AK AK - Steve "Smiley" Keel, 61, TN Resident, Missing From Hunting Trip, North Slope, Sept 2022 #2

[Rennfam]

Murder?

ETA: I listened to just a few minutes, and the “murder” isn’t in reference to this case. Still, I have had suspicions.

The podcast refers to the murder of young girls from the same small town where SK was from. That is where the title comes from. They also cover missing persons from the area - so they have decided to cover the SK missing persons case because he is also from Dover. They are not saying his case is also a murder.

 

[neesaki]

The podcast refers to the murder of young girls from the same small town where SK was from. That is where the title comes from. They also cover missing persons from the area - so they have decided to cover the SK missing persons case because he is also from Dover. They are not saying his case is also a murder.

Right, I listened just long enough to learn that, but Didn’t have time to listen to the whole thing.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

There’s an interesting post on the official Search page, run by family - 2 hours ago.

 

[Tower]

There’s an interesting post on the official Search page, run by family - 2 hours ago.

Wow! Looks like the info is unconfirmed, but may be a break in this case. On family’s own FB page.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

There’s an interesting post on the official Search page, run by family - 2 hours ago.

Extraordinary! Thanks for the heads up

 

[Unalienable Rights]

Here's an MSM link:

Search crews believe they've found the remains of the missing Tennessee hunter in Alaska

Search crews believe they have found the remains of Steve Keel — the Tennessee hunter who went missing in Alaska more than one year ago.

www.newschannel5.com

DOVER, Tenn. (WTVF) — Search crews believe they have found the remains of Steve Keel — the Tennessee hunter who went missing in Alaska more than one year ago.

NewsChannel 5's Nick Beres spoke with his wife Liz in Dover. She said specialized sonar, forensic images have detected a human body in a lake that they believe almost certainly is Steve.

Continued at link.

 

[whatsnext]

Here's an MSM link:

Search crews believe they've found the remains of the missing Tennessee hunter in Alaska

Search crews believe they have found the remains of Steve Keel — the Tennessee hunter who went missing in Alaska more than one year ago.

www.newschannel5.com

DOVER, Tenn. (WTVF) — Search crews believe they have found the remains of Steve Keel — the Tennessee hunter who went missing in Alaska more than one year ago.

NewsChannel 5's Nick Beres spoke with his wife Liz in Dover. She said specialized sonar, forensic images have detected a human body in a lake that they believe almost certainly is Steve.

Continued at link.

How on earth did he end up in a lake? Glad his family got him back and hoping for more answers.

 

[Pursula]

"Liz Keel said a group of searchers, using cadaver dogs, sonar and a forensic device possibly found the remains of her husband, Steve Keel. However, the Alaska State Troopers said those remains the group found, were not human remains."

Remains originally believed to be missing Dover man are not human, Alaska troopers say

“Since then none of the authorities or divers have contacted me or supplied the pictures videos or coordinates of the search but the divers have been busy posting information on Facebook evidently trying to distance themselves from the search since they missed him in the lake,” Keel said.

www.wsmv.com

 

[Hexe]

"Liz Keel said a group of searchers, using cadaver dogs, sonar and a forensic device possibly found the remains of her husband, Steve Keel. However, the Alaska State Troopers said those remains the group found, were not human remains."

Remains originally believed to be missing Dover man are not human, Alaska troopers say

“Since then none of the authorities or divers have contacted me or supplied the pictures videos or coordinates of the search but the divers have been busy posting information on Facebook evidently trying to distance themselves from the search since they missed him in the lake,” Keel said.

www.wsmv.com

I'll take Liz's claims with a huge grain of salt as she has been attacking Alaskan rescue services from the very beginning of that case.

 

[Tower]

I'll take Liz's claims with a huge grain of salt as she has been attacking Alaskan rescue services from the very beginning of that case.

I emphatically agree. She has been critical of local LE and SAR in media and on the official Facebook group, previously discussed on these threads. Moo

 

[Black Diamond]

Dang. Hard to know what to think about this. If the divers say they searched the whole shallow lake and didn’t find the body, you’ve gotta think it was a false alarm. If Ms. Keel feels so strongly that the divers missed his body maybe she will arrange another dive. Probably would have to be next spring though at this point in the year.

 

[Rennfam]

Dang. Hard to know what to think about this. If the divers say they searched the whole shallow lake and didn’t find the body, you’ve gotta think it was a false alarm. If Ms. Keel feels so strongly that the divers missed his body maybe she will arrange another dive. Probably would have to be next spring though at this point in the year.

