Lincoln 'Bingo' Peratrovich, 80, beaten to death in Alaska after false Facebook post claims he was sexually interested in young girls — police had already cleared him
Summary
Lincoln 'Bingo' Peratrovich, 80, was beaten to death in his Klawock, Alaska trailer home in the early hours of March 21, 2023, after false accusations about him spread on Facebook. The day before, Alaska State Troopers responded to a complaint that Peratrovich had whistled at a teenage girl and followed her with an ax; they investigated and determined no crime had occurred. Despite this, a Facebook post spread inflammatory claims that he was sexually interested in young girls, with commenters encouraging community violence. Blaise Dilts, Moses Blanchard, and Gonzalo Sanchez broke into his home and beat him to death with their fists and household objects including a log and a chair. Peratrovich was found dead hours later with severe head and facial trauma. All three perpetrators were convicted. In September 2025, at sentencing for Dilts, Superior Court Judge Daniel Doty explicitly noted the role of online misinformation in causing the killing.
Incident Details
Deliberate or negligent spread of false or misleading information with harmful real-world effects.
False or misleading content spread without intent to deceive.
Sources
1This incident is documented by a single source. Source count reflects coverage in our monitored feeds, not the totality of reporting, and we do not evaluate publication quality.