Discovery of a Tragic Scene

On the morning of December 5, 2019, Anchorage Police Department officers responded to a report of an abandoned vehicle in the 500 block of North Sitka Street. Inside the gray 2008 Mazda 6, which had been reported stolen a month earlier, they discovered the lifeless body of 27-year-old Lanycha Zimmer. The young woman had sustained traumatic injuries, and her death was promptly classified as a homicide.

The Stolen Vehicle Connection

The Mazda 6 in which Lanycha was found had been reported stolen on November 4, 2019. The owner had left the car unattended and running outside a business on the 2000 block of East 3rd Avenue. Within minutes, the vehicle was taken. This connection between the stolen car and Lanycha's death has been a focal point of the investigation, raising questions about how she came to be in the vehicle and whether her death was directly related to the car theft. ...Read More