Missing teen: 16-year-old Palmer resident last seen Sunday evening

PALMER — A 16-year-old Palmer boy remained missing Tuesday night after Alaska State Troopers (AST) discovered his burned-up Bronco approximately a quarter mile north of East Schrock Road north of Wasilla early Monday morning.

David Grunwald, a junior at Mat-Su Career Tech, was last seen early Sunday evening leaving home with his girlfriend. Edie Grunwald said her son and his girlfriend had spent most of Sunday at the house.

“David was going to take his girlfriend home,” Grunwald said. “He called me and said he was going to go out by Butte and that he might be a little late. He was supposed to be home at nine o’clock and he said it might be 9:20.”

Grunwald said when David hadn’t arrived home by 10 p.m., the family went out looking for him. Cell phone reception can be poor around the Butte area.

“We thought that maybe he could have run off the road or something like that,” Grunwald said. Grunwald said after about an hour and a half of searching, the family contacted AST. She said that David had dropped his girlfriend at home around 7 p.m.

According to Facebook posts, troopers were able to ping his phone Monday morning off a cell tower along Palmer-Wasilla Highway, near Arabian Lane. Troopers and David’s family members searched a three-mile area near where the phone pinged, but didn’t find anything.

According to AST dispatch, troopers discovered the burned shell of David’s 1995 full-size Ford Bronco shortly after 12:30 a.m. Monday. The vehicle was found on Baldy Trail off Solitude Street and Sitze Road north of Wasilla. Grunwald said AST contacted her Tuesday morning informing her that troopers involved with the case were handing it over to investigators for additional follow-up.

The Eddie Bauer Edition Bronco was dark blue with white top and a tire on the rear carrier. It had a large circular decal on the drivers-side back window with a picture of a fish and the words “clean water”. It also had an “ALASKA GIRLS...ORGANIC” bumper sticker on the passenger side. His mother reported David was last seen leaving Smith Road area in the Butte and/or the Palmer-Wasilla Highway Sunday night around 9 p.m.

“If anybody knows of anything that can help, please call the police,” Grunwald’s mother said. “Any kind of information or if anyone saw anything. Any lead may help us find out what’s going on.”

David is six feet tall and weighs approximately 150 pounds. He has short brown hair, blue eyes, and was last seen wearing an orange North Face jacket or pullover, jeans and tennis shoes.

AST Public Information Officer Megan Peters confirmed there were no remains found in the vehicle and that it wasn’t impounded.

“We just want to stress that if anyone has any information that may be useful to us to please give us a call,” Peters said.

AST is asking anyone with information on the case to contact them at 907-352-5401.