Crime & Courts

Man found shot to death outside power plant identified; vehicle recovered

Updated 11 a.m. Sunday

Police on Sunday said the Chevy Trailblazer had been recovered. They provided no more details.

Updated 3 p.m. Saturday

Police are asking for the public's help finding a blue 2008 Chevy Trailblazer thought to be involved in a homicide in which police believe a 35-year-old man was killed in Anchorage and left near a hydroelectric plant in Butte.

On Friday, Alaska State Troopers were the first to respond to scene near the old Eklutna hydroelectric plant alongside the Old Glenn Highway, where they found a dead man with a gunshot wound to the upper body. After the body was taken to the Medical Examiner's office, police said it was determined he'd been "shot multiple times in the upper body."

On Saturday, police identified the victim as 35-year-old David Cargill of Anchorage.

The Anchorage Police Department said the wanted Chevy has Alaska license plate JJR552.

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"Police believe the vehicle may be connected to this investigation and left abandoned," APD wrote in an online Nixle alert about the case.

Police said anyone who sees the vehicle unoccupied should call the department's non-emergency line at 311; anyone who sees the vehicle occupied should call 911.

The department first reported a body was found on property of the Eklutna Power Plant "in APD jurisdiction." However, APD later clarified that information to say the body was found near the "old Eklutna Power Plant," which is the Mat-Su Borough and in troopers' jurisdiction. APD said the department is handling the case because investigators believe the homicide took place in the municipality.

"During the course of the investigation it was determined the actual death most likely occurred in the jurisdiction of the Anchorage Police Department," police wrote in an online Nixle update about the case.

Police did not release further details.

The initial confusion over the location where the body was found likely resulted from the similarity in names of the two power plants, which are less than 10 miles apart.

Located about 30 miles north of Anchorage, the old Eklutna Power Plant is a 40-megawatt facility that generates hydroelectric power with turbines powered by water from Eklutna Lake, according to a Municipal Light & Power fact sheet. Water travels from the lake through a 4.5-mile tunnel to power the plant, then empties into the Knik River via the Eklutna Tailrace near mile 3.5 of the Old Glenn Highway.

The new natural gas-powered Eklutna Generation Station is located near mile 26 of the Glenn Highway in Eklutna on the northern end of the Municipality of Anchorage. It's a 171-megawatt facility powered by natural gas.

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