A Kotlik man has been sentenced to serve 14 years in prison for the death of his girlfriend in 2022.
According to a sworn Alaska State Trooper affidavit, 47-year-old Pius Teeluk called 911 on the morning of March 10, 2022 to report he had woken up to find his girlfriend dead.
The girlfriend, Marie Unok, had called 911 hours earlier to report that Teeluk had a firearm and had threatened to kill her. Troopers were unable to immediately respond to Kotlik due to weather conditions, according to the affidavit.
When troopers arrived in the lower Yukon Delta community that afternoon, they recovered Unok’s body and questioned Teeluk. The following day, the state medical examiner’s office told troopers that an autopsy revealed that Unok’s death appeared to be consistent with strangulation. Teeluk was arrested and taken to the Yukon Kuskokwim Correctional Center in Bethel the next day, according to the affidavit.
In May, Teeluk pleaded guilty to one count of manslaughter. State prosecutors dismissed charges of first-degree murder and second-degree murder in the case. The state also dismissed a charge of felony animal cruelty based on allegations that Teeluk had stabbed and killed Unok’s dog prior to her death.
In early November, Bethel Superior Court Judge Nathaniel Peters sentenced Teeluk to 20 years in prison with 6 years suspended.
