Rashah McChesney

Nearly 50 people crowded into a shelter at Overstreet Park at a candlelight vigil for missing Juneau man Doug Farnsworth. Dozens more watched livestreams and left hundreds of comments.

Despite the darkness, rain and biting wind, they spent more than an hour talking about their memories of loving and being loved by Farnsworth. He was last seen more than a month ago walking on a trail near downtown.

No one said it explicitly, but the knowing laughter and the memories people shared with his grandmother on Wednesday evening made it clear that Doug Farnsworth knew how to have a good time.

“I had a lot of crazy times with your grandson,” said one woman who didn’t identify herself. “I won’t say what I did with him — with our friends — but I really appreciate you sharing him with us, cause he was a light.”

Jayme Donahue said it was deeper than just good times.

“You know, I just — I didn’t have like the picture-perfect upbringing, and I was always running from my home,” she said. “His home was always open to me, and he had this kind spirit that I just clung too.”

Donahue said the process of physically searching for his body has been really emotional for her. She said she searched the beach front along Overstreet Park where the group stood overlooking Gastineau Channel. She wiped away tears several times as she asked people at the vigil to remember to reach out to each other. To push past discomfort and social norms and connect with others.

“I just really encourage people to judge less and feel more and be there for those they love,” she said.

She said she didn’t always do that for Doug when he reached out to her, even though they’ve been friends since middle school.

“I would give anything to go back,” she said. “I don’t have our messages, I don’t have our pictures … I’m really ashamed of that, and I’m really broken-hearted over that. I just encourage everybody to not hold back. Tell people you love them, tell people how much they mean to you, how special they are to you. I would give anything to tell Doug how special he is to me. I would give anything to tell him all of the things I love about him, and I can’t.”

Farnsworth is a 32-year-old Juneau man whose family reported him missing on Sept. 29. His older sister, Kiersten Farnsworth, says she and other family members believe he is dead. They’re offering a $5,000 reward for anyone who helps them find his body.

Kiersten Farnsworth lives in Arizona and flew up to Juneau to look for him. She has since had to go home. But she has been very active on social media, organizing search efforts and checking in with police and Alaska State Troopers with whatever information she can find. Juneau Police said Thursday that it’s an active case and they’re following up on leads, but they don’t have any updates.

Even though she’s thousands of miles away, she organized the candlelight vigil for her brother. Then she lit a candle of her own and watched from afar, commenting online as each person spoke about him. She said she doesn’t want people to forget that he’s still missing.

Barbara Charles, Farnsworth’s grandmother, thanked everyone for coming out and continuing to search for her grandson. She said she misses him running into her home, wrapping his arms around her and telling her she is the most beautiful woman in the world.

Juneau family members carried a large wooden cross and photos to put in the center of the group. They tried to light candles, but the wind didn’t cooperate. Someone else passed around glow sticks for people to hold. There were a lot of hugs and inside jokes.

It’s tricky to piece together exactly where Doug Farnsworth went the night he vanished, but Kiersten Farnsworth has footage of a truck he was driving on Basin Road at around 4:30 a.m. Then someone sent her a screenshot of him walking down the nearby Flume Trail at nearly 7 a.m. She asked that anyone who lives in that area check their game cameras and surveillance videos from Sept. 29 to try and spot him.

Volunteers are trying to organize a group search of the Basin Road area in a Facebook Group called Help Find Doug.

The Farnsworths are Lingít, and they have a lot of extended family in town. As the vigil wound down, one woman stepped forward to tell the crowd that there is no goodbye in the language, only the parting phrase “I will see you again.”

“So tsu yei ikḵwasatéen tsá tsú — until we meet again. That’s how deep that word and phrase is,” she said.

Correction: A previous version of this story misnamed the bridge the crowd gathered near for the vigil, it is the Douglas Bridge. 

 

In this newscast:

• The number of Americans with eating disorders has skyrocketed during the pandemic and Alaska doesn’t have enough resources to help them
• Want a receipt for your City of Juneau taxes? There’s a new online tool that shows residents just that
• Juneau’s public market is back and in-person, but with a few new rules
• Twenty-one Republican state attorneys general have sent a letter to President Joe Biden criticizing his COVID-19 vaccine mandate
• Scientists in Homer and Seward have spent the last several decades tracking a pod of killer whales as it approaches extinction
• State health officials reported 16 new cases of COVID-19 among Juneau residents on Wednesday

An Alaska Seaplanes plane ended up in a ditch at the Juneau Airport Tuesday morning after it slipped a tow strap.

