Anchorage police continue to investigate a fatal, single-car wreck Wednesday north of the city on the Glenn Highway.
Police on Thursday identified the driver and only occupant as Campbell Kirk McKellar, 62. A longtime friend said McKellar, who went by "C.K.," lived in the Meadow Lakes area just outside Wasilla and suffered from heart problems.
Witnesses saw McKellar's light-blue, 1989 Volvo driving on the Glenn toward Anchorage in the center lane, police spokeswoman Dani Myren said. The car started to drift to the right, Myren said.
"It was in the center lane and swerved over, across the right lane, into the shoulder, across the bike path and into a fence," Myren said.
The car came to rest on its side just south of a weigh station near Mile 10 of the highway, Myren said. Emergency responders found McKellar dead, she said.
So far, it's unclear what caused the car to drift off the highway. The crash is still under investigation, with the results of an autopsy pending, Myren said.
McKellar's friend Patrick Williams said McKellar had a bad heart and underwent heart surgery a little more than a week before the wreck. Williams said he wondered if the car's drifting started when McKellar's heart had given out or if an aneurysm doctors discovered had caused him to lose consciousness.
"He had a very tired and enlarged heart. It was probably operating about 20 percent of a normal heart for someone his size and age," Williams said. "Those kind of things happen. It's just fortunate that he went that way and didn't end up hitting anyone else.
"C.K. knew he had one foot on a banana peel," Williams said.
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
By CASEY GROVE