I have 2 thoughts. For AK to send up divers etc in coordination with the Air National Guard, the sonar screens must have shown something, right? And the sonar searchers appear to be defending their search posting information about how dogs differentiate between human and non human remains. The body of water searched was 3 feet or less.

 

[RickshawFan]

I haven't invested much in this case for a while.

IMO SK was never going to be found in the lake. If you're lost, even in darkness, who walks into the depths of a lake? (Getting pulled under is something else). SK knew there was a lake somewhere there, because his tent was right near it. If he took a step and water got deep, you'd think he'd turn right around, knowing he'd got into the lake and it would go deeper from there. He'd not be getting sucked under in the depths of a lake.

Undoubtedly, there are plenty of animal bones in the lake. It's in a caribou migratory route, and SK and his buddy threw their kill into it, so wild as well as human-introduced.

Attacking SAR for a year and then expecting them to rush to a likely non-find-site over a day's drive from the nearest big town and bazillion dollar helicopter rides that are needed as ambulances....well, how does that work?

Assumptions ran amok in this case, but I can speak to these... Not rarely, the wilderness claims a tourist; they are never seen again. There's a common assumption that everyone will be found. Minimizing your risk of being that person is possible, but the risk never entirely goes away. People go missing every year and are never found. Native Alaskans know this, because that's what life presents them with. Perhaps it's easy to make the mistake of assuming that if someone is going into the wilderness for recreation, nothing could possibly go wrong, because it's a pleasure-place. Problem is, it's not Disney World; it's a place that belongs to a force that doesn't give a rip about humans. Native Alaskans IMO don't have a lot of time for people (generally 48-staters) who make the assumption that all the wilderness is Disney-tundra-world, because it's a poor one, and not because they're determined to be unhelpful.

 

[RickshawFan]

I'm unclear what a "forensic device" is.

Was the sonar operator a fisherman from lower-48? I'm thinking you'd have to be a specialist in reading sonar images specifically for human remains. My understanding is this lake is sludgy: the water would be murky and pictures cloudy. There are all kinds of remains in sludgy pools of water because big animals get stuck in them. This is why antler-hunters go in boggy areas.

 

[Rennfam]

I haven't invested much in this case for a while.

IMO SK was never going to be found in the lake. If you're lost, even in darkness, who walks into the depths of a lake? (Getting pulled under is something else). SK knew there was a lake somewhere there, because his tent was right near it. If he took a step and water got deep, you'd think he'd turn right around, knowing he'd got into the lake and it would go deeper from there. He'd not be getting sucked under in the depths of a lake.

Undoubtedly, there are plenty of animal bones in the lake. It's in a caribou migratory route, and SK and his buddy threw their kill into it, so wild as well as human-introduced.

Attacking SAR for a year and then expecting them to rush to a likely non-find-site over a day's drive from the nearest big town and bazillion dollar helicopter rides that are needed as ambulances....well, how does that work?

Assumptions ran amok in this case, but I can speak to these... Not rarely, the wilderness claims a tourist; they are never seen again. There's a common assumption that everyone will be found. Minimizing your risk of being that person is possible, but the risk never entirely goes away. People go missing every year and are never found. Native Alaskans know this, because that's what life presents them with. Perhaps it's easy to make the mistake of assuming that if someone is going into the wilderness for recreation, nothing could possibly go wrong, because it's a pleasure-place. Problem is, it's not Disney World; it's a place that belongs to a force that doesn't give a rip about humans. Native Alaskans IMO don't have a lot of time for people (generally 48-staters) who make the assumption that all the wilderness is Disney-tundra-world, because it's a poor one, and not because they're determined to be unhelpful.

The water was Not the water near the campsite. It was highlighted by cadaver dogs. But yes, one would think someone would not take 2 steps in after feeling water with the first. The search team is posting that the dogs distinguish between human and animal remains. It is curious.

 

[Elliot_Alderson]

So was he found? Thread title says found deceased.

 

[RickshawFan]

dbm

 

[RickshawFan]

The water was Not the water near the campsite. It was highlighted by cadaver dogs. But yes, one would think someone would not take 2 steps in after feeling water with the first. The search team is posting that the dogs distinguish between human and animal remains. It is curious.

