Searchers find body of 5-year-old Ketchikan boy missing after hiking trip, troopers say

By Anchorage Daily News

Updated: March 29, 2020 Published: March 29, 2020

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter sits in a beach area in order to airlift personnel with Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad to a remote area of Lunch Creek in the search for a missing boy Saturday at a state recreation site in Ketchikan. (Dustin Safranek/Ketchikan Daily News via AP)

Searchers on Saturday found the body of a 5-year-old Ketchikan boy who was described as missing after a hike reportedly went awry days earlier, Alaska State Troopers said.

Jaxson Brown was hiking in the vicinity of the Lunch Creek Trail with his mother, Jennifer Treat, 36, on Wednesday afternoon when the two of them lost the trail, troopers wrote in an online report. They became disoriented while hiking, according to troopers.

Jaxson Brown, 5, in an undated photo (Courtesy Alaska State Troopers)

After spending the night together, “Treat left Jaxson to seek help on her own, as he was reportedly tired and didn’t want to hike anymore," troopers wrote. “In her rush to find help, Treat reportedly tripped on a root and significantly injured her leg. Treat was found the following day and search and rescue efforts immediately began for Jaxson.”

Twenty searchers looked for Jaxson on the ground, and a Coast Guard helicopter supported the search by air, according to troopers. Ground searchers found him dead around 2:45 p.m. Saturday, troopers said.

Next of kin have been notified. The nature of Jaxson’s death was unclear from the troopers’ report.