A bouquet of colorful, plastic flowers sits in the bare dirt across from the Bethel Evangelical Covenant Church. The stretch of packed earth sits near one of Bethel’s busiest intersections, Watson’s Corner, and is used by locals as a de facto used car lot.
Orange “For Sale” signs sit in the windows of old vehicles, with handwritten numbers to call. In one of these vehicles, a family found their adult male cousin dead on Aug. 24.
Bethel Police Chief Richard Simmons said that the man likely died a natural death, and the body has been sent to the Alaska State Medical Examiner’s office in Anchorage for autopsy. Police are not releasing further identifying details at this time.