KENAI, Alaska (AP) — Kenai police searching a river have recovered a gun believed to be connected to the shooting deaths of a woman and her daughter.
Police searched the Kenai River with a Nikiski dive team Thursday, radio station KSRM reported Friday.
The handgun found is consistent with what authorities were searching for, Kenai Police Chief Dave Ross said. The gun will be sent to the state crime lab for analysis, he said.
Masonn Byrd is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 60-year-old Rachelle Armstrong and her 39-year-old daughter, Lisa Rutzebeck. The women were found dead early Sunday morning inside a home on Kenai’s north side.
Police arrested Byrd on Tuesday.
Prosecutors suspect the women may have been killed over a drug deal.
Byrd told police had no involvement in the shootings. Online court documents do not list an attorney for Byrd who could comment for him.
Byrd’s grandfather, Dwight Davis, told authorities that Byrd told him the morning after the shootings that he shot the women and was going to through the weapon in the river, online court documents said.
The grandfather also said the shootings occurred over money and that Byrd believed he would get away with it because there were no witnesses, the documents said.
Armstrong’s cellphone revealed multiple text conversations with Byrd related to drug dealing and her debt to him, said a police affidavit included in the court documents. The last conversation ended 20 minutes before the shootings, the documents said.
There is no telephone listing for Davis, and he could not be reached for comment Friday.