Bethel Search and Rescue says that it found the body of a man under the ice by Brown's Slough just before 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 29.
The man has not yet been officially identified. Bethel Police Chief Leonard Hicks said that he believes it is the body of 20-year-old Michael Isaac of Marshall, who has been missing since the morning of Nov. 2.
Hicks said that police believe it is Isaac based on his physical appearance and clothing. He said that the body is being sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage to confirm the individual’s identity and cause of death.
Bethel Police Department has been investigating Isaac’s disappearance with the help of Alaska State Troopers for the past month. Because of the nature of the case, Hicks said that the police are treating the case as a potential crime.
Bethel Search and Rescue discovered the body. Bethel Search and Rescue President Mike Riley said that volunteers searched the entirety of town before employing underwater cameras to methodically search under the ice on the Kuskokwim River and around Brown's Slough.
“The search for Michael Isaac has been going on every day,” said Riley. “And we check in with underwater cameras and a simple sonar device that we've been using. The cameras were a big help to see what was on the bottom. But the sonar was detecting an object to be of interest that we had to check. The guys checked that, then it happened to be the person that we were looking for.”
Riley thanked all of the volunteers and the members of Marshall Search and Rescue who came out and helped with the search. Hicks also thanked Bethel Search and Rescue for their impressive work, and for helping the police move forward with the investigation.
Bethel Police will continue to investigate the case. They ask anyone with information to contact the Bethel Police Department at 907-543-3781, or Detective Dylan Floyd at 907-545-0153 or at dfloyd@cityofbethel.net.
