Search & Rescue

It’s been nearly two weeks since 42-year-old Juneau resident Benjamin “Benny” Stepetin was last seen by his family in downtown Juneau.

His brother, former Juneau School Board member Martin Stepetin Sr., said he last spoke to him over the phone on June 17.

“I really hope that wasn’t the last phone call I had with him,” he said. 

On Thursday morning, Martin and his other brother, Carl Stepetin Sr., sipped coffee in his apartment as they prepared to take a skiff out on Gastineau Channel to look for their missing brother. A candle burns next to Benjamin’s missing person poster nearby. 

“It’s been about 11 days now, which is hard to say. It still feels like it’s the first day,” Martin said. “That’s way unusual — that’s not normal at all.”

Benjamin is Alaska Native, about 5 feet, 6 inches tall and has brown eyes. He’s well-known in the downtown area and has been homeless for roughly two years. Martin said Benjamin became homeless again after two years of sobriety.

On Monday, the Juneau Police Department shared a Facebook post that asked the public to help locate Benjamin. Department spokesperson Erann Kalwara said a detective has been assigned to investigate the case and police are working to track down any leads. 

Benjamin is listed on the Alaska Bureau of Investigation’s missing persons clearinghouse page and a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons investigator with the state’s Department of Public Safety is assisting in the search. 

Martin said his family and more than a dozen volunteers have spent multiple days looking for Benjamin all across town and had 500 missing person posters printed to put up around town. So far, they’ve only heard rumors.

“We’re going off a bunch of hearsay, but it doesn’t matter what we hear, how crazy or ridiculous it sounds,” he said. “We’ve been following up every single tip.”

Benjamin’s disappearance coincides with another missing person case in Juneau this week. Search and rescue responders are also actively searching for a cruise ship passenger who has not been seen since leaving for a hike Tuesday morning. As of Thursday afternoon, she’s still missing.

Martin said he’s grateful that JPD has assigned a detective to the case, but he still thinks there aren’t enough resources in Juneau to ensure the search for his brother is getting enough help. His family worries they may now be looking for his remains. 

“I don’t want this to happen to anybody ever, but if it does, I hope that they have a better way of getting through it than we did,” he said. “We’re kind of on our own.”

He said he also thinks the stigma and association with homelessness mean this search is not being taken as seriously as others. 

“He’s got two kids, and he’s got three siblings. He’s a good man. He’s a good guy, a happy person,” Martin said. “Benny’s a fisherman, a really good basketball player — and he’s missing.”

Police and family encourage anyone with information about Benjamin’s whereabouts to contact the department. 

Search and rescue responders are actively searching for a cruise ship passenger in Juneau who has not been seen since leaving for a hike Tuesday morning.

Marites Buenafe, a 62-year-old Kentucky resident, was last known to be hiking Gold Ridge and Gastineau Peak from the Goldbelt Tramway on top of Mount Roberts. She told family members she was leaving the ship, the Norwegian Bliss, to depart for the hike alone around 7:30 a.m.

She did not return to the cruise ship, which departed from Juneau at 1:30 p.m.

Alaska State Troopers are leading the effort. Juneau Mountain Rescue, Juneau Police Department and Southeast Alaska Dogs for Organized Ground Search are assisting the search.

AST spokesperson Austin McDaniel said responders conducted ground and aerial searches Tuesday night using helicopters and thermal drones.

“We’ve got a lot of resources thrown at this right now,” he said. “We’re usually very successful at these types of search and rescues, so we’re hoping that we’re going to be able to find Marites today and get her back on track for her Alaska vacation.”

McDaniel said the ground search continued as of Wednesday afternoon, but bad weather is limiting responders from continuing an aerial search. He said responders will reassess future response efforts at the end of the day on Wednesday if Buenafe is not found.

Buenafe is 5 feet, 1 inch tall and has short black hair and brown eyes.

This story has been updated.

A Haines guide died on Sunday during a non-work-related rafting trip on the Blanchard and Tatshenshini Rivers.

The guide, Marin Pitt, was a 33-year-old Montana resident with more than a decade of rafting and guiding experience. She moved to Haines this spring to work for Chilkat Guides, an Alaska Mountain Guides & Climbing School, Inc. company.

