Ellison Buster was seven when he was killed in his Palmer, Alaska, home in the pre-dawn hours of November 30, 2020. A relative broke into the family’s house; Ellison was asleep in bed and died of gunshot wounds. His mother, 43-year-old Kimora Buster, and his 10-year-old sister, Sienna, were also shot and killed. A 18-year-old brother sleeping beside Ellison was physically unharmed.

The violence began shortly after 3 a.m. at a nearby Wasilla home, where 18-year-old Cody Roehl was shot and later died. The shooter fled in a stolen white Jeep Liberty armed with a semi-automatic Glock. Investigators linked the scenes to a relative, 18-year-old Malachi Maxon, who had been staying with the family and whose electronic monitoring placed him at the Buster home. Troopers arrested Maxon around 4:07 a.m. after spotting the stolen Jeep; he later tried to grab a trooper’s pistol while being transported.

Crime-scene processing recovered numerous spent casings and more bullet defects in the boys’ bed than around the other victims, suggesting an attempt to shoot the younger boy that investigators say may have failed because of faulty ammunition. Maxon was charged with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, and related theft, assault, and escape charges; bail was set at $10 million and the case was pending trial as of December 2020. Does anyone have information about Ellison, his family, or the events that morning?