Juneau judge orders release of man accused of murdering local woman
A man originally charged with the 2022 murder of a Juneau woman is being released from prison after a Juneau court dismissed all charges against him on Monday.
Anthony Michael Migliaccio was arrested two months after Faith Rogers was found dead on a popular Juneau hiking trail. He was charged with three counts of murder and one count of manslaughter.
Judge Marianna Carpeneti ruled that Migliaccio can be released from Goose Creek Correctional Center in Wasilla as of Monday. Migliaccio’s attorney, Nico Ambrose, was not immediately willing to answer questions about the decision.
Michelle Rogers, Faith’s sister, described her as a caring person who treated the people she worked with with empathy. Rogers was a substance use counselor in Juneau at the time of her death. Her sister said the family is upset by the court’s decision.
“My sister was a wonderful human being,” she said. “I mean, she tried to make the world a better place.”
The Juneau court dismissed a first-degree murder charge against Migliaccio shortly after it was filed. Now, the court has dismissed the remaining charges against him, citing “improper evidence.”
Rogers says she’s having trouble making sense of how the case reached this point.
“I just don’t understand how there is no physical evidence,” she said.
The court’s order says that exhibits submitted by Juneau police to the grand jury during the indictment process were based on hearsay, and the original indictments were based on improper evidence.
She says her sister’s death and the subsequent court proceedings have hit her family hard.
“It’s ripped our family apart, you know,” she said. “I mean, we used to be a really tight family, but this has kind of left everybody destroyed, to tell you the truth.”
In a hearing today, Jessalyn Gillum with the District Attorney’s office in Juneau said the state was unable to reindict Migliaccio. The Alaska Department of Law has not responded to a request for an interview.
This is a developing story.