FPD Press Release - Homicides - Third Ave. & Ft. Wainwright

FPD Press Release - August 30, 2018
Media Contact: PIO Yumi McCulloch, 907-388-0909 ymcculloch@fairbanks.us
INCIDENT: Homicides-Third Avenue and Fort Wainwright
CASE #: 15-3241 and 17-4047

On November 20, 2017 at 6:24 pm, Fairbanks Emergency Communications Center
(FECC) received a call from STEPHANY E. LAFOUNTAIN (DOB 12/19/1994) stating
her 13-month-old child was not breathing. LAFOUNTAIN also called her husband’s
family who arrived and began CPR. During that time, attempts were made to contact
the child’s father who was deployed.

The child was transported from LAFOUNTAIN’s Fort Wainwright residence by EMS to
Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. The child was later flown to Providence Medical Center
and the father returned from deployment on emergency leave.

The child, J.L., (DOB 10/18/2016), was pronounced deceased on November 24, 2017
at 4:07 pm.

Fort Wainwright Police responded to the residence and Fort Wainwright CID began the
initial investigation. The case was transferred to the Fairbanks Police Department
since LAFOUNTAIN and J.L. are not military personnel.

While FPD Detectives continued the investigation into the death of J.L., they reopened
a death investigation where LAFOUNTAIN, while in a previous relationship, had an
infant that died in 2015. At that time, the death was not investigated as a homicide.
As Detectives reviewed the 2015 FPD case, they found similarities to the 2017 case
which broadened their investigative scope.

Regarding the 2015 case, on September 15, 2015, at 5:01 pm, FECC received a call
from STEPHANY E. BILECKI (LAFOUNTAIN) stating that her 4-month-old child was
not breathing. Fairbanks Police and Fairbanks Fire Department EMS arrived and
transported the child from their Third Avenue apartment to Fairbanks Memorial
Hospital.

The child, C.P. (DOB 4/26/2015), was pronounced deceased on September 15, 2015
at 6:20pm.

FPD Detectives pursued the investigation into both incidents over the course of the
past nine months culminating in the following results:

A forensic analysis of LAFOUNTAIN’s internet searches showed that she had
been conducting suspicious searches an hour before reporting J.L. being
unresponsive. The searches included:
Ways to suffocate
Best ways to suffocate
Ways to kill human with no proof
Can drowning show in an autopsy report
16 steps to kill someone and not get caught
How to: Commit the Perfect Murder
Drowning and Forensics
Suffocating and Smothering
The autopsy results and medical records for both children showed that they
were entirely healthy, with no genetic abnormalities, no diseases, and no
injuries. J.L. died of complications of anoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain).
C.P.’s cause of death was officially undetermined, but the symptoms were
consistent with a suffocation death.

On August 29, 2018, LAFOUNTAIN was indicted on the following charges regarding
the deaths of her two biological daughters:
C.P.: MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE x 1
MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE x 2
J.L.: MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE x 1
MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE x 2

LAFOUNTAIN was arrested by the Fairbanks Police Department today at 2:02 pm and
remanded to the Fairbanks Correctional Center on the above charges.

LAFOUNTAIN has family in the Oregon area and has does not have other children.
The Fairbanks Police Department would like to thank the staff at Fort Wainwright,
FECC, the District Attorney’s Office and the Fairbanks Fire Department for their
assistance and professionalism during the investigation into these incidents.
If you have any information regarding these cases, please contact Detective Avery
Thompson at 907-450-6550 or athompson@fairbanks.us.