Alaska port official charged with trying to drown daughter

  • By RACHEL D’ORO Associated Press
  • Tuesday, January 8, 2019 10:26pm
  • News
Alaska port official charged with trying to drown daughter

ANCHORAGE — A high-ranking port official in Alaska’s largest city has been arrested, accused of twice trying to drown his 8-year-year-old daughter in a bathtub after telling her they would play with her rubber duckies.

Todd Cowles is charged with two counts of attempted murder in connection with a Jan. 2 incident at his family’s Anchorage home. Online court records don’t list an attorney for Cowles, who was arrested Jan. 4.

Cowles, 46, told police he had been in great despair because he was having trouble at work, according to a criminal complaint.

Cowles is the engineer for the Port of Alaska in Anchorage. He is in charge of the port’s modernization project, which includes replacing aging and corroding docks, port spokesman Jim Jager said Tuesday. Almost half the cargo coming into Alaska goes through the port.

“This is a personal and a private tragedy,” Jager said, adding he was not at liberty to discuss the allegations. He said Cowles remains employed, but added the port is monitoring the case and will respond as appropriate.

According to the complaint, Cowles twice tried to push his daughter’s head in the bathtub while his wife was out mailing a package, stopping both times when the girl screamed and resisted. The child told her mother when she returned home, according to the complaint.

Cowles’ wife told authorities her husband had a loaded shotgun in bed in November, the same month he brought a funding proposal before the Anchorage Assembly. The woman said Cowles admitted he thought of hurting himself but couldn’t go through with it.

The complaint says Cowles was taken to a hospital for an evaluation in November. Regarding the shotgun, Cowles told police he had thought of shooting his family and then killing himself. He said he continued to have these thoughts after his hospital visit.

Cowles told police he called in sick the day after the New Year holiday because he didn’t want to go back to work. He said he had placed a filet knife, folding knife and a rope tied into a noose in a dresser drawer, and planned to stab his wife and daughter while they slept the previous night, and then kill himself, but was unable to do it.

On Jan. 2, Cowles drew the blinds after his wife left to mail the package, according to the complaint, which said Cowles planned to ambush is wife when she returned, and then hang himself. Then he coaxed his daughter to take a bath with the rubber ducky premise.

After unsuccessfully trying to push the girl’s head in the tub, Cowles turned on a movie for her, the complaint says.

“TODD explained the reason he wanted to kill his family and himself was to escape,” the document states.

Cowles is being held on $100,000 bail.


• By RACHEL D’ORO, Associated Press


More in News

Children receive free face-painting during the Kenai River Festival on Friday, June 9, 2023, at Soldotna Creek Park in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai River Festival fills park with education, music, vendors

The Kenai River Festival is the biggest event the Kenai Watershed Forum puts on each year

A freshly stocked rainbow trout swims in Johnson Lake during Salmon Celebration on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at Johnson Lake in Kasilof, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Lake fishing still ‘excellent’

Northern Kenai Fishing report

Kenai City Manager Terry Eubank (left) and Kenai Controller Lana Metcalf (right) present budget information during a city council work session on Saturday, April 29, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai adopts budget, staff recruitment strategies

The city expects there to be a general fund surplus of about $436,000 in fiscal year 2025

A special weather statement has been issued for the Kenai Peninsula and surrounding areas. (Screenshot via National Weather Service)
‘Unseasonably strong storm’ forecast for this weekend

Saturday is set to be busy around the central peninsula, with a variety of events scheduled

Photo provided by United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development
Chugachmiut Board Vice Chair Larry Evanoff from Chenega, Chair Fran Norman from Port Graham, and Director Arne Hatch from Qutekcak break ground for the Chugachmiut Regional Health Center in Seward, June 3. The occasion marked the start of construction of the $20 million facility. The 15,475-square-foot tribally owned and operated health clinic will serve as a regional hub providing medical, dental and behavioral health services for Alaskans in seven tribal communities.
Ground broken for new regional health center in Seward

The tribally owned and operated facility will serve as a regional hub providing medical, dental and behavioral health care

The Kasilof River is seen from the Kasilof River Recreation Area, July 30, 2019, in Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Kasilof River personal use gillnet fishery closed

It’s the Kenai River optimal escapement goal, not a Kasilof River escapement goal, that is cited by the announcement as triggering the close

The Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center is seen on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai cuts ties with out-of-state marketing firm

Council members expressed skepticism about the firm’s performance

A firefighter from Cooper Landing Emergency Services refills a water tanker at the banks of the Kenai River in Cooper Landing, Alaska on Aug. 30, 2019. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
Cooper Landing voters to consider emergency service area for region

The community is currently served by Cooper Landing Emergency Services

Hundreds gather for the first week of the Levitt AMP Soldotna Music Series on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at Soldotna Creek Park in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna music series kicks off with crowds, colors and sunshine

A color run took off ahead of performances by Blackwater Railroad Company and BenJammin The Jammin Band

Most Read