Juneau Police Department detectives and the Alaska Medical Examiner’s Office are working to identify a body found near the Auke Bay Ferry Terminal on Tuesday afternoon, said a police spokesperson.
The body was discovered by an Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities employee checking the area across Glacier Highway for downed trees, said Lt. Krag Campbell in a news release.
“The body was located within 100 feet of Glacier Highway, up a steep embankment,” Campbell said in the release. “In the area where the body was located, there was an old makeshift campsite that looked to have predated the time the body would have been there.”
The campsite looked older and not recently inhabited, Campbell said in an email, and the state transportation department was aware of its existence.
“JPD detectives collected clothing and other items located near the campsite with hopes to help identify the body,” Campbell said. “The body appears to be of a male, but identification cannot be made at this time, due to an extensive length of time it is believed the body has been outside.”
Based on the state of decomposition of the body, Campbell said, JPD estimated that the person had been dead for more than a month, but the medical examiner’s office would be able to get a more precise idea of the estimated time of death.
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at (757) 621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.
