Joshua Wade

Joshua Alan Wade (March 18, 1980 – June 14, 2024) was an American serial killer who was convicted of two separate murders committed in Alaska in 2000 and 2007 respectively, and sentenced to 99 years imprisonment. Wade pled guilty to one of the murders in federal court to avoid execution. Seven years later, as part of a plea deal, he confessed to three additional murders dating back to 1994, including one for which he had previously been acquitted, in exchange for a transfer to a federal prison.

Early life Joshua Alan Wade was born on March 18, 1980, in Great Falls, Montana, but moved to Anchorage at a young age to live with his father, while his mother resorted to placing him in an acquaintance's care so she could work. Unknown to her, that same acquaintance started sexually abusing Joshua when he was five. After suffering a failed romance as a teenager, he began to develop anger issues and soon after started getting in trouble with law enforcement. According to his father, sister and several friends, Wade openly expressed his hatred of women, particularly towards Alaska Natives.

Murders Wade's first confessed murder was that of 38-year-old John Michael Martin, an unemployed schizophrenic who was found shot to death along a bike trail in Anchorage in May 1994. Shortly before his death, Martin had left a Village Inn he regularly visited to have coffee with friends. At the time of the murder, Wade was 14 years old and had no known connection to his victim.

Prosecution and acquittal for Brown's murder Eventually, one of the acquaintances who saw Brown's body reported the incident to police, which subsequently resulted in Wade's arrest. Physical evidence tying him to the crime was scarce, and at trial, his attorneys presented him simply as a "big talker" who would go to unbelievable amounts of exaggeration to impress his friends. On August 3, he got angry after an apparent rough day at work and decided to rob Schloss, who was at home at the time. After creeping inside her house, Wade restrained her with zip ties and forced her to give up her ATM card and PIN before stuffing her in the back seat of her red Acura Integra. He then drove north towards an isolated area near Wasilla and, at gunpoint, forced Schloss into the woods, where he subsequently shot her in the back of the head with a Glock. This request was granted, and he was soon transferred to USP Terre Haute. He was later moved to Indiana State Prison, where he was incarcerated at the time of his death. Since his admission to the three additional killings, the FBI and state police have been attempting to uncover the identity of his unknown murder victim, as well as possibly linking him to any further violent crimes.

In the media and culture Wade's crimes have been discussed on several true crime–oriented television shows including Murder She Solved, Cold Blooded Alaska: Winter Kill, Fatal Frontier: Evil in Alaska, and Most Evil Killers.