{"id":27519,"date":"2016-07-11T19:30:31","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T02:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/update-search-suspended-for-missing-juneau-woman\/"},"modified":"2016-07-11T19:30:31","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T02:30:31","slug":"update-search-suspended-for-missing-juneau-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/update-search-suspended-for-missing-juneau-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"Update: Search suspended for missing Juneau woman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Update: At 4 p.m. Monday, authorities halted the search effort for Kristina Elizabeth Young, 36, pending further investigative leads, according to an Alaska State Trooper dispatch online<\/a>. The Juneau Police Department will maintain the case as a missing person case.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>Two friends of a Juneau woman whom authorities are looking for stood together Monday afternoon at a parking lot overlooking the Mendenhall wetlands. They hoped the search would come up empty. That might mean Kristina Elizabeth Young is still alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver a month, that\u2019s the last time I spoke to her,\u201d Christina Wheaton said. \u201cBut just because we don\u2019t talk often that doesn\u2019t mean she matters any less.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Authorities launched a massive search \u2014 by ground with canines and handlers, by air in a Temsco helicopter and by water in jet boats \u2014 for the 36-year-old woman after her brother George Benjamin Young, 40, was found dead Sunday afternoon<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Juneau Police Department spokesman Lt. David Campbell said a passerby found George\u2019s body lying face down in Lemon Creek while driving along the Egan Drive bridge around 4 p.m. Sunday. Police believe the two siblings were together on the banks of Lemon Creek near Glacier Highway when George\u2019s body was taken by the water\u2019s current.<\/span><\/p>\n

Signs of trauma from traveling down the creek were visible on his body, but obvious signs of foul play were not present, according to a JPD press release<\/a>. Police sent his body to the state Medical Examiner\u2019s Office in Anchorage and his next of kin have been notified.<\/span><\/p>\n

Police are now focused on locating Young\u2019s sister, Kristina.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some video images from 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon of Kristina purchasing alcohol at a liquor store,\u201d Campbell said in a phone interview Monday morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

Police found those purchased alcohol containers on the banks of Lemon Creek with her brother\u2019s personal items. No one has reported seeing Kristina since Sunday afternoon and Campbell said police do not know her whereabouts or well-being at this time.<\/span><\/p>\n

A brief search by Southeast Alaska Dogs Organized for Ground Search took place Sunday night, lasting about an hour and a half, said SEADOGS Team Manager Bruce Bowler. After an 8 a.m. Monday briefing at the JPD station with SEADOGS, an area hydrologist, the U.S. Coast Guard and Alaska State Troopers, the search continued again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re out here in full force,\u201d Bowler said while six dogs and a dozen other volunteers took a break to regroup at the Mendenhall Wetlands State Game Refuge parking area on Egan Drive. They\u2019ve been meeting there since 9 a.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another group of volunteers is testing a jet boat\u2019s capabilities in the shallow waters by Harris Harbor before bringing the boat to Lemon Creek to put two dogs on it for a faster search, Bowler said. Trooper Ryan Anderson said Temsco Helicopters was asked to assist with an aerial search because the high grass is making the search difficult for volunteers surveying the area on foot.<\/span><\/p>\n

So far, a second body has not been found. The only thing that has been is a dark San Diego Padres baseball cap, but no one knows if it actually belongs to Kristina or her brother, Bowler said. SEADOGS handlers log everything they find, just in case it\u2019s related to the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

A gillnet that SEADOGS put in the water Sunday night is also helping volunteers collect clues in the water. The gillnet snagged around noon Monday and several volunteers worked to set it straight, but from far away at the wetlands parking area, Kristina\u2019s two friends could only see a crowd forming in a manner that caused some panic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he didn\u2019t find anything,\u201d Wheaton said anxiously. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t look good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Wheaton and her friend eventually left the area to search for Kristina\u2019s car, a light blue sedan with a Superman decal on it, hoping to find her somewhere nearby and alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bowler said his dog team will stop searching for Kristina only \u201cwhen she\u2019s found.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Police have described Kristina as a white female, approximately 5\u20194\u201d tall, 140 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Police are asking anyone with knowledge of her whereabouts to contact JPD immediately at 586-0600.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Contact reporter Paula Ann Solis at 523-2272 or paula.solis@juneauempire.com.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: At 4 p.m. Monday, authorities halted the search effort for Kristina Elizabeth Young, 36, pending further investigative leads, according to an Alaska State Trooper dispatch online. The Juneau Police Department will maintain the case as a missing person case. — Two friends of a Juneau woman whom authorities are looking for stood together Monday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":27520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[75],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-27519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27519"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=27519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}