KAREN FOSTER

Karen Foster and Bonnie Craig

Karen Foster is the mother of Bonnie Craig, an 18 year-old college student who was brutally raped and murdered on September 28, 1994 in Anchorage, Alaska. In January 2007 Alaska State Troopers finally contacted Karen, thirteen years after her daughter's murder, to share that a DNA match finally provided a clue to the killer.

A man who had entered the prison system in New Hampshire in February 2003 for a series of armed robbery offenses matched the DNA profile found on Bonnie. His DNA could have been taken in July 2003, but it wasn't entered into the national DNA Database called CODIS until November 2006. At that time, upon a routine CODIS search by the Alaska State Crime Lab, the DNA match appeared. The murderer was originally from New Hampshire, but had been a soldier stationed in Alaska at Fort Richardson in the early 1990s. He stayed in the area for a couple of years after he left the military, but was arrested multiple times for petty theft. The pre-trial motions for the rape and murder of Bonnie Craig finally began November 14th, 2007.   After going through three defense attorneys and 21 pretrial hearings, the case still hasn't gone to trial.

After waiting for fourteen years to know that the man who killed her daughter could not harm another, Karen Foster leapt into action. Within 12 days of the indictment in her daughter's case Karen had successfully mobilized the public and the legislature to pass a law requiring that DNA will be collected for all felony arrests. Karen is dedicated to ensuring that every state require the same and that the DNA backlogs be processed so that other 'unsolved' crimes can be closed similarly. The ultimate goal is to have the processing of DNA conducted within 24 hours. It can be done! Karen has worked as a Reserve Police Officer and now works closely with the Alaska legislature, the State Crime Lab and the Law Enforcement community to help balance the scales of justice and stop the re-victimization of victims, family, friends and communities.

In May 2009 Karen moved to Florida where she is working hard to ensure that all 50 states start collecting DNA on all felony arrests.  After the trial is over Karen intends to try to make changes in the justice system so others will not have the same obstacles she has gone through.

Alaska Citizens for Justice