KUALA LUMPUR: A 52 year-old man has been convicted of the brutal murders of two Native Alaskan women a few years ago.
The Independent online newspaper reported that Brian Steven Smith from South Africa was found guilty on Thursday in the murders of Kathleen Jo Henry, 30, and Veronica Abouchuk, 52.
Smith's arrest in 2019 came after a sex worker stole his phone and discovered horrifying videos of him beating and strangling Henry to death in an Anchorage hotel room. She copied the evidence onto a memory card and handed it over to the police, as reported by the Associated Press.
Smith confessed while in custody to the murder of Abouchuk, which occurred in 2018 or 2019.
The court was shown harrowing footage of Henry's murder, with the audio capturing Henry's desperate gasps for breath as she was suffocated to death.
In the video, Smith was heard saying: "In my movies, everybody always dies."
Smith reportedly drove around with Henry's lifeless body in the back of his pickup truck for two days before discarding her remains on a road.
According to the news report, in addition to two counts of first-degree murder, Smith was also found guilty of multiple charges of sexual assault and tampering with evidence.
Due to the evidence of extensive physical torture inflicted upon Henry, Smith faces a mandatory 99-year prison sentence for her murder.
He also faces an additional 30 to 99 years for the death of Abouchuk.
Smith is scheduled to be sentenced in July.