Trapper Creek murder suspect enters plea Nelson accused of killing man and wounding wife.

PALMER-- A Trapper Creek man accused of murdering his neighbor and injuring the victim's wife pleaded not guilty in a Palmer courtroom Monday.

A judge ordered that Jeremy Christopher Nelson, 37, be held on $750,000 cash bail. If Nelson posts bail, he'll be required to have a third-party custodian when released.

Nelson faces first-degree murder charges over the Saturday shooting of Robert Carey, 66, who lived with his wife, Verna, 58, in a wooded neighborhood near Mile 115 of the Parks Highway. Nelson also pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault and attempted murder for allegedly shooting Verna Carey in the arm.

"From what I can see, the victims were at home minding their own business and the defendant came up to their property with firearms and wouldn't leave," Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak said in court while asking for a high cash bail. "In terms of public danger, this is at the upper end of the scale."

Verna Carey told Alaska State Troopers that the power went out at the Careys' house just before the shooting started late Saturday, according to an affidavit filed in court by trooper Sherry Ferno, who referenced five other troopers' investigations in her report.

A generator powered the home and her husband went outside to check it, Carey told the investigators from a hospital bed at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. Carey followed her husband outside, where the couple saw Nelson, a neighbor they'd been avoiding, according to Verna Carey's daughter Hannah Ehrman. Nelson was dressed in camouflage and was wearing snowshoes, Verna Carey said. He was also carrying a long gun -- either a rifle or a shotgun -- and a handgun, she told the troopers.

"He said, 'I'm looking for somebody,' " Ehrman said, repeating what her mother had told her. "He said it twice."

The Careys had never met Nelson, Ehrman said. Nelson and his girlfriend had moved to the area six or seven months ago, according to neighbors interviewed by the troopers, and he'd built a reputation for saying strange things and shooting numerous bears and moose, Ehrman said.

Robert Carey told Nelson to leave, Verna Carey told investigators. Nelson then shot Carey in the chest. Verna ran into the house but was struck in the right arm when Nelson fired again. She fell into a box for holding firewood and hid there, playing dead, she told troopers.

"If the shot had been in a little bit of a different direction, the result could have been the same as Mr. Carey," Kalytiak said, explaining the attempted murder charge.

Verna Carey's act apparently worked but it was at least another two hours after she called 911 before troopers arrived, Ehrman said.

Verna Carey was rushed to a hospital at about 12:30 a.m. Sunday.

Ross Nold, a neighbor who heard a shot, said he told the investigators Nelson was holed up at a friend's house nearby on Bradley Road. When the troopers arrived there, Nelson jumped into his girlfriend's truck in the driveway and a standoff ensued, Nold said. It took hours, but they arrested Nelson about 4:50 a.m. and took him to the trooper post in Talkeetna.

Troopers asked Nelson if he owned any guns. He said he did not, according to the trooper report. Later, troopers found several guns at his residence, a two-story house off South Wolverine Trail, troopers said. Nelson's girlfriend, Kerry Cook, was there too and she told the investigators Nelson had left earlier with two guns and a backpack, saying "he was going to take care of some business," according to the trooper affidavit.

Nelson told the court he'd moved to Alaska from Washington, where he'd previously worked as a dry-waller. He'd been unemployed for more than a year, he said.

"I was just kind of farting around here because the work was slow," Nelson said in court.

Washington state court records show Nelson pleaded guilty to several charges of driving without a valid license, malicious mischief and fishing without a fishing license between 2002 and 2009.

Nelson also pleaded guilty in 2008 to two counts of felony assault and three counts of violating a restraining order, court records show. He has an earlier drunken driving arrest in 2004 that appears to have been reduced to reckless driving.

Verna Carey was back at home with an adult grandson caring for her as the arraignment was going on, said Ehrman, her daughter.

"She's tough," Ehrman said. "She's kind of trying to absorb everything."

Ehrman said troopers had been marking evidence outside the home. There were many footprints and snowshoe prints around the neighborhood that the residents believed to be evidence of Nelson spying on them through their windows, she said.

There's something Verna Carey wants other people to know, Ehrman said.

"When there's warning signs of mental illness or drug abuse, people shouldn't ignore it," she said. "Everybody in the community was worried about this guy."

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