The shooting deaths of two people at a Douglas Island condominium is being investigated as a double murder, according to the Juneau Police Department.
The bodies of the two people were found in a first floor unit at the Admiralty Condos on Douglas Island on Sunday afternoon. They have been identified as 36-year-old Robert H. Meireis and 34-year-old Elizabeth K. Tonsmeire, both of Juneau, according to JPD. Next of kin have been notified.
Police received a 911 call from a man who discovered the bodies about 12:20 p.m. Sunday in the 2700 block of Rogers Street.
Police said Tonsmeire and Meireis were shot. Both were pronounced dead by ambulance personnel who responded alongside police and Capital City Fire/Rescue. Tonsmeire would have celebrated her 35th birthday on Thursday.
The investigation is ongoing, and police say they do not have a suspect (or suspects) at this time. JPD investigators went door-to-door Sunday afternoon at the condominium complex, canvassing for witnesses and interviewing neighbors.
Neighbors identified Tonsmeire and Meireis as tenants of the unit where the shooting occurred. An upstairs neighbor, when asked, said they hadn’t heard anything unusual prior to police arriving.
On the social media site Badoo.com, Tonsmeire described herself as “the most girly tomboy you will ever meet.”
“i’ll (sic) take your paycheck at the poker table, replaced (sic) the master cylinder in your truck, custom build you a MacBook Pro retina while upgrading your iPad screen and synchronizing your airdrop system with you Iphone and roku, then in the dark I’ll wire you the sickest home sound system you can imagine,” she wrote on her profile.
Meireis is a familiar face to Juneau police. Electronic court records show he has a criminal history that includes felony convictions for assault with a weapon, burglary and misconduct involving a controlled substance. In January, he jumped from a second-story window at the Bergmann Hotel to evade police when they attempted to serve him two arrest warrants and a court summons. In July, Meireis was indicted for fourth-degree drug misconduct for possessing methamphetamine, a class C felony.
Murders are a rarity in Alaska’s capital city, but the deaths of Tonsmeire and Meireis make three murder victims in less than a month. On Oct. 20, Brandon C. Cook was killed “execution style” while helping a friend paint her trailer in the Mendenhall Valley. Christopher Dean Strawn has been charged with murder in Cook’s death.
Anyone with information about Sunday’s deaths is encouraged to contact JPD at 586-0600. The investigation is ongoing.
