Update 1:20 p.m.: David Jacobs has been found alive and is being checked out by the Napakiak clinic. Searchers found the sixteen-year-old on the Johnson River, about six miles from Napakiak around 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon. Bethel Search and Rescue President Mike Riley says Jacobs was found with his cloths and feet wet but with no visible frostbite and appearing in good condition. He was missing for just over twenty-four hours.
Original story 12:00 p.m.: David Jacobs, age 16, of Nunapitchuk was last seen leaving the village school a little before noon on Wednesday. Wearing a black coat and dark gray pants, he headed east through the village along the boardwalk and past the edge of the community. From there a snowmachine trail begins, running seven miles east to Atmautluak.
When Nunapitchuk Village and Tribal Police Officers began looking for Jacobs that evening, around 4:30 p.m., they found footprints heading east along the trail. The officers followed the prints on snowmachine until they ran out, and then rode the rest of the trail to Atmautluak. But they saw no other sign of Jacobs.
A larger search has mobilized Thursday.
Twenty-five searchers from Nunapitchuk, Atmautluak, Kasigluk, and Napakiak are all joining together to look for the missing teenager.
Kasigluk Search and Rescue President Wilson Twitchell is coordinating the search.
He asks that anyone who has information on David Jacobs, or who has been in communication with the teenager, call the Alaska State Troopers at 1-800-478-9112.
