LEWISTON, Maine — A Maine man wanted in Alaska in connection to a 1993 cold case murder was scheduled to be in a Lewiston courtroom Tuesday afternoon.
Alaska State Troopers and Maine State Police believe Steven H. Downs is the suspect of the brutal killing and sexual assault of University of Alaska, Fairbanks student, Sophie Sergie, on April 26th, 1993.
According to Court Documents in Alaska, Downs had no criminal record leading up to the charges of first-degree murder and sexual assault.
On Feb. 15, Downs was arrested without incident outside of a Fireside Inn where he was staying. A search warrant was obtained for his Hillcrest Street home in Auburn, and investigators say they made a positive DNA match from a swab of Downs’ mouth.
Documents say Downs spent time after college in Arizona, and then returned to Maine to work as a registered nurse. He was discharged from the Harris House in Livermore Falls for a “totality of substandard performance,” according to the State of Maine Board of Nursing. Downs was issued a warning in 2017.
Before attending the University of Alaska, Fairbanks in the Fall of 1992, Downs graduated from Edward Little High School. In the ELHS yearbook, he occasionally went by Steve. The entry says he ran cross-country and track, skied, and was in a drama club. Downs quoted Stephen King in the yearbook.
"I think that this really is the end. Thank you again for coming with me, and rest you well. But, being who I am and what I am, I can not find it in my heart to wish you pleasant dreams.” - Stephen King
Law enforcement plan to extradite Downs for a trial in Alaska.