Liyana Woods was 19 when she died of a single gunshot in a South Fairbanks apartment in the early morning hours of September 15, 2024. A 911 call came in about 7 a.m., placed by a 17-year-old male friend who said Liyana had accidentally shot herself while playing with a gun. The caller was identified as Evan Titan Stevens-Kozevnikoff.

Detectives found inconsistencies with that account. A friend who was on the bed with Liyana said she woke to a loud bang and saw Liyana slumped over while Stevens-Kozevnikoff sat on a couch with a gun beside him, looking scared. Investigators noted no blood residue on the firearm and a deputy state medical examiner estimated the shot was fired from about 18 inches away, a distance that is difficult to reconcile with a self-inflicted close-contact wound. Stevens-Kozevnikoff’s stepbrother told officers the 17-year-old had admitted the gun went off while he was playing with it and he hadn’t known a round was chambered.

Ten days after the shooting, authorities arrested Stevens-Kozevnikoff and charged him as an adult with one count of manslaughter, a Class A felony; bail was set at $50,000 with a no-firearms condition. If anyone was in or near that apartment that morning or has other information about what happened, please come forward.