Man sentenced to 87 years for 2019 murder of missing Homer woman
Published 2:57 pm Thursday, July 2, 2026
A 36-year-old man has been sentenced for the 2019 murder of missing Homer woman Anesha “Duffy” Murnane.
Kirby Calderwood was sentenced on July 2 at the Homer Courthouse to 99 years in prison with 12 years suspended — an active term of 87 years — after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. Kenai Superior Court Judge Kelly Lawson accepted the plea agreement which was first brought forth in February.
Murnane’s cousin, Heather Byrnes, spoke at sentencing on behalf of the Murnane family, and started by reading a letter from Murnane’s late mother that described the incredible trauma that her daughter’s sudden disappearance has caused.
“Byrnes talked about how regimented and risk-adverse her cousin was, and that when her cousin did not return home the family immediately knew something terrible must have happened,” the Alaska Department of Law stated.
“She said that the family and Homer community went to incredible lengths to try and find her cousin.”
Due to limited space at the courthouse, the community held the proceedings live via Zoom at the Homer United Methodist Church. Following the sentencing, the community gathering at Bishop’s Beach Pavilion for a potluck and celebration of Murnane’s life.
In Murnane’s memory, Duffy’s Legacy Fund has been established to benefit local early childhood education programs and schools.
“Created to honor Duffy’s love of working with young children, this donor-advised acorn fund will support local youth education programs and schools in perpetuity,” said Christina Whiting, on behalf of Duffy’s Family & Friends.
“Duffy’s family opened the fund with $10,000 and will match individual donations up to $5,000 total, at which point local groups can begin applying for funding.”
Murnane was a beloved member of the small Homer community and was last seen leaving an assisted living facility where she lived on Oct. 17, 2019. A massive search involving the police, firefighters, and civilians was conducted after she did not return.
She was never found and the Homer Police Department investigated the case as a homicide.
The multi-year investigation into the murder was intensified in 2022, when a Kenai Peninsula Crime Stopper tip named Caldwell as the person responsible for murdering Murnane. Caldwell had worked at the assisted living facility while Murnane lived there.
Caldwell moved to Utah after Murnane went missing, and later in 2022, his wife told the police that he had confessed to murdering Murnane in the crawlspace of his then girlfriend’s house. Homer police and the FBI investigated the crawlspace and recovered Murnane’s DNA.
Utah police and the FBI then searched Calderwood’s Utah home and found Murnane’s watch and her missing persons poster in a drawer.
The plea agreement called for a much harsher than normal sentence for murder in the second degree, as Judge Lawson said the crime was “shockingly violent.”
“The idea that a woman can simply be grabbed off the main street in the middle of the day and dropped into oblivion — that is something that is not, and cannot, be tolerated,” she said.
The case was investigated by the Homer Police Department with Investigator Matthew Haney in charge, and multiple law enforcement agencies provided assistance as well, including the FBI, Alaska State Troopers, Ogden City Police Department in Utah, and the Weber Metro Crime Scene Investigation Unit.
