Troopers employ 'specialized' equipment to search for human remains hotel burn site in downtown Glennallen
Alaska State Troopers are investigating the possibility that a missing Valdez woman might have been staying at the Caribou Hotel in Glennallen when it burned down on Nov. 12.
The Valdez Police Department issued a missing person report for 86-year-old Mary Jo Evans on Nov. 19, a city spokesperson said Wednesday.
“We had received calls from concerned family members that the last time they had heard from her was Nov. 5,” Valdez Public Information Officer Sarah Jorgenson-Owen said Wednesday.
According to a news release issued by Valdez police on Monday, Evans may have been driving from Anchorage to Valdez on Nov.11 in a blue 2020 Ford Escape.
The release said Valdez police checked with Alaska law enforcement agencies on Evans’ whereabouts and “exhausted all investigative leads.” So Valdez police then reached out to ask the public for information.
Jorgenson-Owen said a Glennallen man saw the department’s missing-person alert on its Facebook page and contacted troopers on Monday.
“This person recognized that vehicle and called the trooper's office in Glennallen to say they believed that they had seen a vehicle matching that description that had been destroyed in the fire,” Jorgenson-Owen said.
She said the man said he saw a badly burned blue Ford Escape in the parking lot of the Caribou Hotel on the day after the Nov. 12 fire.
“After this Glennallen resident said something to the troopers, they went over and then were able to confirm that one of the vehicles in the fire was in fact the 2020 Ford Escape that belonged to Mary Jo,” Jorgenson-Owen said.
She said Valdez police then handed the case over to the Department of Public Safety.
Department spokesperson Austin McDaniel said in an email Wednesday that investigators have not found any human remains at the hotel, which burned to the ground. He said the search was continuing with what he called “specialized” equipment.
After the fire, investigators initially said they believed everyone got out of the hotel safely, and no injuries were reported.
James Fields, the co-owner of the hotel, said that he doesn’t know if Evans had checked in to the hotel on Aug. 11. Fields told KUAC News Wednesday that his general manager had given the hotel manifest to investigators.
Troopers haven’t responded to a query about whether Evans is listed on the manifest.
