Homicide investigation follows discovery of body on road in East Anchorage

The discovery of a man's body on a usually quiet Anchorage road Monday morning prompted an hours-long road closure and an investigation into what police are describing as a homicide.

A stretch of Campbell Airstrip Road south of Tudor Road was closed for about four hours Monday as crime scene investigators examined the site where the man's body was found around 8:30 a.m.

According to Anchorage Police Department Sgt. Slawomir Markiewicz, the body was found in the road about 500 yards uphill of the North and South Bivouac trailheads, part of Far North Bicentennial Park.

The road, which provides the only vehicle access between the isolated neighborhood of Stuckagain Heights and the rest of Anchorage, had been reopened by 1 p.m.

In a Monday afternoon statement, APD identified the victim only as an "adult male" and said they had determined his identity but were still working to notify his family.

In an interview near the scene Monday, Markiewicz said officers weren't immediately releasing the victim's cause of death, saying that "there's some information we should guard."

Three residents of the secluded East Anchorage neighborhood said they heard what sounded like gunshots Monday morning. The sound of police and ambulance sirens followed five to 10 minutes after the shots, they said.

Markiewicz urged anyone who saw something suspicious in the area overnight Sunday to call police at 907-786-8900, noting that the body's location in oncoming traffic suggests it wasn't there for long — and that there may have been witnesses soon after the crime.

"We believe that someone here saw somebody coming here," Markiewicz said. "Stuckagain Heights people know each other, know their vehicles."

The residents said the neighborhood is generally quiet. Vehicle traffic increased over the years as the trailheads in Far North Bicentennial Park became more popular.

Alaska Dispatch News reporter Jerzy Shedlock contributed to this report.