AK AK - Hari Karasani, 24, missing from Healy, 31 December 2025

[Eli9]

I spent a few summer seasons working in Talkeetna on the other side of the mountains from Healy. I did make it through there a few times, so am a bit familiar with the road.

Healy is very much a tourist town with Denali National Park as it's primary source of interest.

In terms of getting there from Fairbanks, there is train service during the winter. It's very unreliable and only goes once a week, iirc. For me the bigger issue is what on earth would you do in Healy in the winter without a car? There's really not much to do as a tourist without one.

Thank you for the post. I agree what was he hoping to do there? His friends didn't seem to know much about the trip other than when he was supposed to return home. I just get the feeling that something else was going on like maybe catfished?? Wonder how he was doing in his studies.

 

[truthfinder2019]

Hari is listed here:

Missing Person - ABI - AST - Alaska Department of Public Safety

The Department of Public Safety (DPS) is the state agency charged with providing functions relative to the protection of life, property, and wildlife resources. Department members enforce criminal laws, traffic laws and regulations, wildlife laws and regulations, fire laws and regulations, and...

dps.alaska.gov

Amazing how many people go missing in AK, one after the other .. 3 on the same date 12/31

 

[truthfinder2019]

Thank you for the post. I agree what was he hoping to do there? His friends didn't seem to know much about the trip other than when he was supposed to return home. I just get the feeling that something else was going on like maybe catfished?? Wonder how he was doing in his studies.

I cannot imagine the reason for the travel to be tourism, not with those temperatures and snow. Nothing much,to see and you cannot be outside for long at -40ish JMO.
I wonder if he went there to meet a person

 

[cjaydub]

Hari is listed here:

Missing Person - ABI - AST - Alaska Department of Public Safety

The Department of Public Safety (DPS) is the state agency charged with providing functions relative to the protection of life, property, and wildlife resources. Department members enforce criminal laws, traffic laws and regulations, wildlife laws and regulations, fire laws and regulations, and...

dps.alaska.gov

Amazing how many people go missing in AK, one after the other .. 3 on the same date 12/31

One thing many people may not realize about Alaska is not only just how vast it is, but how few police officers there are once you get outside of the more populated areas.

When I lived in Talkeetna, it varied but there was something like 1-2 troopers covering an area of about 100+ miles of the Parks Highway and all the towns and villages off of it. My understanding is that there are now no troopers based locally. If you have a problem and need law enforcement, your best case is them showing up in an hour, more likely 2 or 3.

So, when you add this to the inherent issues with wildlife and weather, it's not totally surprising. It's truly the last American frontier.

 

[GraceG]

I spent a few summer seasons working in Talkeetna on the other side of the mountains from Healy. I did make it through there a few times, so am a bit familiar with the road.

Healy is very much a tourist town with Denali National Park as it's primary source of interest.

In terms of getting there from Fairbanks, there is train service during the winter. It's very unreliable and only goes once a week, iirc. For me the bigger issue is what on earth would you do in Healy in the winter without a car? There's really not much to do as a tourist without one.

Thank you! The Alaska Train website said that currently they only run from Fairbanks to the Denali area until September 17. The Alaska Railroad Denali Star Route. But outside of a couple guided trips (dog sledding etc) offered by a lodge other than where he was staying I didn't see much of anything to be a draw there this time of year without a car.

 

[cjaydub]

Thank you! The Alaska Train website said that currently they only run from Fairbanks to the Denali area until September 17. The Alaska Railroad Denali Star Route. But outside of a couple guided trips (dog sledding etc) offered by a lodge other than where he was staying I didn't see much of anything to be a draw there this time of year without a car.

Their website's not great, but they run weekly service through the winter under the Aurora Winter Train. Currently you can buy a ticket for Sunday 1/18 from Fairbanks to Healy.

Essentially its northbound on Saturdays and southbound on Sundays through the winter.

 

[Lisbeth_S]

Why on earth would you visit a place like Healy (ad surroundings) on your own, without transportation and in the full of winter??
Either he was extremely naïve and decided on a trip like this with zero preparation nor idea of what he was facing, or there is something we don't know about the reasons of his trip.
As an computer science student I would assume he has other devices other than his phone.
I'm hoping that police are looking into his SM and online searches. If I was one of his IT friends, I would try and hack into his devices to find answers.

 

[Knox]

I cannot imagine the reason for the travel to be tourism, not with those temperatures and snow. Nothing much,to see and you cannot be outside for long at -40ish JMO.
I wonder if he went there to meet a person

This is my thought, he traveled there to meet someone - JMO.

Hari didn't share the reason for the trip with the friends who reported him missing, even when asked why he was going. To me that indicates he wanted to keep that private.

 

[caradana]

Shades of Krakauer. MOO: I sense in this a man under stress, a very smart man in a wonderful and yet foreign place, experiencing a triggered event and entering a rabbit hole of his own web research. Confident LE has his laptop and any left-behind mobile devices, and also the forensic data revealed by his various search histories as well as potential AI dialogues. Confident LE has a sense of his mindset now and a strong protective sense for his medical privacy. … Into the Wild he went …

 

[KBlackRabbit]

McCandless had a long history of being a drifter that just went wherever. This guy seems more like a naive tourist.