A Nikiski man will likely spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murdering his mother in 2022.
Last week, a judge sentenced 24-year-old River John George Aspelund to 99 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
That’s after a Kenai jury in 2025 found Aspelund guilty of murder in the death of Jeryl Ann Bates, his mother, and tampering with physical evidence for trying to cover it up.
Aspelund was initially deemed incompetent to stand trial after he was diagnosed with schizophrenia following his arrest. But the state Court of Appeals later ruled he could be involuntarily medicated for the condition at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute. Aspelund was later deemed competent to stand trial.
It’s been more than three years since Alaska State Troopers arrested Aspelund, after which a Kenai grand jury indicted him on four criminal counts. According to charging documents, officers were responding to a request to check on Bates when they found her dead of multiple gunshot and stab wounds in her Nikiski trailer.
The charges say troopers found Aspelund in the trailer, asleep in bed. People interviewed by troopers said Aspelund had access to a gun safe in the trailer and wore shoes that matched blood imprints at the scene, according to the charges.
At trial, state prosecutor Scot Leaders said law enforcement found bloody weapons that matched Bates’ injuries in a car driven by Aspelund the morning troopers found his mom’s body. Leaders presented a text exchange between Aspelund and Bates, in which she declined to buy him alcohol and marijuana, as a possible motive. Investigators found debit cards belonging to Bates or her husband in Aspelund’s pockets.
“The reality of the evidence tells you there is only one real conclusion to be drawn,” he said. “The state has met its burden. The state has proven to you beyond a reasonable doubt each element of each of the charges before you. He intentionally caused the death of his mother.”
Public Defender Lacey Jane Brewster argued the state couldn’t prove Aspelund was at the house at the time of his mom’s death and said his actions after her death were the result of trauma from finding her body. And she said the state didn’t consider other suspects during their investigation.
“They assumed it was River because he was there,” she said. “This led to them ignoring investigative leads and procedures that contradicted their assumptions. They assumed that the evidence they found at the scene meant River was the one who killed Ms. Bates, and in doing so they ignored the alternative inferences that can be drawn from what you see in this case.”
The jury agreed with the prosecutors, though, and convicted Aspelund on all counts.
At sentencing, Superior Court Judge Lance Joanis heard a statement from Bates’ daughter, who described the past four years as a difficult and painful time mourning a mother who she said “loved her children unconditionally.” She said that included “exhaust(ing) every effort” to treat Aspelund’s mental illness, which she said still needs intensive treatment.
“Even as my brother and I reached adulthood, she never stopped caring for us,” a representative of Bates’ daughter read in court. “She was so incredibly smart. I called her for everything, and she always knew the answer. She was the one everyone called when they needed help. To be loved by her was a wonderful gift, and I am beyond thankful for it.”
Bates’ daughter told Aspelund she would always love him, and she said she hopes her family’s case can inspire change in how mental illness is treated in Alaska.
Joanis said not every person with schizophrenia has homicidal inclinations. He said the prosecutors demonstrated a motive and that Aspelund’s actions before, during and after Bates’ death show he acted intentionally and violently.
“Murder is a shocking offense in and of itself, but the murder of one's own mother is a crime that shocks the conscience and that shocks the community in its own right,” he said. “And the specific facts of this case, including the manner in which the defendant slew his mother, is especially heinous.”
Joanis described Aspelund as “dangerous” and incapable of rehabilitation that would protect the public. Along with handing down the maximum sentence, the judge ruled that Aspelund would not be eligible for parole.
