Walter Jack, 08-18-02

Alaska Digest

(Published: September 10, 2002)
KETCHIKAN

Boater finds body of a hunter missing since Aug. 18

The body of a 22-year-old man missing since Aug. 18 and presumed drowned was found Friday evening, Alaska State Troopers said.

Troopers released the information Monday morning.

A boater found Walter Jack Jr. of Angoon in the water of Mitchell Bay on Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska, troopers said.

The location was about 3.5 miles from the original search area in Salt Lake, a tidal lagoon. The boater took Jack's body to nearby Angoon on Chatham Strait, where family members confirmed his identity, troopers said.

The body was taken to Anchorage for autopsy by the state medical examiner, they said. Foul play is not suspected, troopers said.

Jack was on a hunting trip when his two companions woke at 5 a.m. Aug. 18 inside their rented cabin near the shore to find him gone, apparently with his rifle and a flashlight.

Jack's sweat shirt and slippers and a swamped canoe were soon found in Salt Lake, and some searchers believed he had drowned.

His father, Walter Jack Sr., is coordinator for Angoon Search and Rescue and was involved in efforts to find him.

-- Anchorage Daily News