2 dead in separate boating incidents in Southwest Alaska, troopers say

A missing 29-year-old Dillingham woman and a 57-year-old Kalskag man were found dead following separate boating incidents in Southwest Alaska, Alaska State Troopers said Tuesday.

On Saturday morning, an aerial search crew found Rachelle Johnson’s body along the tide line near Clark’s Point south of Dillingham, troopers said.

Johnson and boyfriend Carl Nunn left Dillingham on May 13 after Johnson borrowed a skiff to go fishing in Ekuk, about 17 miles to the south, troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said. They were reported missing on May 15 after the skiff was found upside down on the shore of Ekuk beach, troopers said.

Nunn, 36 and also from Dillingham, remained missing as of Tuesday.

The other incident occurred Monday when 57-year-old Michael Evan, of Kalskag, was found dead in the Kuskokwim River, troopers said. Evan and a woman who was not identified were traveling from Aniak to Kalskag on the Kuskokwim on Monday morning, they said.

The 16-foot aluminum boat overturned about five miles upriver from Kalskag, McDaniel said. It wasn’t clear what caused the boat to overturn, he said. Kalskag is roughly 25 miles west of Aniak.

A local search and rescue team helped the woman to shore, troopers said. A helicopter from Bethel and the Kalskag team continued searching in the water and onshore for Evan, they said. He was found dead near the boat by the Kalskag team around 2:15 p.m., McDaniel said.

Both Evan and the woman were wearing personal flotation devices when the boat overturned, he said.