Husband arraigned for wife's New Year's morning homicide

Wednesday morning, Anthony Smith, 38, from Wasilla was arraigned for the murder of his wife, which happened New Year's Day.

Amy Smith, 37, was found to be non-responsive that morning. Officers with the Alaska State Troopers and medical personnel went to the couple's Big Lake home and attempted CPR, but Amy was later pronounced dead.

Amy's parents watched the arraignment.

"It was hard to see him," Christina Moore, Amy's mother said, "to see Anthony, it was hard to see him."

In addition to the ongoing criminal investigation, AST says it is conducting a comprehensive review of its initial response to the home because of what happened in the hours before the woman's death.

The night before Amy died, Alaska State Troopers had two encounters with Anthony.

According to a Department of Public Safety statement from Commissioner Walt Monegan, an Alaska State Trooper had stopped Anthony late on New Year's Eve when he was driving.

Smith successfully completed a field sobriety test, so the trooper didn't arrest him. According to the online statement from DPS, "Mr. Smith was provided a ride home. Such practices are discretionary and within our policy."

A criminal complaint filed in court says Troopers then had to responded to the home that same night at about 2:30 a.m., after Amy Smith had called 9-1-1 reporting she had locked herself in the bathroom because Anthony was "being aggressive," and that she was afraid because he was suffering from mental problems.

When Troopers responded to that call, she said he had been "chest-bumping" her, and that in the past, this type of behavior had turned violent. She told the Trooper, during that exchange, that she didn't want Anthony to be arrested; instead, she just wanted him to "chill out."

Troopers were called again to the home at about 4:54 a.m. by Anthony Smith, saying he was performing CPR on his wife – that she wasn't breathing, her lips were blue and that she needed an ambulance.

He then said that his wife fell down the stairs.

Christina Moore later told Troopers that the two had a "volatile" marriage.

The Moore's didn't want to talk about the internal trooper investigation and instead said they were focused on staying positive.

"It's a lot of pressure as things move forward and we're taking it a day at a time and trying to count the blessings we still have other than focus on everything negative," Eddie Moore, Amy's father said outside the courtroom.