Warning: This story contains details that may be disturbing to some readers.
The man accused of abducting and killing a missing Homer woman has been extradited to Alaska after he finished serving a jail sentence on Utah charges.
According to a VINElink.com (Victim Information and Notification Everyday) notice, Kirby Calderwood, 32, of Ogden, Utah, was released from Utah custody on Nov. 10. A state warrant for his arrest was issued to Calderwood also on Nov. 10, according to online Alaska court records, and Calderwood was transported to Alaska.
Calderwood now is being held at Wildwood Pretrial Facility in Kenai, according to VINElink.com records. Alaska Department of Corrections Public Information Officer Betsy Holley confirmed that Calderwood is at Wildwood.
In September, the Kenai Grand Jury charged Calderwood with first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder, two counts of kidnapping, first-degree sexual assault, manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Anesha “Duffy” Murnane, a Homer woman who went missing in October 2019. All but the manslaughter and evidence tampering charges are unclassified felonies. If convicted of first-degree murder, Calderwood could face from 20 to 99 years in prison.
Calderwood pleaded guilty in Utah on Oct. 5 to possession of a firearm by a restricted person, violation of a protective order, three counts of unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, and possession of a controlled substance. A charge of possession of drug paraphernalia was dismissed and the first charge was reduced to a misdemeanor.
Calderwood had been in custody at the Weber County, Utah, Correctional Facility since he was arrested on May 3 by Ogden Police. Bail was set at $1 million cash only.
Calderwood has not yet been arraigned on the Alaska charges and he has not yet entered a plea on the Alaska charges. No trial date has been set.
The Kenai Grand Jury indictment followed the filing of charging documents on May 7 by Homer Police alleging that Calderwood abducted Murnane on Oct. 17, 2019, while she walked on Pioneer Avenue from her MainTree Housing apartment to a doctor’s appointment, and that he took her to an unoccupied Homer home where he sexually assaulted and hurt Murnane before killing her. Calderwood later left Alaska and moved to Utah.
After Murnane went missing, police continued their investigation into her disappearance. Homer Police did an air search and brought in search dogs. The dogs tracked Murnane’s scent to Pioneer Avenue near the Kachemak Bay Campus, where the dogs lost the scent — an indication she had been picked up in a car there. Cellphone records showed her phone was either turned off or the battery quit working at 12:23 p.m. Oct. 17.
Volunteers started searches on Oct. 19 after she was reported missing, and continued them throughout that fall and winter. Family and friends have held periodic vigils and remembrances for Murnane since her disappearance. Homer Police hired Matt Haney, a former Homer Police officer with experience in missing and murdered persons investigations, to be a special investigator.
Haney had identified Calderwood as a person of interest in May of 2021. Calderwood had worked at MainTree Housing, a supported housing complex run by South Peninsula Behavioral Services, and knew Murnane from there. Calderwood passed criminal background checks before he was hired.
Murnane was declared dead June 17, 2021, in a presumptive death jury hearing. The jury determined that she most likely died by homicide.
Reach Michael Armstrong at marmstrong@homernews.com.
Photo provided, Homer Police Department A 2019 photo of Anesha “Duffy” Murnane who went missing since Oct. 17, 2019, in Homer, Alaska.
