The Murder of David Grunwald: Motive, Verdicts, and Sentences

The David Grunwald murder was the November 13, 2016 killing of a 16-year-old high school student from Palmer, Alaska, who was beaten, kidnapped, and shot in the head by four of his peers after an evening of drinking and smoking marijuana at a friend’s house. All four were prosecuted as adults in Palmer Superior Court. Two received 99-year sentences, one received 105 years with 30 suspended, and one received 45 years to serve under a plea deal. A fifth young man who helped hide the guns and burn Grunwald’s vehicle was sentenced to six years.

What Happened on November 13, 2016

Grunwald, a student at Colony High School in Palmer, spent the evening at the home of 16-year-old Erick Almandinger, a friend and classmate. In a camper trailer behind the house, he drank and smoked marijuana with Almandinger and three others: Dominic Johnson, 16; Bradley Renfro, 16; and Austin Barrett, 19.¹

At some point during the evening, Grunwald was trapped in the camper’s bathroom and pistol-whipped with a heavy .40-caliber handgun that belonged to Almandinger.² The autopsy later documented nearly 20 defensive wounds on his hands and forearms and seven blunt-force injuries to his head.³ At Renfro’s later trial, he testified that Johnson struck Grunwald roughly seven to ten times while Barrett stood guard with a pistol.⁴

The four then loaded the bloodied, half-conscious teenager into his own 1995 Ford Bronco and drove about 30 minutes to a wooded area near the Knik River southeast of Palmer. They walked him into the woods and shot him once in the head.² Medical examiner Kenneth Gallagher testified that the entry wound indicated Grunwald was likely looking at the shooter when the fatal shot was fired.⁵

Afterward, the group drove the Bronco toward the base of the Talkeetna Mountains and set it on fire. Renfro had purchased the gasoline. A fifth person, 18-year-old Devin Peterson, supplied gas cans and later hid the two firearms used in the attack.⁶

How He Was Found

Grunwald was last seen alive after dropping off his girlfriend near Butte earlier that day. When he did not come home by around 9:30 p.m., his father Ben Grunwald reported him missing.⁷ The next day, Alaska State Troopers found his Bronco burned to the frame on a dirt track north of Wasilla.⁸

The search stretched for weeks through snow. Cell-tower data from Almandinger’s Samsung tablet placed him near where the burned Bronco was found, contradicting his initial claim that he had taken a cab to a party alone. When investigators executed a search warrant at the Almandinger property, the camper reeked of bleach but still held blood evidence.⁷

On December 2, 2016, 19 days after the killing, Dominic Johnson led law enforcement to the wooded area near Knik River Road where the body lay.² Almandinger was arrested and charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder.⁸ Within days, all five people connected to the crime were charged. Even though three of the four principals were 16, all four were prosecuted as adults.⁹

Why It Happened

No clear motive was ever established. In a police affidavit, Almandinger told investigators the attack began because Grunwald “had smoked all his weed.”¹⁰ Prosecutors noted that nothing of value was taken. At sentencing, retired Palmer Superior Court Judge Gregory Heath called the killing “truly horrific and committed for no apparent reason,” said it “may have been some kind of gang initiation,” and added that the reason Almandinger turned on a friend was “beyond me.”¹

Trials and Verdicts

Erick Almandinger was tried first, in May 2018 in Palmer. In a videotaped interrogation played for the jury, he admitted being present for the beating, the shooting, and the burning of the Bronco but blamed Johnson for pulling the trigger. Lead investigator Tony Wegrzyn called him a “terrible liar” and accused him of being the shooter.⁵ The jury convicted him on all nine charges, including first-degree murder, kidnapping, assault, arson, vehicle theft, and evidence tampering.²

Dominic Johnson was convicted on December 27, 2018, after a four-week trial before Judge Heath. The verdicts covered first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder, kidnapping, assault, arson, vehicle theft, and destroying evidence. Prosecutors introduced a Snapchat video in which Johnson said he wanted to hit someone “as hard as I can in the head, just to try to hurt him,” along with text messages from his mother Misty Johnson about disposing of his bloody hoodie.³

Bradley Renfro’s trial was moved to Fairbanks because of pretrial publicity in the Mat-Su area. It began September 4, 2019, and ended October 8 with guilty verdicts on first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder, kidnapping, vehicle theft, arson, and evidence tampering. He was acquitted of first-degree assault.¹¹ Renfro took the stand and testified he had been highly intoxicated and watched in fear while Johnson pistol-whipped Grunwald, though he acknowledged buying the gasoline and lying to troopers.⁴

