November 21, 2025
(Fairbanks, AK) – Today, Fairbanks Superior Court Judge Brent Bennett sentenced 29-year-old Christopher Oktollik to 65 years of imprisonment for the murder of 35-year-old Lawrence McMullen Jr. in 2023.
On the evening of April 9, 2023, the Fairbanks Police Department received a report of a shooting in the parking lot of the Alaska Motel located in South Fairbanks. Officers found the victim, Lawrence McMullen Jr., lying on the ground in the snow and observed that he was not breathing and that he did not have a pulse. Officers further observed multiple gunshot wounds to his body. Paramedics arriving a short time later were unable to revive McMullen Jr., and he was pronounced dead upon his arrival at the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. An autopsy on McMullen Jr.'s body determined that he had been shot four times in the back and once in the inner right thigh.
An extensive investigation included numerous witness interviews, the review of video surveillance from multiple locations, the performance of DNA analysis on spent casings found at the crime scene by a laboratory in Virgina, ballistics testing performed on other spent casings found at the scene by the Alaska Scientific Crime Detection Laboratory, a search of Oktollik's residence, and an interview of Oktollik. The Fairbanks Police Department was ultimately able to identify Oktollik as McMullen Jr.'s killer.
The trial was held in July 2025. The jury returned a guilty verdict on the sole charge of Murder in the First Degree.
At sentencing, Deputy District Attorney Andrew Baldock, who prosecuted the case with the assistance of Paralegal Allison Watega, requested the court to impose a sentence of 75 years of imprisonment. Oktollik, through his defense counsel, requested the court to impose a sentence of 40 years of imprisonment.
Judge Bennett imposed a sentence of 65 years of imprisonment. In his sentencing remarks, Judge Bennett indicated that the need to deter others, the need to reaffirm societal norms, and the need to isolate the defendant from the community due to the extreme danger he presents all required that a significant sentence be imposed.
CONTACT: Deputy District Attorney Andrew Baldock andrew.baldock@alaska.gov
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Department Media Contacts: Communications Director Patty Sullivan at patty.sullivan@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6368. Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.
