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In 2010, Joshua Wade, now dubbed a serial killer, was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Wade admitted guilt for the 2000 murder of Della Brown and pleaded guilty in the 2007 shooting death of Mindy Schloss, a public health nurse. He reportedly pleaded guilty to Brown's murder in federal court to avoid the death penalty.
Both women were murdered years apart, and while 52-year-old Schloss, Wade's Anchorage neighbor, was shot to death, Brown was beaten to death with a rock. Wade was previously tried in connection with the latter's murder but was acquitted of the murder charge. He later admitted to killing three other men in the 1990s, one of whom remains unidentified.
According to reports, Joshua Wade is currently serving time at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
An upcoming episode of ID's A Time to Kill will further delve into Mindy Schloss' case this Thursday, March 2, 2023. The episode titled Scent of a Killer airs on the channel at 9:00 pm ET.
The synopsis states:
"After a public health nurse vanishes without a trace, Anchorage, Alaska, investigators get a major break from her terrified neighbor; the race is on to recover evidence before it disappears under Alaska's winter snow."
Joshua Wade entered a guilty plea in Mindy Schloss' killing and confessed to Della Brown's murder to avoid the death penalty
29-year-old Joshua Wade entered a guilty plea in the 2007 killing of Mindy Schloss and within a few hours, received a sentence in Alaska Superior Court. His confession that he had also murdered Della Brown in 2000 resulted in a lengthy sentence of 99 years although he managed to evade the death penalty. He will only be able to get out on parole after he is 95 years old.
Anchorage Daily News reported that Adam Bartlett, one of Wade's defense attorneys, asked the state court to approve the plea deal reached with prosecutors and stated that,
"Mr. Wade has entered his plea sincerely and contritely. He's here to bring closure to the victims' family and his own family to salvage his own humanity."
Although Wade's defense lawyers claimed their client committed unforgivable sins in the horrific killings, they have come to see his other side, stating that "he is not the monster that people see him to be."
The same report stated that attorney Gilbert Levy detailed Wade's difficult childhood while also mentioning the s*xual abuse he endured as a child and his attempted suicide incident by drowning himself in a bathtub at the age of ten. Levy also mentioned Wade's drug addiction and multiple stints at psychiatric hospitals that soon followed.
Reports state that in 2000 Joshua Wade bashed Della Brown's head in with a rock in a filthy Spenard shed. According to authorities, Wade discovered Brown unconscious and intoxicated all those years ago. He then allegedly r*ped and murdered the 33-year-old in a fit of rage.
Seven years later, he fatally shot 52-year-old Mindy Schloss in the back of the head with a .45-caliber Glock while she was bound with zip ties, wearing only a bathrobe, in a wooded area in Wasilla. Investigators alleged that this time, Wade broke into Schloss' home that night, abducted her, and then drove her to the crime scene before killing her. Later on, he withdrew $1,000 from her bank account.
Joshua Wade confessed to the killings of three other men
Josh Wade was also found guilty on a federal charge of murder during a carjacking, given that he stole Schloss' car. The judge ordered Josh to spend additional time in a federal prison if he were to be released on parole after 66 years.
Years later, in 2014, Wade confessed to killing three other men before Mindy Schloss' murder in exchange for a transfer to a federal prison where he could finish out his federal sentence first. Detectives believe he was hinting at the killings of John Martin in 1994, Henry Ongtowasruk in 1999, and another unidentified man Wade claimed he killed on the same night he killed Della Brown in 2000.
According to reports, Joshua Wade is currently serving his lengthy sentence at the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
