"He left bacon in the sink thawing out," Striker Overly, a hunting guide from Tok, told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. At the top of the list were Rick Hills and Richard Bennett, whose last known locations were close together and only about three miles from the Funny River site. I want you to know that we know how youre feeling, Dolly said. On February 24, 2004, he had been home from an oil-rig job for just a few days when he left Soldotna in his red Dodge truck to pick up a paycheck in Anchorage, about 150 miles away. An experienced wilderness traveler, the 31-year-old man left a cabin on the Ambler River in Northwest Alaska in November 2012 to hike 30 miles across the Brooks Range Mountains to meet a plane in the tiny village of Kobuk for a flight home to his young wife in Wisconsin. The two families talked about my Richard and your Richard and human remains and bone fragments and detached skulls. What happened next remains an enduring Alaska mystery. Still, some expected the survival cocoon or some part of it would one day be found in one of the big river valleys that offer the easist travel through the uninhabited region. They knew Rick was likely dead, but without his body, they couldnt rule out the possibility that he was somehow still alive, perhaps injured or in pain, or even held against his will. its always tough to lose parents, and doubly tough to lose one the way you lost your father. it is hard to find closure with the unknown. He was home alone that day; his wife, Bette, was sick and being cared for by relatives in Washington State. There are others. "One man didn't want to be found," Hughes said. The accounts of Richards state of mind, the approximate height of the skeleton, the jeans and sweatpantsthey all added up. Jane has always thought that Richard may have just wanted a clean start somewhere else. Train that derailed in East Palestine carried Dow product, EthylHexyl Mid-Michigan police officer accused of defrauding Meijer of $10K, Thousands gather for 37th Freeland Walleye Festival despite rain, clouds, Creative 360 moving to former Chapel Lane Presbyterian building. MISSING IN ALASKA Clip - Killer Mermaids? (2020) History Channel There werent many people with whom he could share the burden: Jane and Leroy and, it turned out, Dolly, Tom, and Heidi. Clearly something catastrophic happened to him. I suspect he didnt realize that the pile of rocks just ahead of time was the turn-around point and instead saw the goat trail and followed THAT until.??? The discovery of his body was pure luck. See Photos . Not a hint German adventurer Thomas Seibold has been discovered since he disappeared in November 2012. Kelley is one of the many to have gone looking for Michael's body. A few hundred more patrol towns and villages, mere flecks in the landscape. More than 53,000 people have been reported missing in the state since the clearinghouse was established in 1988. Then they noticed some bones scattered across a wide grassy area. Bette was still healthy enough to make the 20-minute hike from the highway to a picturesque clearing between two large birch trees. They were things he knew we could use, Jane told me. Bette Bennett was in the last stages of a terminal lung disease. For this, I am truly sorry. The headline read, Troopers Identify Human Remains Found During Last Years Funny River Wildfire. The bones belonged to a Soldotna resident, James Allen Beaver, whod been missing since 2011. Everyone glanced at it. you can contact the editor directly at craigmedred@gmail.com. Human remains found near Seward likely not those of missing Mount The second concluded that the original DNA sample taken from the remains released to the Bennett family in 2006 was in fact that of Rick Hills. The image of two women studying a map, a single light overhead, spoke to me of an inner toughness rising to the occasion. His remains were found in September 2014. https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/article/human-remains-found-remote-island-sept-belong-missing-french-adventurer-francois/2014/11/06/. "He contacted my sister regarding his expedition fall '06 It is surmised his cancer, which had been in remission, had returned and this walk in the woods and down river was to defy the odds. But in November of that year, a beach clean-up crew working on Shuyak Island on the south side of the strait found human remains. Hikers in Denali National Park and Preserve earlier this year found the remains of 22-year-old Etienne Terrell from Atlanta who disappeared in July 2015. He would never be seen again. Griffis remaining missing. Their only hope of crossing the 300-yard wide river was walking upstream 25 miles to the Donjek Glacier, hoping it was the source of the river, and they could walk across it without crampons or ice axes, which they had left behind,'' Brendan Leonard wrote in an Adventure Journal tribute to Washburn after his death. After three days of futile searching, the hunt was called off. I swear now and then. They told me a body had been found, and that its DNA had been tested. In mid-May, the Kufels noticed he was burning a lot of stuff in a large metal barrel. Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager malia.miller@alaska.gov 907-269-5038 E-mail Missing Persons Clearinghouse The list below is all reported missing persons in the State of Alaska and is updated daily at 6:00 AM. There is speculation now that he went past Race Point, climbing toward the true summit of Mount Marathon far back in the Kenai Mountains and fell off a cliff somewhere. A retired contractor in his early 70s, Leon is a compact, sturdily built man, naturally reserved but with a lot on his mind. I didnt know what to do, Leon Bennett told me, recalling the days and weeks after Lieutenant Shuey showed up at his house. After almost four hours, Jane entered a meadow and peered into a small, shaded clearing. It was the right thing to do, he said. He finally agreed to call his mother when I told him, Look, if you dont call her, Ill have to file a big report. . I dont want to come across as super-religious, she added. Some of Alaskas unsolved missing persons cases are detailed on the trooper clearinghouse Web site. They tried to block those thoughts, but they never went away completely.. Alaska State Troopers were notified. Jenna miller missing in alaska - vnkn.rehagramm.de The partial jawbone in. Eric Miller knows his brother went into the Chugach National Forest and disappeared. First thing I noticed, it had Levis on. Troopers noticed a blue. Curious to know what Macdonald meant by typical, I flew south to the Kenai, a peninsula shaped like the craggy profile of a T. rexs head, extending 150 miles southwest into the Gulf of Alaska. She enlisted the help of other volunteers. He was presumed drowned, but his body was never recovered. In the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta, in western Alaska, the Bethel Search and Rescue group puts up color-coded markers. Im frustrated that Im not out there looking for him myself., Leon was caring for one of his daughters, who was recovering from a quintuple bypass. Schoch had a history of high blood pressure and diabetes. You provide yourself food and shelter, or you die. The goat trail gets to a point where it peters out & starts to get dicey. He was like a few others who have over the years turned to ghosts in the scabrous vastness of Alaska. The missing woman was found. Troopers guessed that the bones were those of an adult male, based on the size and style of the boot and the fact that in these circumstances, the deceased is usually a man. Bush pilot Harley McMahan dropped Harper off near 7,000 feet on the mountain on May 4, 2004. After her father's death, she received $800,000 as an inheritance Zoe Kravitz Alyssa Miller (2013-2014) - Gyllenhaal dated American model, Alyssa Miller from . Alaska encompasses 39 mountain ranges, 12,000 rivers, 100,000 glaciers, and 3 million lakes. They were there to watch runners trudge 3,022 feet from near sea level on Resurrection Bay to Race Point visible high above the city, before turning and charging back downhill to race past the crowds along Fourth Avenue. They felt bound to him by circumstance, and by their shared experience of a grief few others could understand. He ended up dead in an old school bus along an abandoned and overgrown road just north of Denali National Park and Preserve. But intensive searches turned up no sign of the experienced outdoorsman other than unconfirmed sightings. There is only hope of closure for the family, hope that a loved one can be brought home for the last time. Schoch's body did, however, eventually make it home. At right is a photo of. But probably the best known missing person case in wild Alaska involves 66-year-old Michael LeMaitre of Anchorage who went up Mount Marathon on July 4, 2012 and never came down. The medical examiners office ordered a round of expedited DNA tests. I hope youre sitting.. But we may never get to know what happened to him.. They drop a long pole with a big hook in the water, and the boat goes back and forth. On June 23, 2006, the family held a memorial in Anchorage. i have a friend from long ago still missing. By the time he finished, Dolly and Heidi were