IMO we have to go with LE's statement on the official search, since there doesn't seem to have been any LE sanction/certification for the dogs used in the unofficial search. LE's statement is here:

Alaska State Troopers released a statement to WSMV4:

On August 22, 2023, the Alaska State Troopers were notified by a family coordinated search team that they had a cadaver dog indication and sonar scan that they described as a possible deceased person in a shallow tundra lake West of the Dalton Highway. The group requested that the Alaska State Troopers send a dive team to the site. The Alaska State Troopers contacted the North Slope Borough, who remain the coordinating agency for the investigation and search for Steven Keel. In coordination with the North Slope Borough, the Alaska Dive Search, Rescue, and Recovery team was deployed to the site by the Troopers. They arrived on September 6th with the assistance of the Alaska National Guard and North Slope Borough aircraft, and searched the lake on both September 6th and 7th. The highly specialized dive team used divers and a cadaver dog to thoroughly search for Keel and were not able to locate any human remains within the lake that the group had identified, or anywhere in the immediate area. The group searched the entire floor of the small lake and examined all vegetation found on the lake floor. Through physical examination of the area by divers, the item that the group believed to be a body from a Sonar image, was determined to not be human remains. The Alaska State Troopers continue to stand ready to assist our partners at the North Slope Borough with this search if they request our assistance.

Remains originally believed to be missing Dover man are not human, Alaska troopers say

“Since then none of the authorities or divers have contacted me or supplied the pictures videos or coordinates of the search but the divers have been busy posting information on Facebook evidently trying to distance themselves from the search since they missed him in the lake,” Keel said.

www.wsmv.com

 

[Rennfam]

IMO we have to go with LE's statement on the official search, since there doesn't seem to have been any LE sanction/certification for the dogs used in the unofficial search. LE's statement is here:

Alaska State Troopers released a statement to WSMV4:

On August 22, 2023, the Alaska State Troopers were notified by a family coordinated search team that they had a cadaver dog indication and sonar scan that they described as a possible deceased person in a shallow tundra lake West of the Dalton Highway. The group requested that the Alaska State Troopers send a dive team to the site. The Alaska State Troopers contacted the North Slope Borough, who remain the coordinating agency for the investigation and search for Steven Keel. In coordination with the North Slope Borough, the Alaska Dive Search, Rescue, and Recovery team was deployed to the site by the Troopers. They arrived on September 6th with the assistance of the Alaska National Guard and North Slope Borough aircraft, and searched the lake on both September 6th and 7th. The highly specialized dive team used divers and a cadaver dog to thoroughly search for Keel and were not able to locate any human remains within the lake that the group had identified, or anywhere in the immediate area. The group searched the entire floor of the small lake and examined all vegetation found on the lake floor. Through physical examination of the area by divers, the item that the group believed to be a body from a Sonar image, was determined to not be human remains. The Alaska State Troopers continue to stand ready to assist our partners at the North Slope Borough with this search if they request our assistance.

Remains originally believed to be missing Dover man are not human, Alaska troopers say

“Since then none of the authorities or divers have contacted me or supplied the pictures videos or coordinates of the search but the divers have been busy posting information on Facebook evidently trying to distance themselves from the search since they missed him in the lake,” Keel said.

www.wsmv.com

The private search had permits to do the search, so I would not call it unofficial, though, right?

 

[Jade]

The private search had permits to do the search, so I would not call it unofficial, though, right?

Please link the source that they had a permit to do a search.
I don't see it mentioned in the wife’s Facebook or any of the articles.

As Rickshaw pointed out in the reply post there is a designated [official] search agency:
The Alaska State Troopers contacted the North Slope Borough, who remain the coordinating agency for the investigation and search for Steven Keel.

Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team Facebook
Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/akdiverescue/posts/pfbid09YvdBru9fBSq9KEGMRNVtT4TTtKobhTvjxJBqktzgoNbEWVgDHjw8jLVwf6E6w2zl
They gave an informative reply to Collectables Etc.


Previous article with comment from the official searchers is why I'm curious about the permit and what kind of permit? A Commercial Special Use permit?

WSMV4 reached out to North Slope Search and Rescue for comment.

“There was a ground search, and over $200,000 spent in helicopter equipment and fuel,” North Slope Borough Public Information Officer David Fauske said. “This man never set foot in one of our communities. He didn’t have a permit to hunt in the area. He didn’t have Arctic gear on him or with him, and he wore camouflage clothing which made the helicopter searches extremely difficult.”

Friend speaks out about last time he saw missing hunter on Alaska trip