Anchorage man gets 60 years for 2023 murder of John Martin III near Dimond credit union

An Anchorage judge on Friday sentenced Ryan Michael Dummler, 35, to 60 years in prison for the 2023 murder of John William Martin III, who was sleeping outside a credit union near Dimond Boulevard when Dummler woke him and shot him.

Superior Court Judge Andrew Peterson gave Dummler the sentence prosecutors asked for, according to the Alaska Department of Law. A jury convicted him last November of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder. The top charge carried 30 to 99 years.

Police found Martin, 51, dead behind a utility box at a Global Credit Union near Dimond Boulevard and King Street after reports of gunfire around 5 am on June 15, 2023. Surveillance video showed Dummler walk up to Martin about 4:58 am as he slept and pull away his bedding, waking him, the department said. Dummler appeared to yell at him, then fired eight times. Seven shots hit Martin, two of them in the head. He died within minutes. The encounter took less than 45 seconds.

At 5:08 am, about 10 minutes after he walked up to Martin, Dummler reported for work as a shift supervisor at the Burger King at Old Seward Highway and Dimond Boulevard, the department said after the verdict. Traffic cameras had tracked him there. Officers who arrested him recovered a Glock 19X handgun from his backpack that matched the shell casings at the scene, the department said.

Neither of the state's releases says why Dummler shot Martin or whether the two knew each other. At sentencing, Peterson said Dummler's unjustified and unexplained actions warranted a lengthier sentence, according to the department.

"There is nothing more serious than taking a life," Peterson said. "There is no sentence that can bring Mr. Martin back."

Martin's family and friends were in the courtroom. His mother told the court she forgave Dummler, saying her son was "a very forgiving person."

A self-defense notice was filed in the case Oct. 30, 2025, four days before the trial began, court records show. The records don't show what it said. Dummler is represented by Rex Butler.

Assistant Attorneys General Heather Nobrega and Daniel Shorey of the state Office of Special Prosecutions tried the case.