weeping. Jun 13, 2016 FAIRBANKS Alaska State Troopers are trying to find the location of a Fairbanks woman whose pickup truck was found abandoned along the Parks Highway near Healy on Sunday. They took over the search, but did not call in an Alaska Air National Guard Pavehawk helicopter with sophisticated, heat-sensing technology until the next day. July 9, 2021 Searchers released these photos of Michael LeMaitre after he went missing in the 2012 Mount Marathon Race. They told us there was no one else missing in the area, Leon said. People on foot scoured all likely routes down the east side of Mount Marathon. Investigators sent a bone sample along with a swab of Bette Bennetts saliva to a Texas lab for DNA analysis, to confirm that the remains were indeed Richards. Robert Hunter, the lead investigator on the case, received the anthropologists findings in March 2006 and discussed them with a superior. One such recent find _ a human foot inside a shoe discovered in northwestern Alaska _ is being sent to the FBI's new National Missing Person DNA Database at the agency's Quantico, Va., academy. Their stories are represented by color-coded flags dotted across an Alaska map in Hughes' office. Searches in this area are always difficult because of the huge glaciers, the jagged mountains, the sheer remoteness, and the limited search-and- rescue assets. When he wasn't found in the immediate area of the lodge, searchers speculated that he might have tried to ride west 35 miles to Chisana, a deserted cluster of old mining cabins around an airstrip in the park, or Beaver Creek in Canada's Yukon, about an equal distance to the east. It was raining and chilly that day, but thousands of spectators gathered anyway on the streets of the waterfront city about 125 miles south of Anchorage at the end of a heavily traveled highway. There are lives that are erring and nameless. "Park officials believe Schoch left his campsite for a day hike, possibly to take pictures of . And weakness, be it physical or mental, is given no quarter. After the police stopped searching, Dolly and Heidi kept the case alive. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. The national average is one out of 343 people, according to the FBI. People named Jenna Miller. Race officials told her to be patient, but to notify them if Michael hadn't shown by 8 p.m. By 9 p.m. the first of several searches were being organized. . My gut tells me that he fell into possibly a concealed crevasse in bushes up there that has yet to be discovered. They told him to make the turn and follow them down. It went on for three days. LeMaitre was the final, back-of-the-pack competitor in that race. Searches that ended with bodies found. Investigators from the medical examiners office tracked down the X-rays at Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage and gave them to two forensic anthropologists. 2023 Anchorage Daily News. Leon isnt the only one whos had that idea. The letter had been hand-delivered by Captain Andy Greenstreet, the commander of the detachment that covers the Kenai. I was met there by Dolly Hills and Heidi Metteer, Ricks longtime partner. Itd be hard living. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. I, along with many others, would like to see this mystery solved one day.". One of his neighbors in Alaska told me that Richard would occasionally come over for a beer, but wouldnt come in the house. Fire crews in Alaska are used to seeing the bones of moose, caribou, bears, and other large creatures that live and die in these woods. The letter was dated November 5, 2007, some 16 months after the Bennett family had buried the remains of a man theyd believed was their son. Miller is among 3,988 people reported missing in Alaska in 2002 and one of the 217 who remain missing, according to Alaska State Troopers. She talked about how her family had searched and agonized for 10 years, only to find out that Ricks ashes were buried above a lake they drove past all the time on their way to Anchorage. "She didn't even know where the White River was,'' Sewell said. The first concluded that the bones found at the Funny River site were neither Rick Hillss nor Richard Bennetts. He was lightly dressed and moving slowly, but they judged him to be doing fine. They were still piecing the narrative together themselves. Les Moonves / Rachel Abrams / 20th Century Fox. Jenna Miller. Theres a possibility, Leon told me, speaking in a faint voice, as if not wanting to hear himself say it. Many were runaways who eventually returned home, but some were people who will never be seen again. LISTEN: How did this Anchorage