point, Kusilvak Census Area, Alaska, United States was 20 when she died in April 1993. She was an aspiring marine biologist. She is Alexie Sergie and Stephen Sergie‘s sister and Elena Sergie‘s daughter.

Sophie spent the last days of her life at the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus in College, Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska. She was a former student of the university but left school to save money for orthodontic work.

On the evening of April 24, 1993, Sophie visited her friend Joann Sundown, a UAF student. The former had an appointment with an orthodontist in Fairbanks, Fairbanks North Star Borough on April 26, 1993.

On the evening of April 25, 1993, Sophie, her former roommate Jolene Nanouk, their friend Eric Newlin and another friend drove out to see a movie. They later went to Murphy Dome, which is 2,500 feet above Fairbanks, to see a late sunset.

That evening, a photo of Sophie was taken on Murphy Dome. She stayed in the UAF dorm room of her friend Shirley Wasuli, a student of the university, then left to smoke a cigarette but never returned.

On April 26, 1993, a janitor found Sophie dead in a bathroom at Barlett Hall on the second floor of the UAF dorm. She was sexually assaulted, choked, stabbed in the face multiple times and shot in the back of the head.

UAF police officer James French was among the first ones to respond to the scene. No suspect was identified and the case went cold until Steven Harris Downs, then 44, was arrested on February 15, 2019.

Established in 1917, the UAF was originally named the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines and renamed the University of Alaska in 1935. When William R. Wood became the university’s president in 1960, he divided the university’s academic departments into six select colleges namely Arts and Letters; Behavioral Sciences and Education; Biological Sciences and Renewable Resources; Business, Economics and Government; Earth Sciences and Mineral Industry; and Mathematics, Physical Sciences and Engineering.

In 1975, the university was renamed the UAF. That year, Howard A. Cutler was appointed as the university’s chancellor.

From 1992 to 1996, Downs attended the UAF. He and his then roommate Nicholas Dazer were living on the third floor of the university’s dorm when Sophie was found dead inside the university on April 26, 1993. 

On February 13, 2019, Maine State Police interviewed Downs at his residence in Maine. He denied any knowledge of Sergie’s murder and suggested that soldiers stationed at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska at the time of her death should be investigated.

On February 14, 2019, a cheek swab was taken from Downs for deoxyribonucleic acid testing. It matched the semen found on Sergie.

On February 10, 2022, a jury in Fairbanks Superior Court found Downs guilty of first-degree sexual assault and first-degree murder in Sergie’s death. On September 26, 2022, he was sentenced to 75 years in prison.

In October 2022, Downs filed notice that he would appeal his conviction and sentence. In December 2022, the court assigned a public defender to represent his appeal of his conviction and sentence.