A woman was found dead Monday at a homeless camp in the University-Medical District, Anchorage police said.
Dispatchers got a report about the woman, saying she was unconscious and not breathing, around 10:30 a.m. Monday, said Anchorage Police Department communications director Jennifer Castro.
Police are investigating at the camp near East 40th Avenue and Folker Street to find out what caused her death, Castro said.
Police are still trying to establish the woman's identity, she said.
The small camp is in an undeveloped area behind the wooded Folker Park, across the street from Anchorage Community Mental Health Services Inc. It's hidden behind three brown storage sheds and a large, rusted shipping container.
Barbara Garner of the University Area Community Council said park volunteers have cleaned out the camps in the past. The area is filled with shrubs, young trees and weeds, she said in an email.
Donald Ferguson said he'd been staying at the camp since Feb. 1. He knew the woman and had been camping around the city with her off and on for the past year, he said.
Ferguson said four people had been staying at the camp, but more campers had come and gone since he first got there.
He awoke Monday morning and along with others found the woman unresponsive. He said she was bloody, and he did not believe she died in her sleep.
Ferguson said he knew the woman as Maria or Sanja.
Crime-scene investigators arrived at the scene shortly after 3 p.m., relieving a Dimond High School resource officer who was keeping the scene secure.