Flathead Valley killer now on trial in Alaska

JUNEAU, Alaska — A cold case murder trial started Thursday in Juneau involving the shooting of a Washington State woman by her boyfriend at Yakutat’s Glacier Bear Lodge in 1996.

According to The Juneau Empire, the case involving the shooting death of Sandra Perry by Robert Kowalski was reopened in 2009 after Kowalski was convicted of homicide for killing a different girlfriend near Kalispell in 2008.

The incident involving Perry took place in their bedroom at the lodge on July 21, 1996. It was then ruled accidental. He’s facing first- and second-degree murder charges.

Kowalski says he heard a bear at the bedroom window and grabbed his Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun. He said he tripped over a cord on his way to the window, causing the gun to go off and killing Perry.

Kowalski was convicted of murder in Flathead County in 2008 and was serving a prison sentence in Montana when he was charged with the Alaska crime.

Both the Flathead County and Yakutat shootings apparently were preceded by domestic disturbances; both girlfriends were shot in the mouth from close range and in both cases, Kowalski stayed with the bodies several hours before calling authorities.

In 2008, Kowalski was charged for shooting his 45-year-old girlfriend once in the face with a small-caliber handgun from about 12 inches away during a drunken domestic dispute.

The body of Lorraine Kay Morin, who was a mother of six, was found in a living room chair at her home on March 16, 2008, at her home a few hundred feet north of Elk Park Road on Montana 206.

Kowalski had told a roommate about the shooting and the roommate notified authorities.

Kowalski was arrested following a 31-hour armed standoff with SWAT teams that surrounded his residence on Montana 35.

Once in custody, Kowalski maintained the gun went off accidentally as he was falling backward in a chair.

Kowalski pleaded guilty to mitigated deliberate homicide with an Alford plea and was sentenced to 50 years in prison with 10 suspended in April 2009.

An Alford plea means the defendant can maintain his or her innocence while admitting there is probably enough evidence to convince a judge or jury that he or she is guilty.

Kowalski has a long criminal history and a history of mental illness.

He was cited in 2003 for assaulting a family member and violating a restraining order in Montana.

In 2005, he was accused of threatening, kicking and pushing his ex-wife and threatening a stepson.

He received a drunken driving citation on the same date.