Former Kenai Church Leader Charged with Sex Abuse Dies in Custody
A former leader within a Kenai Peninsula congregation, who was facing two dozen felony counts of child sexual abuse, has died while in state custody in Anchorage. Aaron Scott Merritt, 45, passed away after an apparent suicide attempt at the Anchorage Correctional Complex, authorities confirmed.
Merritt was discovered unresponsive in his cell on a Friday, November 21, and was immediately transported to an area hospital. Alaska State Troopers confirmed that he died five days later, bringing an abrupt end to a criminal case that spanned two decades of allegations and investigations.
The 45-year-old had been a prominent ministerial servant at the Jehovah’s Witnesses Kingdom Hall in Kenai. He was indicted in October 2025 on 20 counts of child sexual abuse involving four different girls who were members of the congregation. The charges included multiple counts of sexual assault in the first and second degrees, and sexual abuse of a minor, and carried a maximum potential sentence of up to 99 years in prison if he had been convicted at trial. Merritt had entered a not guilty plea to all charges.
The allegations against Merritt were particularly troubling for the Kenai community, as the alleged abuse took place over a period of years, starting in the late 1990s and continuing into the early 2000s, when the victims ranged in age from five to 14. The subsequent investigation into Merritt’s death will be handled by the Alaska Bureau of Investigation.
This criminal case was the result of a long and difficult path to prosecution. While initial reports of abuse were made to the Kenai Police Department in 2002, investigators at the time were unable to compile sufficient evidence to support criminal charges. However, the case was reopened in 2021 after new information and additional victim reports surfaced, which eventually led to the grand jury indictment a year later. Kenai Police officials praised the “persistence and determination” of their investigators and expressed sincere gratitude to the victims for their courage in coming forward even decades later.
The tragic death of the former church leader leaves a host of unanswered questions and brings to a close the criminal proceedings. For the community on the Kenai Peninsula and the victims who bravely shared their stories, the emotional reckoning that began with the indictment now enters a new and deeply complex phase, without the resolution of a trial.