On Monday, May 9, 2022, the Homer Police Department posted on their Facebook page that they have arrested 32-year-old Kirby Foleni Calderwood in relation with Anesha “Duffy” Murnane’s 2019 disappearance. He has been charged with kidnapping, murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree and tampering with physical evidence. Duffy’s body has not been found.
The 38-year-old disappeared in Homer, Alaska on October 17, 2019. Dateline featured Duffy’s story in our ‘Missing in America’ series in February of 2020. At the time, police said security video captured Duffy leaving the Main Tree Apartments complex where she lived, at around 12:15 p.m. She was on foot.
Duffy’s mother told Dateline in 2020 that Duffy was headed to a 1:00 p.m. appointment about a mile away from her apartment. She never made it.
In 2020, Lieutenant Ryan Browning of the Homer Police Department told Dateline that they conducted many searches for Duffy, and dogs tracked her scent into downtown Homer, but got to the point where they could no longer get a scent -- a point search-dog handlers call a “car pick up.”
“We don’t know exactly what happened. We don’t know that she got into a vehicle for sure,” Lt. Browning said. “But it’s definitely a strong possibility.”
Duffy’s mother and stepfather feared that she had been abducted.
The Homer Police Department stated in Monday’s Facebook post that they have actively investigated the case since 2019, chasing down hundreds of tips and talking to numerous people.
Last week, Investigator Matt Haney of the Homer Police Department submitted an affidavit for an arrest warrant for Calderwood. Haney began working at the department in March 2020, and was assigned solely to the Anesha Murnane case.
The affidavit states that a tip that came in on April 14, 2022, that was “very specific in naming the person responsible and how the kidnapping, murder and destruction of evidence were committed.” The tip named Calderwood, who had previously been reported to the Homer Police Department in 2021 and was already under investigation in the case.
In the affidavit, Haney listed some of the details he said were uncovered in the investigation into Calderwood, which included rape allegations from his first and second wives. Calderwood allegedly disclosed to his first wife that he had an addiction to pornography and had intentionally harmed animals from a young age. His second wife claimed that Calderwood told her that he thought he might be a sociopath, since he “did not feel remorse.”
In the affidavit, Haney wrote that “Calderwood has an extensive history of abusive violent sexual behavior towards women and fantasized about torturing and killing someone.”
Calderwood and his second wife lived in Utah, but divorced in 2016. Calderwood then left Utah for Alaska.
According to the affidavit, Calderwood lived in Homer, Alaska, for a couple of years and entered into a new relationship there with a local woman. They moved in together in 2017, then in 2018 lived with her parents while they searched for a rental. In April of 2019, they moved into a rental apartment together.
Haney wrote in the affidavit that on October 21, 2019, the woman returned from a trip out of the country that she took without Calderwood, and found her new bath towels had been ruined with bleach and that both bathrooms smelled of bleach. She told Haney she confronted Calderwood about it and “he became angry.”
The woman also discovered a bag containing miscellaneous items in their garage. According to the affidavit “the items included a set of shower clips, dog collar, a costume corset she used in theater plays that had what appeared to be a small amount of dried blood on it and four of her knitting needles with what looked like dried blood on the entire length of them.”
She told Investigator Haney that she confronted Calderwood about the bag and its contents and he became very angry again.
Duffy disappeared on October 17, 2019, four days before the woman returned home from her trip.
Haney noted that when he interviewed Calderwood in Alaska in May of 2021, Calderwood stated that for “four of five months in or about the fall of 2018, he worked at Main Tree Housing where he met Anesha Murnane.”
According to the written affidavit, at some point in the past year, Calderwood married for a third time and returned to Utah.
Investigator Haney wrote in the affidavit that the person who called in the tip in April of 2022 that led to the affidavit being filed, provided key details about the case and said that Calderwood told them very specific details about what happened to Duffy.
One of the details listed in the affidavit was that Calderwood kept Duffy’s wristwatch and “it may have been a Timex.” Haney wrote that they found photos of Duffy wearing a watch and her mother and stepfather confirmed it was a Timex.
The affidavit states that the tipster also said Calderwood admitted that he had tortured and killed Duffy, threw her phone in a nearby lake and disposed of her body in a dumpster. The affidavit said the tipster alleged that Calderwood prepared a crawlspace “to torture and kill his intended victim” in the home he briefly lived in with his girlfriend and her parents in Alaska. Duffy vanished on October 17, 2019. According to the affidavit, the girlfriend’s parents’ home was “unoccupied after October 12, 2019, and [the parents] did not return until around December 2019.”
On May 5, 2022, Haney and the Ogden, Utah Police Department executed multiple search warrants related to Calderwood. They conducted a traffic stop on his vehicle as he left his Utah residence.
“During the execution of the search warrant… a small ladies Timex watch with a black band was found in Calderwood’s clothes dresser drawer,” Haney wrote in the affidavit. This matched the description of the watch provided by the tipster.
On May 5, 2022, Investigator Haney interviewed Calderwood’s current wife. The affidavit states she “did not want to give a recorded statement because she was very afraid.”
The following day, the wife called Investigator Haney and agreed to give a recorded statement of what she said Calderwood had revealed to her. In the statement, she disclosed that she had been the anonymous tipster who called in April.
Haney closed the affidavit by writing, “I believe there is probable cause to believe that Kirby Foleni Calderwood committed the offenses of Kidnapping, Murder in the First Degree, and Tampering with Physical Evidence.” This led the Ogden Police to issue a warrant for Calderwood’s arrest.
Calderwood is being held at the Weber County Correctional Facility. It is unclear when he will appear in court. Dateline reached out to Michael Bouwhuis, who the AP reports is Calderwood’s attorney. Bouwhuis has not yet responded to multiple requests for comment.
In their post on Facebook, the Homer Police expressed their gratitude for everyone who helped with the search and provided information about Duffy’s disappearance, as well as to the FBI and the Ogden Police Department. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to Duffy’s family,” the post concluded, “and all who are touched by this horrible event.”
After the announcement from the Homer Police Department, Christina Whiting, a friend of Duffy’s family, posted on the ‘Bring Duffy Home’ Facebook page. She thanked the news media, investigators and the local community for their help. “Thank you to everyone who has kept Duffy and her family and friends in your thoughts and prayer,” Christine wrote. “There is a whole other road in front of Duffy's family now with a trial to come, so please keep holding them close.”
The Homer Police Department says the investigation remains ongoing and anyone who has information is asked to contact the Homer Police Department at 907-235-3150.