ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Jury selection began Monday for a Fairbanks man, who prosecutors say is one of three connected to a 2016 kidnapping and sexual assault case involving a teenage victim.
William Doug Burgess, 28, appeared in court on Monday next to his attorney. Burgess is only one of three men charged with the kidnapping, Serge Gaston Azede II and Jean Olivier Vagao. Vagao was also accused of second-degree assault and entered a guilty plea in 2022.
Azede II has an adjudication hearing for October. In addition to kidnapping, Burgess faces counts of second and third-degree assault and sexual assault, as well as violating conditions of release.
According to the charging documents, the victim was a 15-year-old girl who was asleep in the front seat of a friend's Buick when her friend -- who was in the driver's seat -- was ordered to get out of the car by Burgess. The teen told officers that Burgess pistol-whipped her when she tried to reach for her phone.
The teen told police that two other men, later identified as Azede and Vagao, were also present.
Police say the men drove from Mountain View to Walmart on DeBarr Road, where one of the men purchased zip ties. Prosecutors say the men drove the teen to the Eklutna area.
Azede asked her about the friends she hung out with -- described as members of a group called "Fight Squad" -- and asked where they lived.
The teen told police one of the men zip-tied her hands behind her back, and a shirt was stuffed in her mouth and zip-tied to her head.
Burgess eventually got her out of the vehicle, she said, and walked her toward the woods and pushed her down a hill. Two of the men zip-tied her ankles together and left her there, according to charging documents.
The teen says she managed to free herself by rubbing the zip tie around her ankles against a rock until it broke. She climbed the hill and was able to flag down a passing vehicle. The driver contacted the police.
Charging documents state officers collected the zip ties from the roadway.
The girl told police she knew Burgess and had previously stayed with him in Fairbanks. According to the charging documents, she said she returned to Anchorage because her friends were getting killed. During the interview, she mentioned homicide victims Xeryus Tate, Chaduer Chuol and Elijah Zeller.
Deandrew Lee Jennings Walker-Webster II was charged with manslaughter in the death of Tate. He turned himself in to the police after posting a video to Facebook in which he claimed the shooting was accidental.
Kuach Kuach turned himself in to the police after the car he was riding in with Chuol crashed and killed Chuol. At the time, detectives had been in search of another vehicle believed to have exchanged gunfire with the two men before the wreck.
According to court documents, an unidentified person dropped Zeller off at a hospital, who was bleeding from a gunshot wound and died hours later. An Anchorage police spokeswoman said Zeller's case remains unsolved with no new developments. No one has been arrested in that case.
Alaska's News Source has reached out to the Alaska Department of Law for clarification on how or why certain cases can take so long before reaching trial.
Burgess's defense said they could not comment at this time while the case is still ongoing.
The trial expected to last no longer than two weeks.