What happened
Thirteen-year-old Mackenzie Howard was found murdered in the small Alaska Native community of Kake in 2013.
The investigation
The case exposed the reality of investigating a major crime in a community without a local police department: residents protected the scene while waiting many hours for state authorities to arrive.
What the courts or investigators concluded
A teenage suspect was arrested and the case was handled through the juvenile justice system, which limited the amount of public information about the final disposition.
Why the case remains significant
Mackenzie’s death has been cited in discussions of public-safety gaps in remote Alaska Native villages and the consequences of delayed law-enforcement response.
Case context
Crime by Region organizes cases geographically so readers can move from one file to other investigations from the same country. For unresolved or contested cases, the wording above reflects the distinction between confirmed events, investigative theories and findings actually established in court.