Body never found, identity stolen: Fairbanks man gets just 26 years in bizarre homicide

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Aug. 16, 2026 – A Fairbanks man who killed his roommate, hid the body, stole the victim’s property and identity, and then fled Alaska under yet another stolen identity was sentenced last week to 26 years in prison, four years short of the maximum allowed for the crimes for which he was convicted.

The conviction and subsequent sentence are head-scratchers in one of Alaska’s strangest homicide prosecutions. Although prosecutors said the killing appeared premeditated and committed for financial gain, a jury acquitted 38-year-old Aaron Hague of first-degree murder. It instead convicted him of manslaughter, second-degree theft, and tampering with physical evidence.

The body of the victim, John McClelland, has never been found, and authorities do not even know precisely how he was killed.

Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Kirk Schwalm sentenced Hague to 18 years for manslaughter, four years for theft, and four years for evidence tampering. The sentences will run consecutively, with none of the 26-year term suspended.

Prosecutors had requested the maximum composite sentence of 30 years and asked the judge to restrict Hague’s eligibility for discretionary parole. Hague’s public defender sought a 14-year sentence.

Schwalm designated Hague a “worst offender” on all three counts and said his prospects for rehabilitation were among the worst of the defendants who have appeared before him. The judge also found that Hague needed to be confined for a substantial period to protect the public.

The crimes began in August of 2020, when Hague and McClelland were living together in North Pole. Both men were on probation and under the supervision of the Alaska Department of Corrections.

On Aug. 14, the two drove to an area north of Fairbanks, supposedly to scout for moose. According to prosecutors, Hague killed McClelland by unknown means, concealed his body in the woods, and stole his cellphone and debit card.

Hague then returned to Fairbanks and immediately used McClelland’s card to buy alcohol. Over the following days, he took possession of McClelland’s pickup, Jeep, boat, and trailer, purchased household items with the stolen card, and filed an unemployment insurance claim in McClelland’s name.

He also used McClelland’s cellphone to impersonate the dead man in messages to McClelland’s brother, employer, and probation officer. The messages falsely claimed McClelland was seriously ill and had been medevacked to Anchorage because he could not breathe or speak.

When a trooper and two probation officers conducted a welfare check on Aug. 20, McClelland was nowhere to be found. Hague told one of the officers by phone that he had dropped McClelland at a Fairbanks urgent-care facility three days earlier and was then in Anchorage searching hospitals for him.

Troopers formally interviewed Hague on Aug. 25, 2020. The next day, he fled Fairbanks and hitchhiked to Anchorage.

At his cousin’s apartment, Hague reportedly said he and his roommate had “got into it” and that there had been a murder. He was kicked out of the apartment after attempting to steal his cousin’s passport.

Hague then moved into the temporary homeless shelter operating at Sullivan Arena, where he used the identity of his younger brother. That shelter had been set up by Mayor Ethan Berkowitz during the Covid pandemic.

There he befriended Anthony Alcorn, an Ohio man who closely resembled him.

In October 2020, Hague stole Alcorn’s Ohio identification card and used it to board a flight to Seattle. He continued by train to Portland, Oregon, and began living and working in the Portland suburb of Gresham under Alcorn’s name.

Gresham police arrested Hague on March 30, 2021 for some alleged unrelated conduct. He was not extradited back to Alaska until October 2024.

The strange case hasn’t ended with the Alaska sentence.

Oregon authorities have charged Hague with first-degree murder and identity theft in connection with Alcorn’s death. Prosecutors there say Hague promised Alcorn a well-paying job to lure him from Anchorage to Gresham, killed him in a wooded area, and completed the theft of his identity as part of an effort to avoid prosecution for McClelland’s death.

Hague’s Oregon trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 11, 2027. A first-degree murder conviction in Oregon would carry a mandatory life sentence.

In Alaska, however, the jury’s decision to reject the first-degree murder charge limited the sentence that could have been imposed, despite the elaborate steps Hague took to conceal McClelland’s death and profit from it.