Man shot to death in Anchorage had colorful, checkered past

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - On Thursday morning, 51-year-old John Martin III was shot and killed in a parking lot in Anchorage’s Taku/Campbell neighborhood.

Martin made local and international headlines for a variety of reasons over the last two decades. Martin was widely known for staging a six-month-long sidewalk protest outside of Anchorage City Hall in 2011 to raise awareness about homelessness. He was also a registered sex offender who spent eight years in prison on charges related to the sexual assault of a minor in his care. In 2015, Martin faced manslaughter charges in multiple trials for his role in a fatal vehicle crash while driving under the influence.

Martin also made international headlines in 2018 after sailing across the Bering Sea in an attempt to reach China — in an eight-foot dinghy. According to Martin, he was trying to reunite with his wife and son there. He ended up being held by Russian authorities for months, charged with being in the country without documentation before finally being released and returning to Alaska.

In a 2019 interview about his time being in Russian custody, Martin explained how he managed to navigate such volatile environments — on sea and on land.

“For three days the current took me further north than what 11 days with wind had accomplished to the south,” Martin said. “They took me to trial for being in the country without documentation, and as it turned out the judge found me not guilty because, since I was being held there out of my control. They took me back to court, this time appealing the previous decision. They overturned it this time, and from there it was just a process of taking me out to Moscow, putting me in the deportation center.”

According to court documents, Anchorage police received a report of gunfire near Jesters Place at 5 a.m. on Thursday. When they arrived at an adjacent shopping center, officers found Martin with multiple gunshot wounds in a parking lot at the intersection of Dimond Boulevard and Old Seward Highway.

Surveillance footage of the incident showed Martin laying down and Dummler standing nearby. In the video, a man identified as 32-year-old Ryan Dummler pulls something off of Martin, who then sits up. The video shows Dummler with a black object in his hand, pointing it towards Martin who put an arm up and then turned his head away. Then, Martin’s leg is seen to move before he again lays on the ground while Dummler runs off. Martin does not move again.

During their investigation, Anchorage Police requested security footage from the Burger King restaurant across the street, in the direction where Dummler ran. Upon reviewing the footage, the restaurant’s manager informed police that Dummler was employed there. Police found Dummler at Burger King and took him into custody, where a firearm of the same type of ammunition that was used to shoot Martin was found in Dummler’s backpack.

Dummler remains in police custody on charges of first-degree and second-degree murder. Investigators are still working to determine whether Dummler and Martin knew each other, and what occurred in the minutes leading up to Martin’s death.

Those with information about the shooting can contact Anchorage Police at 3-1-1 (option #1) or 907-786-8900 (option 0).