State troopers rescue teen again

TALKEETNA — For the second time in just over a week a mentally challenged teenager has been the subject of an Alaska State Trooper search-and-rescue operation.

And, for the second time, troopers were able to find him and safely return the 14-year-old boy home.

On April 30, the first time the boy took off from his family’s home in a remote area 14 miles north of Talkeetna, troopers say he was heading into Talkeetna to find a job.

“I don’t know what his motivations were this time around,” trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

As for the boy’s family situation and whether that played a role, Peters said nothing seemed to be out of place in the household.

“It doesn’t appear that there’s anything amiss other than him just trying to go,” Peters said.

She also couldn’t she say if the boy, as was the case last time, had run off without shoes or a coat.

Still, Peters said, the boy did seem intent on leaving.

“He made some kind of comment that if we tried finding him he would run away from us,” Peters said.

Troopers launched a helicopter from Anchorage shortly after getting the call at 3:08 p.m. on Friday. The boy had run into the woods near the confluence of the Talkeetna and Sheep rivers.

Unlike last time, when troopers were very quickly able to spot the boy from the air, the helicopter came up short. So troopers landed it in Talkeetna and set out up a trail on ATVs to find the boy.

At 11:35 p.m., troopers report, they found the boy in a cabin along the trail. He was taken to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center to be checked. From start to finish, the operation took quite a bit longer than the first rescue, which lasted from 4:14 p.m. until 7:16 p.m.

Peters said that lost hikers are not charged for the search operation mobilized to find them.

“We don’t charge people for rescues, we’re bound to do search and rescues,” Peters said. “If people were charged for rescues I think people would put themselves in even more danger trying to avoid them.”

Nor do troopers factor in cost when deciding what equipment to us in a search.

“We really can’t worry about it. It doesn’t really matter. If someone’s in need we have to go. It’s not a part of the equation,” she said.

If the helicopter is the right tool for the job, troopers will launch it.

“If we don’t think it’s going to be helpful it wouldn’t launch. Or if we thought that there was a risk to the pilot due to weather risks,” she said.

Troopers, she said, decide what resources to muster on a case-by-case basis. In this instance, given the boy’s penchant for leaving home, his disability, the risk of hypothermia as night set in, and his statements about wanting to avoid searchers, launching the helicopter and conducting a search seemed like the right call, Peters said.

“While the helicopter may be quote unquote ‘expensive,’ it’s also fast and efficient and when you’re talking about somebody’s life if that’s the best resource to use then that’s what’s used,” Peters said.

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