May 18, 2026
(Fairbanks, AK) – On Friday May 15, a Fairbanks jury found 44-year-old Cedar Sarten of Fairbanks guilty of one count of Murder in the First Degree and one count of Murder in the Second Degree for the 2024 killing of her five-year-old son. Sarten faces a sentence of between 30 and 99 years.
On October 14, 2024, Sarten called 9-1-1 and reported her five-year-old son was dead. Sarten reported that she was unsure what had happened and that she went to sleep with her son only to find him deceased when she woke up. She reported that someone had “crashed his brain” with a weight. Fairbanks Police Department and Emergency Medical Services responded immediately to Sarten’s apartment building. Sarten was observed with multiple stab wounds to her wrists, neck and head. Sarten’s son, R.S., was found deceased in Sarten’s bed. R.S.’s clothing was wet, as if it had been submerged. The bathtub was full of a mixture of what appeared to be blood and water. An autopsy revealed R.S.’s cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries and multiple sharp force injuries.
Trial proceedings commenced on Wednesday, May 6. The medical examiner testified that either the blunt force injuries or sharp force injuries alone could have resulted in R.S.’s death.
The defense argued an unknown intruder entered the Defendant’s apartment, stabbed her, and brutally murdered her son. The jury rejected her claims and found Sarten guilty.
Assistant District Attorney Katie Gonsalves of the Fairbanks District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case, supported by Paralegal Jaboha Smothers. ADA Gonsalves thanks the Fairbanks Police Department for their hard work in investigating the crime.
Sarten is in the custody of the Department of Corrections and is being held without bail pending sentencing, which is currently scheduled to begin September 30, 2026.
CONTACT: District Attorney Joe Dallaire at (907) 451-5970 or joe.dallaire@alaska.gov
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Department Media Contact: Information Officer Sam Curtis at sam.curtis@alaska.gov or (907) 269-6269.
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