Prosecutors said Aaron Hague fled one investigation and began living under another man’s name.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska — Aaron Hague’s path after his roommate vanished ran through a homeless shelter, a stolen identification card, a flight to Seattle and a new life in Oregon under another man’s name, prosecutors told jurors in a no-body homicide case.
That trail now links two criminal cases in two states. In Alaska, a Fairbanks jury found Hague guilty of manslaughter, second-degree theft and tampering with physical evidence in the death of John McClelland, his 61-year-old roommate from North Pole. In Oregon, Hague is separately charged with first-degree murder and identity theft in the death of Anthony Alcorn, who prosecutors say was killed so Hague could keep using Alcorn’s identity and avoid prosecution in Alaska. The Oregon charges remain allegations, and Hague is presumed innocent there unless proven guilty.
The identity evidence began after Hague left Fairbanks. Prosecutors said Alaska State Troopers interviewed him about McClelland’s disappearance, and the next day, Aug. 26, 2020, he hitchhiked to Anchorage. At a cousin’s apartment, Hague allegedly said he and McClelland “got into it” and that “murder happened.” Prosecutors said he tried to steal the cousin’s passport before moving to a temporary homeless shelter at Sullivan Arena. While staying there, he assumed his younger brother’s identity. He also met Alcorn, an Ohio man who looked similar enough to become, in the state’s view, the next part of Hague’s plan to escape scrutiny.
By October 2020, prosecutors said, Hague had taken Alcorn’s Ohio identification card and used it to fly under Alcorn’s name to Seattle. From there, he went by train to Portland, Oregon, and began living and working as Anthony Alcorn. The false identity reached into daily life. In January 2021, prosecutors said, Hague met a woman while riding a MAX light rail train, began a romantic relationship and told her he was Russian. He said his American name was Anthony Alcorn and his Russian name was Anton Vovk. In March 2021, while camping under a bridge in Gresham, he told her he had stabbed someone in the throat, according to prosecutors.
Gresham police arrested Hague on March 30, 2021, near the Gresham Central Transit Center. Detectives said he identified himself as Anthony Alcorn. During a search, officers found Alcorn’s Social Security card, Alcorn’s Alaska identification card and a debit card in Alcorn’s name. They also found Hague’s Social Security card and Alaska driver’s license. To Alaska prosecutors, the items showed Hague was not merely running from Fairbanks. They said he had built a second life from another person’s documents. To Oregon prosecutors, the same evidence is tied to their claim that Hague lured Alcorn from Anchorage to Gresham and killed him in a wooded area.
The Alaska case began months earlier with an account that investigators said was false. McClelland’s brother Dan, who lived in Michigan, received texts that appeared to come from McClelland. The messages said McClelland was sick in a hospital and asked Dan to wire more than $8,000. Dan McClelland later said the money was supposed to cover transmission work, rent and medical costs. One message asked him to call Hague, who claimed to be at McClelland’s side while McClelland was dying from a cardiopulmonary problem and needed emergency surgery. Dan questioned why his brother would be texting from his deathbed instead of calling family.
Dan McClelland checked the story against real places in Fairbanks. A care center and two hospitals had no record of his brother as a patient. Around the same time, John McClelland stopped showing up for work and stopped reporting to probation and parole. Troopers received the welfare-check request on Aug. 20, 2020. Hague, who lived with McClelland, told investigators that he too had received messages about McClelland being hospitalized, but he said he lost the phone that held those messages. He also said he dropped McClelland at an urgent care clinic. Troopers determined that account was not true, prosecutors said.
Financial records gave jurors another way to follow the case without a body. Prosecutors said Hague spent nearly $3,000 with McClelland’s debit card after McClelland disappeared. They said he came into possession of McClelland’s Jeep, GMC truck, boat and trailer, and filed an unemployment insurance claim in McClelland’s name. The state argued that the spending and property showed Hague gained from McClelland’s death and then tried to hide it. The Department of Law described the prosecution as a no-body homicide case because McClelland’s remains have never been found. Alaska State Troopers Sgt. Jeremy Rupe said at a death presumption hearing, “We believe that he was 100% murdered.”
Hague testified at trial and gave jurors his own version of the killing. He admitted McClelland was dead and admitted he caused the death, but said he shot McClelland in self-defense. The jury’s verdict landed between the state’s murder charge and Hague’s defense. Jurors acquitted him of first-degree murder, but convicted him of manslaughter. They also convicted him of theft and evidence tampering, signaling that they accepted the state’s proof of a criminal killing and cover-up, even if they did not find the elements of first-degree murder beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Oregon case remains separate and unresolved. Prosecutors there accuse Hague of promising Alcorn a good-paying job, bringing him from Anchorage to Gresham and killing him to secure his stolen identity. The Alaska Department of Law said the Oregon trial is expected later this year. The claim is significant because it places the identity theft evidence at the center of both prosecutions. In Alaska, it helps explain Hague’s flight after McClelland disappeared. In Oregon, it is part of the alleged motive for Alcorn’s death. Hague’s guilt or innocence in Oregon will be decided by that court, not by the Alaska verdict.
For McClelland’s family, the Alaska case delivered a conviction but not all answers. The body has not been found, and the exact location and full circumstances of the killing remain incomplete in the public record. Prosecutors established a timeline that moved from suspicious hospital texts to false statements, flight, stolen property and a new identity. The defense left jurors with a self-defense claim that reduced the result from murder to manslaughter but did not erase criminal responsibility. Hague is now in Alaska custody on no-bail status while the next legal steps are set.
Officials expect Hague to be sent to Oregon after that proceeding to face the pending murder and identity theft charges connected to Alcorn. Hague’s Alaska sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 11, 2026.
Author note: Last updated May 5, 2026.