BETHEL -- A 28-year-old man from a village near Bethel was found dead Friday afternoon in the Kuskokwim River beneath his overturned four-wheeler, Bethel police reported Monday.
David Paul George was traveling from Bethel back home to Napaskiak, police said. His four-wheeler hit overflow hidden by snow and slush, then flipped, said Mike Riley of Bethel Search and Rescue.
The volunteer group alerted Alaska State Troopers about a four-wheeler upside down in the river, downriver from Bethel. Troopers then relayed the information to the Bethel Police Department.
Troopers from Bethel found the four-wheeler in the water just before Oscarville Slough with a single set of tracks leading on the ice to the water. There were no marks indicating anyone got out of the water, Bethel police said.
Bethel Search and Rescue and troopers pulled the four-wheeler out of the water along with a body later identified as David Paul George, police said. His remains were sent to the State Medical Examiner Office for an autopsy.