Body found in lake is man missing since October

PALMER — Alaska State Troopers say they may have found the body of a man missing since October.

According to a press release issued Tuesday, the body was found in a Palmer-area lake on Friday.

“The deceased was a noted to be a Caucasian male. Preliminary indications are consistent with it being the missing person Shanon Lovell, 30 of Anchorage,” according to the press release.

Troopers said they’re not positive it is Lovell but clothing found with the body and a tattoo strongly indicated it was him.

Lovell, son of Wasilla City Councilman Steve Lovell, has been missing since he was last seen leaving a party on McLeod Road in Palmer on Oct. 5, 2012.

Troopers say he was found in a lake off of Lakeshore Loop. McLeod and Lakeshore are in the same neighborhood wedged between the Matanuska River and Outer Springer Loop. There are a handful of small lakes on maps of the area.

Councilman Lovell councilman said his son had a drug habit that kept him in and out of jail. He has been raising his 12-year-old grandson since his son went missing. He said his son was also married at the time that he disappeared.

Troopers say neither their investigation nor the autopsy yielded signs of foul play.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.