runner go missing - Alaska Public Media Seibold, like Griffis and a host of others gone missing, was an adventurer -- and a competent one. "They arrived at the Donjek River to find it uncrossable, a raging torrent rushing with glacial meltwater from upstream. Griffis's disappearance never made the news. See Photos. About 100 people live in Beaver Creek. The former was headed to an obvious destination before crowds of spectators -- and still disappeared. How come you cant find my husband?, Shuey told me. Nervous laughter. They got together for the first time on a sunny Sunday morning in February 2015. Dolly told Leon, Jane, and Leroy that they had chosen a beautiful spot at Lower Summit Lake. One such recent find -- a human foot inside a shoe discovered in northwestern Alaska -- is being sent to the FBIs new National Missing Person DNA Database at its Quantico, Va., academy. There have been so many searches for people gone missing in just this one small corner of the state. When everyone was settled around the dining-room table, the captain started reading. In the book "Into the Wild," author Jon Krakauer speculated the 24-year-old wanderer had fallen victim to mysterious wilderness poisons. These things sometimes take time in the wilderness of the north. Then, in 2013, the couples only daughter, Linda Evans, went searching for answers and, to her shock and amazement, found her mother living with a different family in the Yukon Territory. The elements can change with amazing speed, particularly in colder seasons. So yes, it was in the back of my mind that it could be Richard.. The results came back months later--and in the interim Topkok passed away, never knowing that the results matched up with the body of her brother found near Central 23 years earlier. Even people who know the terrain and conditions can become disoriented. Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. They called the medical examiners office several times, asking when the remains could be released. "Richard disconnected from us after his struggle with cancer,'' she said. In early 2015, I traveled to Lake Havasu City to meet the other family that had gotten a knock on its door the previous August. But seeing all his things packed up and labeled, the trucks signed over, it looked like he got his affairs in order.. The Bennetts only son went missing from his home on the Kenai Peninsula in 2005. He disappeared into the northern edge of the Wrangell park. Red means a rough ice road. Missing in Alaska: With Ken Gerhard, Jax Menez Atwell, Tommy Joseph, Matthew Evan Paine. The anthropologists found them consistent with the markings on the skeleton. Aug 23, 2006 . More than 53,000 people have been reported missing in the state since the clearinghouse was established in 1988. "We were go able to go back to that year and track him,'' Sewell said. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? And yet, something happened, and he disappeared without a trace into a land that sometimes leaves few traces. The mudflats can be like quicksand; ice and snow can erase a persons last traces. Jenna Yoo Hwa Miller was born September 19, 1984 in Inchon, South Korea where she was given the name Yoo Hwa 'Gentle Bright Shine' before traveling to Alaska. He slept in those things.. "We all know it's big country,'' said Jim Hannah, a retired Wrangell Park ranger who came to Alaska from Texas in 1981, grew addicted to the wilderness and never left. He let Heidis question hang in the air. "He finally agreed to call his mother when I told him, 'Look, if you don't call her, I'll have to file a big report.'". Then there are the people who are not really lost. Jenna Miller. The next day, a small group hiked up a grassy hillside overlooking Lower Summit Lake, one of Richards favorite places to hunt. I have zero confidence in them, he said. A hasty search found nothing. Under the Levis, blue sweats. She had a high, lilting voice that sounded cheerful even when she wasnt. Jane placed a wreath on the freshly turned soil. That means one of every 161 people goes missing in the state, which has a population of nearly 644,000. Shuey spent 14 years as a trooper in the field. In the center console was $292. Its one reason that Eric Miller will always wonder about his brothers fate. Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee is about a 20th the size, yet it attracts 134 times as many people every year. My heart goes out to all the families that have felt this hurt of losing someone this way! @RedBalloonBooks. The granddaughter was upset. Log In. They thought he looked fine. Ricks tracks in the snowright foot dragging, as if hed injured his legled into the woods. Others are lost hikers and snowmobilers, commercial fishermen lost at sea and plane crash victims whose remains have not been found. The skull was resting on its side, the face angled toward the ground. All rights reserved. Sewell, when tracked down, confessed he didn't remember a whole lot. MISSING IN ALASKA Clip - Killer Mermaids? Heidi was the thoughtful one, more apt to listen and absorb. A jogger vanishes from the top of Mt. See Photos. I felt for them, he told me later. I was searching for the exact coordinates of where my fathers remains were found and up came your articlemy mother (his wife Carol) passed August 1, 2018 within one year of rangers finding his wedding ring!! Out there, it can go from clear one hour to zero visibility the next, said Peter Atchak, Search and Rescue leader. Both knew they were about to deliver upheaval to an unsuspecting family. The June before Griffis faded away into the wilderness, Sue Nott, 36, and Karen McNeill, 37, went missing on 17,400-foot Mount Foraker in the Alaska Range. Your current subscription does not provide access to this content. The pilot returned to find Schoch's camp, his medicine and other gear, but no sign of the retired Greyhound bus driver. When they let their minds go there, the possibilities multiplied, became endless. or. After Captain Greenstreet delivered the news, Dolly said, it took another month to find the exact location of the urn. Families ask, How come you cant find our son? A full body orgasm at the L.A. Phil? He remains missing. ANOTHER Woman Disappears While Out Jogging; California - Lipstick Alley It was a human skeleton, minus a head. This is a fascinating compilation, but youve got Guenot wrong. They learned that no one had seen Richard in several months and that just before Memorial Day weekend, hed withdrawn his last $10 from an ATM in Soldotna. They were startled to find the trailer completely cleaned out. Lemaitre was never seen again. Searchers in aircraft repeatedly combed the route from his drop off to the summit. A high-school friend of Richards, Harold Hap Pierce, dug a hole and buried the urn. Most of them went to the historic Kennecott Mine near the community of McCarthy at the end of a road that snakes into the southern portion of the park. Ben Sewell of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Id be pissed, he said, but I wouldnt be surprised.. And searches that just sort of faded away with searchers unable to find anything. In the years since my visit to Soldotna, Id thought of Dolly and Heidi whenever I ran across stories of people who had disappeared. He was then about 200 feet shy of Race Point, the outcrop below the mountains summit that marks the turn that ends the race uphill and starts the race downhill. Enter your email address to follow Craigmedred.news and receive notifications of new stories by email. Atop one stack was Colonel Cockrells letter to the Bennetts. Less than six years after Griffis went missing, 66-year-old Michael LeMaitre of Anchorage left the coastal community of Seward along with hundred of other runners competing in the annual Mount Marathon race. His car was found about three weeks later in the parking lot of Resurrection Pass Trail, a popular hiking route in the national forest south of Anchorage. crevasses at Russell Glacier, a favorite spot for amateur photographers like Schoch,'' Beth Bragg wrote in the Daily News when the search ended. The body found in 2005 and released to the Bennett family in 2006 was not Richard Bennett. You dont want to dwell on it. Rick Hillss skull hasnt been found. Nothing was certain, however. In Anchorage, the statewide coordinator of search-and-rescue at the time, Lieutenant Craig Macdonald, had told me about some recent cases, including that of Rick Hills. When I first met Dolly, in January of 2005, her son Richard Thomas Hills had been missing for almost a year. The Mystery of Why People Go Missing in Alaska - The Atlantic At that point, one would think hed realize Something is wrong here. and then turn around and head back to the area where he came up. I Google his name once or twice a year with the hopes that somebody has finally found him. Eric Miller wrestles with opposing theories about his brothers disappearance. Either he died in the Alaska wilderness or he ran away -- or both. But the condition of the bones made determining the cause of death impossible. The company confirmed that Rick had gotten his check that day, but his truck was found two days later, plowed into a snowbank in the town of Sterling, just 15 miles from home. So it wasnt until