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FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2002

Police in Alaska waited 40 minutes into a 911 call before asking for directions to the home of an Alaska Native corporate executive who was shot and killed in a domestic-related dispute.

Emergency dispatchers were assuring Patti Godfrey that police and medical personnel were going to help her. According to 911 tapes examined by The Anchorage Daily News, she begged and pleaded while her husband, Glenn Godfrey, lay wounded from gunshots.

Police, however, couldn't find the Godfrey home, even though Patti provided accurate address and other information. A 911 dispatcher finally asked for directions 40 minutes after the initial 12:30 a.m. call on August 3.

Glenn Godfrey was then found dead. Patti Godfrey was seriously wounded. Karen Brand, whom police say shot both of them, had killed herself.

Godfrey was the first Alaska Native to head the state troopers. He then became the state's first public safety commissioner. He left the post this summer to work full-time for an Alaska Native corporation.

Get the Story:
911 call details 48 agonizing minutes (The Anchorage Daily News 8/23)
Victims rights office to study police response to shooting (The Anchorage Daily News 8/23)

Related Stories:
Questions remain on fatal shooting (8/22)
Alaska police couldn't find Godfrey house (8/16)
Alaska police say shooter left note (8/12)
Wife of slain ex-cop unable to talk (8/9)
Wife of slain ex-cop still recovering (8/6)
Native corp exec, ex-cop killed at home (8/5)