Cd’A man charged with Alaskan cold-case murder

COEUR d’ALENE — A local man who was recently sentenced to prison for shooting at his wife and child has been charged with a cold-case murder out of Alaska.

Kennon L. Keyes, 36, of Coeur d’Alene, received a 15-year prison sentence in Kootenai County District Court after he was convicted in April of aggravated assault, injury to a child, unlawful possession of a firearm and violating a no-contact order. Keyes reportedly shot at his wife as she was fleeing with their 3-year-old child in her arms, hitting her vehicle and a neighbor’s house.

A grand jury in Palmer, Alaska, indicted Keyes in late June for first-degree and second-degree murder related to the 2011 shooting death of Loy Suthammavong.

The Anchorage Daily News reported at the time that Suthammavong was reported missing Dec. 6, 2011, the same day his vehicle was found burning in Anchorage.

Snowshoers found Suthammavong’s body in March 2012, it having been dumped in the area of Eklutna Lake.

The Alaska Department of Law’s cold case unit reopened the investigation into Suthammavong’s death last September. Investigators said they connected the alleged murder to Keyes after conducting more interviews and reviewing digital and physical evidence.

“Both Keyes and the victim knew each other and were both at the victim’s house in Houston (Alaska) when the murder occurred,” said a news release issued by the Alaska Department of Law.

In addition to his Kootenai County convictions, Keyes was previously convicted of assault with intent to do great bodily harm in Michigan, a felony.