A lawsuit filed in the Palmer Superior Court last month accuses Doyle Holmes of taking and selling property from Michael Lee Cornell, who passed away in August 2022. Holmes, a Republican and former member of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, is running against Representative Kevin McCabe (R – Big Lake). 

According to the lawsuit, Cornell had been a resident of the Willow Senior Center since 2008. Holmes is listed on state documents as a director and president of Willow Area Seniors, a non-profit that provides housing for seniors in Willow. 

The lawsuit says Cornell was divorced, had no living children or family nearby, and had a limited number of close friends. It also says he was “known in the Willow Haven Senior Housing community for his firearm collection that included rare or unique pieces.” 

The lawsuit alleges that Holmes entered Cornell’s apartment on an unknown number of occasions and removed property that belonged to Cornell. Another defendant named in the lawsuit, John McCarel, is also alleged to have entered Cornell’s apartment and taken property.  

The lawsuit states that neither Holmes or McCarel had permission from Daniel Hyry – the representative of Cornell’s estate – to enter his apartment or take property. 

The lawsuit alleges that Holmes took firearms, jewelry, an iPad, address book, and contents of a safe from Cornell’s apartment. Then, on August 19, 2022 – eight days after Cornell died – Holmes sent Hyry a letter on behalf of Willow Area Seniors indicating he had photographed everything and taken “possession” of Cornell’s property. The lawsuit also claims Holmes tried to become the representative of Cornell’s estate. 

The lawsuit states that Holmes “has a history of acting as personal representatives for deceased tenants that do not have family or friends willing or able to serve.” It also claims that Holmes has engaged in this kind of behavior before.

Here is where the lawsuit gets really wild. It alleges that Holmes refused to return Cornell’s property until his estate paid a claim made by Holmes on behalf of Willow Area Seniors. The lawsuit says that claim was denied. 

According to the lawsuit, some of the property has been returned, “but the most valuable items have either been sold, lost, or retained by the Defendants.” 

The lawsuit asks the court to compel the defendants to pay damages to the estate of Cornell and “prevent Willow and Holmes from praying on other vulnerable seniors.” 

Holmes lists himself as a founding board member of the Willow Area Low Income 12-Unit Senior Housing on his campaign website.

When contacted and asked about the claims in the lawsuit, Holmes told the Landmine,” This guy [Hyry] is nutcase. We have not been served and there is nothing to respond to. If any of that was true, wouldn’t you think the troopers would be involved?” Holmes said Cornell had no will for or next of kin and Hyry just showed up. He also said the apartment had extensive damage and that he was simply trying to get money for the damages. Holmes told the Landmine the troopers visited and went through the apartment after Cornell’s death. 

In the recent August primary, Holmes finished 9.4 points behind McCabe, 45.3% to 54.7%. In 2022, McCabe defeated Holmes by nearly 12 points, 55.9% to 44.1%, but that was after Democrat Joy Mindiola’s second choice votes were reallocated. That race was decided using ranked choice tabulation as none of the candidates received over 50% of the vote in the first round.

This November, however, McCabe is in a heads-up race against Holmes, meaning ranked choice voting won’t be a factor. 

Anchorage attorney Brogan Kirkman, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Cornell’s estate, did not return a phone call for comment.