Pitt was part of a group of 24 people on a personal trip, according to a statement released Thursday by the Yukon Coroner’s Service. One of four rafts flipped at the confluence of the two rivers after high siding on a rock, the statement said. Five people were on the raft including Pitt.

Alaska Mountain Guides Director of Operations Sabrina Harvey said in a prepared statement on behalf of Chilkat Guides that the group was experienced and prepared, and that all safety protocols were followed.

“Our hearts are with Marin’s family, friends, and the entire guiding community as we mourn the loss of a truly beloved team member,” the statement said.

Russ Lyman is a long-time local guide who helps train guides in the spring. He is not currently employed by Chilkat Guides and wasn’t on this trip. But he has run the same section of river several times. He said this trip has become somewhat of an annual occurrence.

“For the last several years, it’s happened every year around this time when that part of the river is running high, because it’s really exciting,” Lyman said. “Of course, it’s also when it’s most dangerous.”

Lyman said the trip is typically a three-hour run between the Alaska-British Columbia Border and Dalton Post and that it has class three and four rapids.

A cargo ship that caught fire off the Western Aleutians sank Monday morning amid salvage operations in the North Pacific Ocean.

The 600-foot Morning Midas was carrying thousands of vehicles when it began to burn around June 3, near Adak Island. The fire burned for about two weeks before officials reported it was out.

According to the ship’s manager, Zodiac Maritime, the damaged vessel went down Monday morning after taking on water in heavy weather.

Earlier this month, Zodiac said a tug with long-distance towing capabilities was on its way to the ship, but the company didn’t say when the tug was coming or where they planned to tow it.

The Liberia-flagged ship was on its way to Mexico when the fire broke out. A United States Coast Guard cutter and aircraft crews responded to the fire, and all of the cargo ship’s crew members were evacuated safely.

The vessel was carrying 3,000 vehicles, about 800 of which were either partly or fully electric.

The Morning Midas was 360 nautical miles from shore in international waters when it sank. Zodiac Maritime said in a Tuesday morning statement that Resolve Marine — an international salvage and response company with a facility in Dutch Harbor — has two salvage tugs on location.

Zodiac representatives said because the ship was so far from land, there was no realistic way to save anything on board.

The salvage company will remain on site with pollution control equipment to monitor the situation. Another specialized pollution response vessel is also on the way.

“We remain in close coordination with Resolve Marine and the United States Coast Guard, and we extend our sincere thanks for their professionalism, swift response, and continued collaboration,” Zodiac Maritime said in a Tuesday statement.

A Homer pilot and passenger from Anchorage died Monday in a plane crash near the Kenai Peninsula community of Nanwalek, after investigators say a landing attempt was aborted due to a dog on the runway.

The commercial flight operated by Homer-based Smokey Bay Air had been headed from Homer to Nanwalek at the time of the crash, said Clint Johnson, Alaska chief of the National Transportation Safety Board.

“Witnesses on the ground as well as another airplane in trail indicated that while the airplane was on approach to Nanwalek, there was apparently a dog that was on the runway,” Johnson said. “It appears that the pilot initiated a go-around, and during that go-around there was a loss of control.”

Johnson said the Cessna 207 didn’t touch down on the initial approach, and the dog wasn’t struck.

The plane crashed in a tide-line area near the north end of Nanwalek’s runway.

Alaska State Troopers identified the two people killed as pilot Daniel Bunker, 48, and passenger Jenny Irene Miller, 37.

Miller was a well-known Inupiaq artist and photographer originally from Nome, who was also celebrated as a role model and mentor for LGBTQ+ and two-spirit youth. Bunker is survived by his wife and their two sons, and remembered as a kind and skilled pilot.

Another passenger who has not been publicly identified was seriously injured in the crash and was transported to an Anchorage hospital.

The crash happened around 2 p.m. Monday. Troopers reported receiving multiple 911 calls. As they responded by helicopter with an NTSB investigator, many local residents headed to the crash site to help, Johnson said. The first responders included the local school principal and staff, according to the superintendent of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, Clayton Holland.

“Our principal and staff were involved with the immediate response to the wreck and we are thankful to them and all the other community members who responded to provide aide,” Holland said in a text message.

Troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said residents found the plane on a beach near the runway. The plane wasn’t submerged at the time of the wreck.

“They were able to get one male passenger out of the aircraft, bringing him to the medical clinic where he received medical treatment,” McDaniel said.

Locals tried to provide lifesaving care for Bunker and Miller, McDaniel said, but the two were declared dead at the scene.

Along with troopers and the NTSB, numerous other agencies also responded to the crash, including Guardian Flight, LifeMed, Maritime Helicopters, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Alaska State Park Rangers.

Condolences poured in Tuesday for those impacted by the crash.

Holland, the Kenai Peninsula superintendent, said the crash is a tragedy for the entire Nanwalek community and Homer as well, and offered his thoughts and prayers for all involved.

Nanwalek is roughly 25 miles southwest of Homer and only reachable by boat or plane. It has about 240 residents.

in an online video from earlier this year, pilot Daniel Bunker said he regularly flew to three remote villages, describing it as a rewarding job and a way to connect the residents there to the mainland. Smokey Bay Air ran regular flights to Nanwalek, Port Graham and Seldovia.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic plane crash involving Smokey Bay Air, and we mourn the loss of Daniel Bunker — a skilled pilot and kind soul who served our communities with dedication,” said an online post from Seldovia Village Tribe.

In a statement, staff and board members with the nonprofit Native Movement mourned Jenny Irene Miller’s sudden passing, describing her as a wonderful friend, a kind human and a true luminary. Miller was a board member at the nonprofit.

“Jenny was such a bright and kind human doing good work for the world, a good friend who always reminded me to be thoughtful of others and caring even when it’s hard to be,” said fellow board member and friend Tikaan Galbreath. “Every time I had the chance to be with her, it felt like the simple joys were more clearly present and laughter was easy to find. I’ll sorely miss her friendship.”

Miller’s work has been displayed across the country and the globe.

“It was easy to love Jenny,” said Misty Nickoli. “I felt peace in her presence. Which is a hard thing to accomplish in the work and lives that we live. She always made me feel special and beautiful. She always made room for kindness. My heart is with her wife, family and our community.”

Johnson, with the NTSB, said crews were working Tuesday to recover the plane before waters rose.

“Obviously we want to get it out of there as soon as possible,” Johnson said. “We don’t want to risk losing the wreckage.”

The NTSB plans to transport the plane to Anchorage or Wasilla for a close inspection of the aircraft and its contents, as it continues to investigate what caused the crash.

Johnson said that animals on runways in rural Alaska have been reported to the NTSB before. But, he said, Monday’s incident is the first he can recall in which one has been a potential factor in a fatal crash.

“(In) Bush operations, you do see this,” Johnson said. “And animals, whether it’s a dog or a moose or whatever, obviously that’s going to be a peril that you have to contend with.”

The NTSB has previously visited Nanwalek, which has an 1,850-foot curved runway with frequent high winds.

According to an NTSB report, the same aircraft that crashed Monday had a rough landing there during a Smokey Bay Air flight in August 2016. The pilot and sole occupant, who was unhurt, reported encountering “a pretty rapid shift in the winds in both direction and velocity” just before touchdown. The plane bounced, touched down again, then overran the end of the runway, damaging its propeller and a wing.

Smokey Bay Air could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The NTSB is asking anyone who witnessed the crash and has not already spoken with investigators to contact them by email at witness@ntsb.gov.

KDLL’s Ashlyn O’Hara contributed to this report.

Three people were rescued Monday morning after their small plane fell through the ice on Sunday near the east side of Tustumena Lake, on the Kenai Peninsula.

The Alaska Army National Guard rescued an adult pilot and two passengers, both minors, from a Piper Super Cruiser at about 10:30 a.m., according to an online dispatch from the Alaska State Troopers.

All three passengers were taken to Central Peninsula Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. The hospital did not disclose the current status of the patients.

The non-commercial flight originated from the Soldotna airport. The plane was reported missing on Sunday night, about 12 hours before it was found partially submerged under ice.

A U.S Coast Guard air crew searched the area early in the morning, but the plane was found later by a good Samaritan aircraft.

The three passengers of the plane waited on the wings until help arrived.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.