Troopers halt search for Gould

TALKEETNA — Alaska State Troopers called off the search for missing musher Melanie Gould today.

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 area.

“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 SAR 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.

They've organized a community meeting for 5 p.m. tonight at the elementary school.

The search has been ongoing since Saturday when her pickup was found on a trail off of the Denali Highway. The search has since grown to include multiple trooper aircraft, volunteers, volunteered ATVs, and 20 different search dogs.

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