Judge Declares Mistrial in Teen Death Case

0:00It's April 1st. You're listening to Anchorage News today, AI-powered local news, Ankori with the story. A superior court judge in Anchorage just called a second mistrial for 25-year-old Dustin Ruckman from UNALASCA. He's charged with two counts of criminally negligent homicide in the deaths of two teenage girls back in 2019. Ruckman was driving when his truck plunged off a cliff, killing the passengers. This crash happened in May 2019 on a cliff-side path over Mount Ballyhu. Ruckman, who was 18 at the time, had two classmates in the truck, 16-year-old Carly McDonald, and 18-year-old Kiara Renteria Heist. Both girls got thrown from the vehicle and didn't survive. The first trial wrapped up about a year ago with the same result, a deadlock jury that couldn't agree. Delays from the pandemic pushed things back, and they moved the case to Anchorage since UNALASCA's small community couldn't provide enough unbiased. Jurors. Prosecutors decided to retry it anyway, starting March 11.

1:03Jurors began deliberating a week ago, but on Wednesday, Judge Thomas Matthews declared them hopelessly stuck with no unanimous verdict. Now the state has until April 30th to decide on a third trial, and prosecutors say they're weighing their options carefully. This saga leaves families waiting for closure in a tough island tragedy.