Former Palmer man found dead in Ketchikan

KETCHIKAN — Alaska State Troopers have called in a special investigation team to look into what troopers are calling a “suspicious” death at Vallenar View trailer park off North Tongass Highway.

Former Palmer resident Nick Stachelrodt, 45, of Ketchikan, died Saturday outside the trailer where he lived with his parents. According to troopers, the report of a medical emergency came in at 7:22 p.m. Saturday.

AST spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said the death was “suspicious in nature,” but was not officially a homicide.

She said investigators with the troopers Alaska Bureau of Investigations were en route from Anchorage, and would take over the investigation when they arrived late Sunday or early Monday. Stachelrodt’s body was sent to the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage.

Ipsen declined to say how Stachelrodt died, whether anyone was in custody or whether troopers were searching for a suspect.

Although troopers would not confirm details, Stachelrodt’s neighbor, Andy Shull, said Sunday that he was told Stachelrodt had been stabbed trying to stop someone from breaking into his parents’ car parked next to the family’s trailer.

“Apparently (Stachelrodt) approached him and (somebody) stabbed him,” Shull said.

Shull said Stachelrodt moved to Ketchikan about a year ago from the Palmer area to help take care of his parents, and the two men became good friends.

Shull and Stachelrodt spent most of Saturday afternoon together, he said, watching indoor soccer games at Fawn Mountain School.

The friends drove back to Vallenar View, and Stachelrodt helped Shull bring in some wood, Shull said. Shull then went to the neighborhood grocery store for some beer because the two men were going to watch a movie and hang out. While Shull was gone, he said, Stachelrodt died.

“I came back from Lighthouse (Grocery) — I was gone maybe 10 minutes — and all of a sudden there was a big crime scene,” Shull said, complete with ambulances and troopers vehicles.

Shull said he hoped troopers would solve the case soon.

“It sure doesn’t seem like a Ketchikan crime,” he said. “It seems like something that happens in a big city. I guess times have changed.”

Shull said he feels for Stachelrodt’s family and his neighbors will miss Stachelrodt’s generosity.

“He helped everybody out,” Shull said of the victim. “He was a good guy. He didn’t deserve that.”