Search continues for missing teen

PALMER — Search efforts are expected to resume today to find a Palmer teenager missing near the Matanuska River since early Monday morning.

Trenton N. Tunohun, 17, of Palmer, ran from police into the woods Monday morning. Jon Owen, director of emergency services for the city of Palmer said events began with a disturbance call at 3:41 a.m., at the Matanuska River Bridge on the Old Glenn Highway.

Owen said that when police showed up to investigate, they found two adults and four teenagers were in the group and the adults — a male and a female — were in an altercation.

The teenagers all took off, Owen said. Two girls hid in the woods and two boys headed down toward the river. One skirted the river, waded parts of it, and ended up in downtown Palmer. The other, Tunohun, was headed back toward the Matanuska River campground when last he was seen.

“Yesterday afternoon his friends contacted police and said, ‘We haven’t seen him, we haven’t heard from him,’” Owen said Wednesday. “His girlfriend has not heard from him, his best friend has not heard from him.”

Tunohun’s mother is vacationing in England and trying desperately to return, Owen said. She hasn’t heard from her son either. Nor has his father, who came up from Anchorage Tuesday and was at the command center as searchers looked for his son.

Owen said that once they knew Tunohun was missing, the city mobilized a massive search effort, calling in between 35 and 40 searchers. The Alaska State Troopers contributed a helicopter. The Matanuska-Susitna Borough Dive Rescue Team brought out two boats and spent six hours on the water. Police officers, firefighters and medics came out. Even the Salvation Army pitched in, bringing out a van and serving food to the search teams.

“The reason that we launched such a massive search for a missing person is there was allegedly alcohol involved and there is the nearby proximity of the Matanuska River and when you go in the direction he ran you have three boggy marshes,” Owen said.

Searchers, he added, were hampered by six-foot-high devil’s club.

“It’s very difficult terrain if you get off the trails there,” Owen said.

In essence, the probability that the boy ran into trouble is high, though Owen said searchers are maintaining hope.

“We hope he’s just gone below the radar hiding. He may think he’s in trouble. He’s not in any trouble,” Owen said.

He urged anyone who may know of Tunohun’s whereabouts to call Palmer Police at 745-4811. He said callers can talk to just about any available officer. They’re all a part of the effort.