Search called off for musher

TALKEETNA — Alaska State Troopers announced Thursday they had called off the search for missing musher Melanie Gould.

According to a trooper press statement, after four days of searching and no sign of Gould, troopers have decided to pull back and wait for information that could narrow the search.

“Until evidence or credible information regarding Ms. Gould’s whereabouts becomes available to determine a more defined search area, an active search cannot proceed as the risk to (search and rescue) personnel is unjustifiable,” according to a trooper press statement.

The Facebook page Gould’s friends set up to coordinate search efforts almost immediately reacted.

“We are organizing our efforts now; please don’t attempt to do anything on your own until we have our teams together. We want to do this as efficiently and safely as possible,” the page’s administrators posted Thursday afternoon. Within hours the group had scheduled a community meeting for that evening at a local elementary school.

After troopers’ announcement, Talkeetna residents organized a meeting at the elementary school Thursday evening to regroup.

AST’s search has been ongoing since Saturday when Gould’s pickup was found on a trail off of the Denali Highway. Troopers say that aside from the truck, they have seen no sign of Gould.

Initially consisting of a couple of troopers in a helicopter, the search had grown to include multiple trooper aircraft, volunteers, volunteered ATVs and 20 search dogs as well as numerous people walking the trails on foot.

The trooper press release said that four ATVs each traveled 100 trail miles. Troopers from Cantwell, Healy, Nenana, Fairbanks, Talkeetna, Meadow Lakes and Delta Junction participated.

Gould was last seen alone fueling up her pickup and buying bottled water at the Sunshine Tesoro on May 31.

An unofficial search, consisting of friends and neighbors driving area roads and reporting back to the Facebook page, began shortly before troopers began their search.

People writing in to the Facebook page point to a few key pieces of the case that raise concern. Gould’s dogs were left behind and no plan put in place to care for them. She left her cellphone at home. An innkeeper who reported seeing her eat a hamburger at his establishment reported she left in a pickup that didn’t match the description of Gould’s vehicle.

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