A man who was found washed up dead in the Gastineau Channel in early September was identified by the Juneau Police Department.
Stephen Wayne Todd, 60, was located on the evening of Sept. 3 on a beach in Douglas across from the harbors near Downtown Juneau, the agency said in a news rlease. The delay in identifying the body was from difficulties in locating a next of kin to identify.
“It is a little unusual for us to release the name without the next of kin, but sometimes that’s how we find the next of kin,” said JPD public safety manager Erann Kalwara in a phone interview. “It’s very uncommon.”
While JPD was unable to locate Todd’s next of kin, data vailable to police indicated Todd had previously been in Nevada, California and Colorado.
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“I don’t believe he’s from Alaska,” Campbell said. “He’s been all over.”
JPD has access to many sources of data, including state databases for things like driver’s licenses, or national databases showing things like credit information, to run down relatives, Kalwara said.
“We have a lot of different databases that we use. We use them for criminal investigations and for missing persons,” Kalwara said. “On a few of these folks, we had to do that. Some of these people are loners or estranged from their family.”
Anyone with information that may help police make contact with Todd’s next of kin can reach JPD 907-586-0600.
Other investigations
The examination into the death of Johnathan Danial Hacko, 33, which occurred Aug. 26, 2020, is still awaiting the report from the medical examiner’s office in Anchorage, Campbell said.
This delay is likely caused by the toxicology report, which takes several weeks to process, Campbell said.
Hacko was found unconscious on a worksite where he’d been working. Attempts by Capital City Fire/Rescue to provide life-saving aid were unsuccessful.
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at (757) 621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.
