Fairbanks man charged with murder in homicide investigation

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU) - A Fairbanks man is facing charges of murder and assault in the death of a North Pole man earlier this year, according to charging documents in the case.

Jonothan Head, 40, was arrested on April 21, according to an online report by Alaska State Troopers, in connection to the Feb. 24 death of David Wasson, a 35-year-old North Pole man. According to the online report, troopers were called to an “abandoned house” in Fairbanks early that morning, where they found Wasson dead in the basement of the home.

Head, who according to charging documents lived at the house with Wasson, now faces one charge of second-degree murder and one charge of second-degree assault. It was Head who called troopers to the home in February and who showed them to Wasson’s body, according to a sworn affidavit signed by Investigator Matthew Iverson.

Wasson’s remains were sent to the Alaska State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy, which, according to the criminal complaint, revealed his death was caused by “a right to left shift of his brain with herniations due to acute subdural hematoma of the right cerebral hemisphere.” According to the affidavit, a report from the medical examiner’s office stated that the injury may have been caused by “blunt impact of the head.” The autopsy also listed a history of acute and chronic drug and alcohol abuse as contributing conditions, the affidavit states.

Several weeks passed after troopers found Wasson’s body until they were contacted by a friend of his on March 16. According to the affidavit, a woman told troopers in an email that Head had told her on March 3 that he had hit Wasson repeatedly. The woman said Head told her he struck Wasson “over and over until he ‘snapped out of it’ and stopped,” the affidavit states.

Investigators with the troopers interviewed Head on April 21 and, according to the criminal complaint, Head told them he punched Wasson “on his head between five to ten times.” Head then told investigators that he went to sleep and that, when he woke up, Wasson was dead.

According to troopers, Head was remanded to the Fairbanks Correctional Center. Online court records show he was scheduled to be arraigned on Friday afternoon in Fairbanks Court.