A Time to Kill on ID: What happened to Genevieve Tetpon?

Genevieve Tetpon was a 28-year-old Alaskan native and single mother of four whose body was found dumped in a sleeping bag in Anchorage in March 2000. She was stabbed multiple times and sustained defensive wounds while fighting off the attacker. Despite having a few initial leads, all the suspects were ruled out and the case went cold.

Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of a murder. Discretion is advised.

About a decade later, using DNA evidence and discarded mail collected from near the crime scene, detectives were able to implicate a man named Derrick Torian. He was 17 years old at the time of the murder. Torian pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2013.

Genevieve Tetpon's case, which was solved by detectives using unexpected means, will feature on ID's A Time to Kill on March 9, 2023. The synopsis for the episode, titled Anchorage Cold Case, states:

"When the body of a single mother turns up in a snowbank outside Anchorage, Alaska, the evidence points to the victim's fugitive fiancé; the shocking murder of a second native Alaskan sparks investigators' fears that a serial killer is on the loose."

The all-new episode airs on ID at 9 pm ET on Thursday, March 9, 2023.

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Native Alaskan single mother Genevieve Tetpon was stabbed 30 times before her body was dumped in a ditch

Anchorage resident and native Alaskan mother Genevieve Tetpon was stabbed to death in March 2000 (Image via The Cinemaholic)

A native Alaskan woman and Anchorage resident, Genevieve Tetpon, known as Ginny to close ones, was a single mother of four. The 28-year-old mother failed to return home one evening after work in March 2000, triggering a missing person investigation.

On March 22, 2000, a few days after the disappearance, a motorist found a dead woman's body in a sleeping bag and called 911. The bag was tossed into a roadside ditch on Arctic Valley Road in Anchorage, Alaska.

The victim was identified as Genevieve Tetpon. Further examination revealed that she was stabbed at least 30 times and had sustained four deep knife wounds to her chest. There were also defensive wounds all over her body, which suggested a struggle between her and the attacker.

According to Oxygen, Retired Anchorage PD Lieutenant David Parker revealed that the defensive wounds showed that she fought her attacker. Parker added that her attacker was "able to overwhelm her."

Further complications emerged in Tetpon's murder investigation due to a string of unsolved murders in the area that began in 1999. People in the community, including law enforcement and investigation, initially believed that there might be a serial killer on the loose.

However, in Genevieve Tetpon's case, detectives were able to extract DNA evidence from beneath her fingernails and from under the sleeping bag. The DNA failed to lead to a suspect at the time, but it was stored for later investigation.

Detectives also found a trash bag containing discarded mail dumped near the victim's body. The discarded mail belonged to Amy and Arthur Torian, who had two sons, and it was this discovery that turned the case around a few years later.

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Genevieve Tetpon's case was solved a decade later using DNA evidence and trash taken from the crime scene

Genevieve Tetpon's mother Pat Fulton pictured during an interview (Image via Oxygen)

The Torians had no connection to Genevieve Tetpon. They were ruled out as suspects after they informed authorities that their car had been looted a few months earlier. They said that the robbers must have taken the bag and thrown it in the area. Detectives also suspected Tetpon's ex-fiance Ken Gessler, but after he provided them with a strong alibi, he was ruled out as a suspect.

The case went cold for nearly a decade until 2009 when a detective found discrepancies in the Torians' story and re-opened the case. The DNA extracted from underneath the victim's nails and sleeping bag failed to match Amy and Arthur but was a perfect match for their son Derrick Torian. He was arrested in South Dakota.

Genevieve Tetpon's mother, Pat Fulton, received a call from the detective working the case. She told Oxygen,

"After 10 years, the new guy that was working on the case called me. He says, 'We are arresting him right at this moment.' It was like the color came back. It was like my shoulders got lifted."

Derrick Torian pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2013 and was given a 15-year prison sentence.

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A Time to Kill airs on ID this Thursday at 9 pm ET.