Update: Son facing murder charges after father’s death in Sutton arson case
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - Troopers ended an hours-long manhunt that spanned two boroughs early Friday morning on March 28 with the arrest of the suspect in a Sutton homicide, according to Alaska State Troopers.
At that time, Grant Wells was taken into custody, and on Wednesday, April 9, he made a physical appearance at the Palmer courthouse for his arraignment hearing after being held at a pretrial facility.
On Wednesday afternoon, the prosecution requested Wells’ bail be set at $750,000, which is a change from an earlier court decision that previously saw Wells’ bail set at no bail.
Despite Wells’ public defender’s requests to lower a cash appearance to what they called a “more reasonable” $10,000 — which they said was due to Wells’ financial position — a judge followed through with $750,000 cash performance and cash appearance requirement, based in part on the belief that Wells “is a danger to the victim, and there is a substantial risk that he will not appear.”
Along with the monetary portion of the order, Wells will be held on house arrest with electronic location monitoring if released on bond. The court-mandated Wells is not allowed possession of weapons, nor is he allowed any contact with the victims, including members of his own family.
Wells is slated to appear in court again on May 16 at 8:30 a.m., with a scheduled trial week of June 2, also at 8:30 a.m.
Previously, a specialized trooper unit known as Southcentral SWAT arrested Wells, 21, at a cabin about 15 minutes outside of Glennallen, near mile 164 of the Glenn Highway.
Grant Wells, who has since been charged with murder and arson, was identified as the suspect in the March 2025 homicide of 56-year-old Sutton resident Nicholas Wells.
Nicholas Wells had texted his daughter a little after 8 o’clock in the evening on Thursday, March 27, from a Sutton home, saying in part, “I just might leave maybe he kill himself,” [sic] referring to his son, Grant.
Later, a neighbor reported hearing two gunshots at 8:15 p.m., according to DPS.
By the time troopers arrived at the home on Jonesville Road at 8:30 p.m., they found Nicholas dead in the driver seat of a red Chevrolet Trailblazer, according to DPS.
The troopers noticed the 56-year-old had injuries to his back and his left thumb and forefinger. The size of the back wound appeared to be consistent with that of a shotgun shot, according to DPS.
No one was inside when the troopers got to the home.
Responding troopers worked with troopers from Delta Junction. The two parties were trying to key in on the whereabouts of a white Nissan Versa associated with Grant. One trooper remembered seeing the Nissan driving northbound on the highway about nine miles outside Sutton.
SWAT found the car abandoned outside the cabin by Glennallen, located about 90 miles from the trooper sighting. SWAT noticed a flicker of light inside the structure.
Troopers used non-lethal means to arrest Grant, who had just lit the cabin on fire with a bloodied shotgun inside. The cabin was “fully engulfed in flames” when Wells came out to the officers, although it was unknown if the cabin was a total loss or not.
When brought in for questioning, Grant did not speak.
Grant is being housed in the Mat-Su Pretrial facility in Palmer.
Nicholas will be remembered as a great father and grandfather, according to his daughter’s fiancee, Emmanuel Velazquez.
“[Nicholas was] outdoorsy... he talked about taking us down to the Kenai, wanted to take for us to go on a big fishing trip, catch a bunch of salmon, stay there for, like, 24 hours,” Velazquez recalled. “[He] talked about the snow machine all the time. Just going out and doing stuff with either me, us, his granddaughter, obviously 24/7. That’s all he really cared about.”
Velazquez’s fiancee, Aimee, said she Facetimed with her brother, Grant, just before the shooting took place. Velazquez said he and the family are in shock.
“[Grant] suffers from bipolar [disorder] and everything... it’s a bit of a switch,” he said, still processing his grief. “It’s not something that I really personally could have foreshadowed or just seen coming in general, at least to be this far.
“Just the enactment of events is just offsetting like it doesn’t. It’s a little bit surreal. It doesn’t make sense,” he added.
As for Nicholas, Velazquez said he is typically a peacemaker.
“He just wanted everyone to love each other and be together,” his future son-in-law stated. “That’s all he really wanted. If something was to happen between me and [Aimee], all he cares about is the grand baby and us.
“Just calming down and loving each other and being good to each other. That’s all he really wanted was for everyone to just love each other and be good and spend time together as much as possible.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up by the family to help with funeral costs and family needs.
Editor’s note: Alaska’s News Source makes no representations or warranties of any kind about the authenticity, accuracy, or reliability of any GoFundMe campaign. Any donations you make to such campaigns are strictly at your own risk. If you have any questions related to the authenticity, accuracy, or reliability of a GoFundMe campaign, please contact GoFundMe directly or consult the GoFundMe Guarantee Policy.
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