Three deceased people have been found floating in or near water in Juneau within the span of about a month, but police do not believe the three cases are connected.
Krag Campbell, a patrol lieutenant and spokesman for the Juneau Police Department, said the trio of deaths is a little unusual for the capital city, but that the public should not be alarmed.
“Well, it seems slightly more than normal,” Campbell said. “We do get occasional bodies that show up.”
Campbell attributed the rate of the deaths to the fact that Juneau has a more transient population in the summertime compared to the winter months.
He also noted that there are no allegations of wrongdoing in any of the three cases, and that none of the three bodies showed any signs of foul play. None of the deaths are considered suspicious at this time.
“We don’t have concern for the public at this time,” to a general threat at large, Campbell said in a Tuesday phone interview.
The body of 25-year-old Juneau resident, Christian Knapp, was found in the pond of a Mendenhall Valley residence on July 3. Then, on July 25, the body of a yet-to-be-identified man was located on the beach in the area of Echo Cove. Earlier this week, an Alaska Native man was found in Gold Creek at Cope Park. Campbell on Tuesday identified that person as 77-year-old Ivan James.
Autopsies for all three are ongoing at the Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage, and the police investigations are ongoing.
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 523-2271 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.