Alaska Seaplanes spokesperson Andy Kline said no one was inside of the plane and there was no damage to it. Kline said the plane was checked out and is operational.

Flightaware.com shows the Cessna 208 Caravan headed to Haines mid-morning and in the air again later in the afternoon.

It is the second incident involving an Alaska Seaplanes plane at the Juneau airport within the last week. On Friday, a different Cessna 208 crashed shortly after takeoff. Six people were on board.

Kline said after that incident that no one was injured. He declined to name the pilot involved in that earlier crash.

Airport Manager Patty Wahto wrote in an email that the airport helped Alaska Seaplanes tow the plane out of the ditch. She said no airline traffic was disrupted.

This story has been updated with more information from Airport Manager Patty Wahto. 

A longtime state lawmaker from Juneau died earlier this week.

Family and former colleagues say Bill Hudson died on Monday. Flags were at half staff across the state on Thursday in his honor.

Hudson was a Republican who represented Juneau’s Mendenhall Valley District from 1987 to 2003.

He was originally from Arizona, graduated from high school in Idaho and moved to Alaska in 1970. He lived in Dot Lake, Ketchikan, Cordova and Soldotna before moving to Juneau in 1974.

He served 21 years in the Coast Guard and was the director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the commissioner of the state Department of Administration and director of the Alaska Marine Highway System.

Juneau’s legislative delegation remembered him on Thursday as a man who fought off attempts to move the state capital during his time as a legislator, as a fierce advocate for the Alaska Marine Highway System and as someone who helped secure funding for the former Glory Hall homeless shelter in downtown Juneau.

He was 88 years old.

The family of a Juneau man who has been missing for more than two weeks is offering a $5,000 reward for information about where to find him. 

Family, friends and law enforcement have been looking for Doug Farnsworth since he went missing on Sept. 29.  His older sister, Kiersten Farnsworth said she and other family members believe he is dead. 

“We want his body and we’ll give whoever helps us find it $5,000,” she said. “We’ve had hearsay that he’s passed and that his body was moved.”  

The truck Doug Farnsworth was believed to be driving was found by the Perseverance Trailhead about a week ago. When that happened, Alaska State Troopers, Coast Guard and a local canine search group combed the area for him but didn’t find any trace so they called off the active search. 

Kiersten Farnsworth flew up from Arizona earlier this month to find her brother. She said she’s had a ton of community support. A lot of family and friends have gone out looking for him. There’s a Facebook group where people post about places they’ve searched. Some family friends took their boat and drove it up and down the coastline looking for him. 

“Doug was pretty well known, so it’s definitely — it’s amazing to see so much community support,” she said. 

She says there is footage of the truck driving up Basin Road around 4:31 a.m. on Sept. 29, but it’s too dark to see who is in the truck. She asks that anyone who may have video footage from Basin Road or Gold Creek from a few hours before or after that time reach out to her or Juneau Police. 

Juneau police have a detective assigned to the case. Lt. Krag Campbell wrote in an email that they’re following what leads they have and don’t have any update on the investigation at this point. 

Anyone who knows anything about where he might be can make an anonymous report to Juneau’s Crime Line online or at 907-523-7700.

This story has been updated to reflect that Juneau Police Lt. Krag Campbell responded to a phone call seeking more information about the investigation in Doug Farnsworth’s disappearance. 

Juneau election officials spent Monday counting ballots from the local election. 

As of Friday, they’ve received nearly 9,200 ballots and counted nearly 6,400 of them. There are about 3,000 left to count, plus any that still may come in by-mail. 

Results from most races are unchanged, but in the race for the school board, write-in candidate Will Muldoon has pulled ahead of Ibn Bailey and is now one of the top three candidates. The other two are Elizabeth Siddon and Amber Frommherz. 

Barbara Blake is leading in the race for Assembly District 1. Michelle Hale is ahead in Assembly District Two. 

Official results will not be available until Oct. 19. 

Some voters may get a “cure letter.” Those are sent out when a ballot is missing information that makes it valid, like a signature or a personal identifier. About 376 of those letters have been sent out, according to a media release. 

Voters have to respond to those letters before Oct. 19, when the Canvass Review Board certifies the election.