crew members found a human skull that they stopped to consider that the pieces might go together. More than 3,000 people had been reported missing the previous year in Alaska, a state with a population smaller than San Franciscos. Yet the two women would keep searching for the next 10 years. Griffis was a big man at 6-foot, 220-pounds. A tour and other events are coming, but for now I'm thrilled to share my book launch is on February 7 at. The three of them went to Richards place and looked around in silence. You have permission to edit this article. Dolly seemed to rely on Heidi for steadiness, Heidi on Dolly for uplift. Marathon in Alaska and a witness describes seeing a monstrous, airplane-sized raptor around the time of the disappearance. Dolly introduced Heidi as my daughter, and I would come to know the two women as a unit. Two years after 68-year-old Paul Schoch from Brule, Wisconsin disappeared in 4,500-foot Skolai Pass in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, hikers discovered his remains about 12 miles from where park rangers had earlier found his campsite. Dolly was the talker, the instigator who moved things along. "Missing in Alaska" Alaska's Birds of Slay (TV Episode 2015) - IMDb They say they are, but Im almost sure theyre not, he said. The family lost track of him after an illness. How to reverse Diabetes Belly fat: The removal of Diabetes Crime log: Woman's date overstays welcome, refuses to leave, Crime log: Harassment complaints made by township residents, Explore newly opened 334-acre park in Saginaw with virtual tour, http://www.dps.state.ak.us/ast/cib/Missing.htm. Landslides, avalanches, fissuring glaciers, overflowing rivers, and collapsing riverbanks all make travel unpredictable at best. It was awesome to see an article that still remembers him! Valerie Sifsof , 43, from Anchorage walked away from the Granite Creek Campground along the Seward Higwhay in the summer of 2013 and simply vanished. I was working on a story about the phenomenon in Alaska of ordinary people disappearing while doing ordinary things. Ten years?, Dolly replied. It was a lucky discovery that brought closure for the family. Three months after the Funny River bones were discovered, Shuey and another investigator found themselves speeding through the Arizona desert in the middle of the night to reach Lake Havasu City by morning. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), View craigmedred.newss profile on Facebook, the 46-year-married father of three walked away. The first year was particularly hard on Dolly; she essentially stopped eating, and by the time I met her shed dwindled to about 100 pounds. you might recall that while looking for him they did find another body. I spent two days with them, going over the investigation, discussing theories, and retracing Ricks last known movements. "In all likelihood, he went messing in September 2006, but it was not reported until August 2007,'' said Sgt. Troopers search for missing Fairbanks woman | Local News | newsminer.com He could have run into the wrong bear; as many as 4,000 of them roam the peninsula, including some of the largest brown bears on the planet. We have one, Dolly said. View all posts by craigmedred. When my hand touched, I thought, Thats him.. Alaska authorities are also sending saliva samples from relatives of three missing fishermen involved in a boating accident in the area a few years ago. Hed fished and hunted since he was a child. He knows what big, empty country looks like. There have been random searches for Michael almost ever since by people who come to the mountain with their own guesses as to where he might have gone. The conversation turned to the uncanny similarities between Rick and Richardtwo men close in age, roughly the same height, who disappeared in the same area about 15 months apart. Griffis grew up there, dreaming of the far north. The truck was registered to Luann Miller, 51, of Fairbanks. One, a British woman who lived in Anchorage, told Dolly that two men had been nearby as Rick was dying, that they had rifled through his coat for drugs and then left, and that Rick had frozen to death. "Nothing panned out," Eric Miller said. Troopers identify remains of missing person after 32 years Millers family members told troopers she has not been in contact with her family since Saturday. A couple horses were missing. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. "He always had an imaginative mind, somewhat sociopathic-charismatic,'' his sister Teddi Narkowich said by email from her home in Boca Raton, Florida.
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