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Search Continues For Tuluksak Man Missing For Over Two Weeks

USFWS

The search continues for a man who walked away from the village of Tuluksak 15 days ago.

On Monday, Tuluksak Search and Rescue spotted Walter Hawk, a 43-year-old man troopers describe as a “vulnerable adult.” A group had boated nine miles up the Tuluksak river when they spied Hawk a couple miles offshore through binoculars. Night was approaching, and the missing man was too far away for the group to reach before dark.

Search and Rescue Member Jacob Napoka says the group decided to camp out for the night rather than shout at Hawk and potentially scare him away.

“These old people told us not to holler at him or he might run away, but quietly walk to him,” Napoka said.

But when morning came, Hawk had disappeared.

Napoka says this isn’t the first time Hawk has vanished.

“He’s like that. He always tries to go to Anchorage by walking,” Napoka said.

This is the longest Hawk’s been missing. Previously Search and Rescue has been able to find the wandering man within three days. This time, he’s been gone more than two weeks.

Napoka says when Hawk disappears he doesn’t take anything with him.

“No, he don’t bring nothing,” Napoka said, “no gun, no knife, no food, no tent.”

Before Hawk went missing he’d told a friend he was leaving to pick berries but didn’t say where he was going. Napoka says the berries are what’s keeping Hawk alive.

“Yeah, he’s okay, because there’s lots of berries up there—lots of blueberries, blackberries,” Napoka said.

A few miles from where Search and Rescue spotted Hawk they found an old blanket and sleeping bag under some trees. They think Hawk pulled the linens from a nearby, abandoned house and had been using them to sleep. The search team tied food in the branches, hoping Hawk would return to that spot. The men left dry fish, bread, cookies, juice, and coffee.

So far, the food hasn’t been touched. Napoka says searchers have been looking for Hawk every day after work. Bethel Search and Rescue and Alaska State Troopers have also helped, and berry pickers have been told to keep an eye out. 

Anna Rose MacArthur served as KYUK's News Director from 2015-2022.
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