Austin Barrett’s case went differently. Judge Heath suppressed Barrett’s interview with Alaska State Troopers after finding that troopers had violated his right to remain silent, and the original murder indictment was dismissed. Barrett later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. Two of the other defendants identified Barrett as the person who fired the fatal shot, but all four pointed at one another, and the shooter was never definitively established at trial.¹²

Devin Peterson was not present at the killing. He hid the two firearms, a .40-caliber Ruger and a 9mm Springfield, and supplied the gas cans. He pleaded guilty to evidence tampering and hindering prosecution and in August 2018 was sentenced to six years, on top of a separate three-year federal sentence he was already serving for distributing a controlled substance to a minor.⁶

The Sentences

Judge Heath handled every sentencing. The hearings stretched over nearly two years, delayed in part by the pandemic and by a psychological evaluation of Almandinger.¹

Austin Barrett was sentenced first, on November 20, 2020, to 65 years with 20 suspended — 45 years to serve — followed by 10 years of probation. He becomes eligible for discretionary parole after 15 years. He apologized to the Grunwald family at the hearing.¹³

Dominic Johnson was sentenced in May 2021 to 99 years, with 20 of those suspended on the murder count and consecutive time added for kidnapping and assault. Under Alaska’s Senate Bill 91, in effect at his sentencing, Johnson becomes eligible for discretionary parole after 36 years or mandatory parole after two-thirds of his sentence.¹⁴

Erick Almandinger was sentenced on August 8, 2022, also to 99 years, with 20 suspended on the murder count and additional consecutive time for kidnapping and other offenses.² Judge Heath included discretionary parole eligibility that would put Almandinger’s first hearing in his early 50s. In his statement to the court, Almandinger said: “I claim full responsibility for Dave dying. He was my friend. He was a good kid. And I killed my friend.”¹

Bradley Renfro was sentenced last, on August 17, 2022, to 105 years with 30 suspended, the longest nominal sentence in the case. He becomes eligible for parole after 35 years, at roughly age 51. Judge Heath said Grunwald had been “emotionally tortured” during the long drive to his death and cited “general deterrence, reaffirmation of societal norms, and community condemnation” as the basis for the punishment.¹⁵

What Followed

Grunwald’s mother, Edie Grunwald, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, became a public advocate for tougher sentencing. She ran for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2018 and campaigned on repealing Senate Bill 91, the 2016 criminal justice reform law she called “too soft on criminals.”¹⁶ In January 2019, Governor Mike Dunleavy appointed her chair of the Alaska Board of Parole. The Alaska Legislature repealed SB 91 later that year through House Bill 49, which lawmakers said would result in longer criminal sentences.¹⁷

In December 2023, Dominic Johnson was indicted along with 12 others by a Palmer grand jury for smuggling the drug buprenorphine into Alaska prisons. Johnson, held at Goose Creek Correctional Center on his 99-year sentence, was charged with first-degree promoting contraband, a felony that carries up to five additional years.¹⁸

1
Anchorage Daily News. Palmer Resident Sentenced to Serve 99 Years for 2016 Murder of Mat-Su Teen
2
State of Alaska Department of Law. Press Release – Almandinger Sentencing
3
Anchorage Daily News. Second Teen Convicted of Murder in Slaying of David Grunwald
4
Alaska’s News Source. Bradley Renfro Testifies in Murder Trial for David Grunwald
5
Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. Jury Sees Graphic Images of Grunwald’s Body, Interrogation of Almandinger
6
Anchorage Daily News. 20-Year-Old Linked to Grunwald Murder Gets 6-Year Sentence in Plea Deal
7
Alaska’s News Source. Court Documents – David Grunwald Case
8
Anchorage Daily News. Remains of Missing Palmer Teen Believed Found, Teenager Charged With Murder
9
Alaska Public Media. Five Teenagers Face Adult Charges for Palmer Murder
10
People. Missing Alaska Teen David Grunwald Murder
11
Seattle Times. Jury Delivers 8 Guilty Verdicts in Alaska Teen Murder Trial
12
Anchorage Daily News. Fourth Defendant Pleads Guilty to David Grunwald Murder
13
Alaska’s News Source. Austin Barrett Becomes First of 4 Killers to Receive Sentence for David Grunwald’s Murder
14
Alaska’s News Source. Dominic Johnson Sentenced to 99 Years for His Role in David Grunwald’s Murder
15
State of Alaska Department of Law. Press Release – Renfro Sentencing
16
Anchorage Daily News. Edie Grunwald, Mother of Slain Palmer Teen, Appointed Chair of Parole Board
17
Alaska Public Media. Alaska Lawmakers Say Compromise Crime Bill Repeals Senate Bill 91
18
Alaska Public Media. Grunwald Murderer, 12 Others Charged With Smuggling Drugs Into Alaska Prisons