Washington man missing after spiritual quest to Alaska’s Hatcher Pass
In August 2018, a solitary man walked 14 miles into a lonely valley on the western side of Hatcher Pass.
He carried almost nothing: A backpack, 5 pounds of oatmeal. No rifle or bear spray.
Vladimir Kostenko planned to stay at a tiny dry cabin for months. He was seeking no less than the meaning of life.
For most of his 42 years, Kostenko had been on a spiritual quest to understand his place in the universe. An immigrant from Russia living in a small town in Washington state, he had pursued an almost monk-life existence, fasting regularly, meditating for hours and reading widely on religion.
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Among the 13 siblings in the Kostenko family, Vladimir "was always the quiet one," said Alla, who lives on a coffee farm in Hawaii. "He wouldn't initiate anything. We'd be the ones to say, 'Let's go here, let's play this game.' He would follow and be quiet."
In 1999, the Kostenko family moved to the United States through a program that allowed Christians fleeing religious persecution in Russia to immigrate.
They settled in the small town of Walla Walla, Washington, a college and wine country town of about 30,000 people in the rural southeast corner of the state.
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In recent years, Vladimir had been living quietly on the property of a family friend in Walla Walla, fixing up old cars. He was an uncommonly talented mechanic, Alla said. Money meant little to him and he'd often tell people to pay him "whatever they wanted to pay." God would provide, he figured.
(lengthy but nicely written article about him plus appeal by family)
Washington man missing after spiritual quest to Alaska’s Hatcher Pass
