Search & Rescue

A 13-year old girl missing on Prince of Wales Island has been reported found.

Makayla McRoberts of Port Protection was found by ground searchers on Tuesday morning. She was picked up by a Coast Guard helicopter and possibly taken to Klawock for a medical evaluation. No word on the extent of her injuries, if any. It is still unclear what happened to her or exactly where she was found.

The Coast Guard initially reported finding the girl and flying her out of the search area. Alaska State Troopers later confirmed that McRoberts was found alive.

McRoberts went for a hike on a trail near the boardwalk at the end of Port Protection Road on Sunday. Family and friends looked for her Sunday evening when she did not return as planned.

On Monday, volunteers and professionals from Port Protection, Ketchikan, Klawock, Sitka and Juneau joined in the search, looking for her from helicopters and on the ground with search dogs.

The girl is new to Alaska and unfamiliar with the area. Troopers report that she was last wearing Levi’s, a brown hooded sweatshirt, and tennis shoes.

A Coast Guard H-60 helicopter along with the Ketchikan and Klawock volunteer rescue squads, search dogs, and Port Protection citizens conducted searches of the area. They were expected to continue Tuesday along with Sitka Mountain Rescue, and SEADOGS. The Air National Guard was also expected to dispatch a Blackhawk helicopter from Juneau.

State troopers coodinated search efforts. They say that aircraft were unable to fly out of Klawock becuase of poor weather. Roads in the area were also reported as impassable because of heavy snow pack.

(Check back later for more updates on this developing story.)

Juneau police have identified the woman found dead on a Lemon Creek area trail Thursday as Karen Eileen Kennedy.

A jogger came across the body of the 55-year-old Juneau woman about 7 a.m. on a trail through the woods behind Dzantiki Heeni Middle School.

Kennedy’s body has been sent to the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage for an autopsy. Police do not suspect foul play.

Police Lt. David Campbell says Kennedy was dressed for the weather in multiple layers of clothing. She also was wearing a Bartlett Regional Hospital emergency room bracelet.

Campbell says police are “fairly confident” about the cause and circumstances surrounding Kennedy’s death, but cannot release the information until they get confirmation from the autopsy.

“I think it’s important for the people in the area to realize that they’re safe and because a lady passed away I don’t think people have to worry about their own individual safety,” Campbell says.

He says Kennedy did not live in the residential area near the school.

Juneau police say the body of a 55-year-old Juneau woman was discovered this morning on the Switzer Creek and Richard Marriot Trail in the woods behind Dzantiki Heeni Middle School.

Police Lieutenant David Campbell says a jogger came across the body shortly after 7 a.m. Patrol officers and paramedics responded and determined she was dead then investigators arrived to process the scene.

He says they look for any kind of physical evidence, trauma to the body, and take lots of photographs. He says no foul play is suspected.

“In this case we do have a lot of other information about the person, about the circumstances and about what was found out there,” Campbell says. “We’re just not in a position to release that until we have confirmation from the medical examiner’s office as to what the actual cause of death was.”

The body will be sent to the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage for an autopsy.

Campbell says the identity of the woman will not be released until relatives are notified.

Principal Molly Yerkes says police assured her that parents did not need to keep children away from school, and that the death was not connected to the school or students.

State Troopers say a Juneau man was rescued off the Juneau Icefield on Friday afternoon after he lost his ski in a crevasse and rolled his ankle.

Kyle Thompson, 28, called in to report that he was injured and could not walk at Suicide Basin. That’s identified as along the east side of Mendenhall Glacier about two miles up from the terminus on the back side of Bullard Mountain. With the help of Temsco helicopters, Troopers evacuated Thompson and his skiing companion, identified as 23-year old Lee McDonald-Pownall.

Once down at sea level, Troopers report that Thompson was transported to Bartlett Regional Hospital in a personal vehicle.

Two people and their dog were rescued by the Coast Guard on Sunday in Auke Bay.

The group were in an 18-foot skiff that ran aground on Coghlan Island and then called a friend by phone.

The Coast Guard then dispatched a 25-foot response boat which arrived on scene, picked up the unidentified dog and two people, and transported them back to Auke Bay harbor area.

No injuries were reported.

Alaska news has been full recently of stories about the huge storm that battered the state’s west coast last week.

While the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Sherman figured prominently in helping a nearly disabled catcher-processing ship, those reports had few details.

The Sherman’s Commanding Officer, Captain Joe Hester, is fond of telling sea stories. Hester recounted a number of them when the cutter stopped in Juneau in September on its way to the Bering Sea for a three-month patrol.

As the big storm developed over the Bering last week, KTOO checked in by email. After the storm had subsided and the crew of 180 had had a good night’s rest, Capt. Hester followed up with a phone call. Rosemarie Alexander brings us the rest of the story of the Rebecca Irene.