Anchorage

Gas huffing suspected in Gambell man's death in Anchorage park

Mike Albertson remembers his brother-in-law as a talented Alaska Native carver, but one who suffered from a long history of huffing to get high. Kevin Lee Oozevaseuk, 38, went in and out of treatment for huffing, a habit that landed him on Anchorage's streets and may have ultimately killed him.

Oozevaseuk was found unresponsive on a park bench at 19th Avenue and Spenard Road in West Anchorage shortly after 3 a.m. Thursday, Anchorage Police Department spokesperson Anita Shell said. Medics performed CPR for more than 10 minutes before pronouncing him dead at 3:18 a.m. Gasoline was found at the scene.

Shell said they suspect huffing was a factor in ?Oozevaseuk's death. Police do not suspect foul play.

Albertson wasn't surprised by the phone call his family received from police around 4 a.m., notifying them of Oozevaseuk's death.

"Oh, we knew, but he was an adult and we couldn't help him unless he wanted it," Albertson said Thursday morning.

Less than two years ago, Albertson said, Oozevaseuk went to Fairbanks to live with Albertson and his wife. One day, he disappeared, and they went looking for him. As they drove down Airport Way in the Interior city, Oozevaseuk "just sort of materialized" in front of their vehicle in the snow.

"He reeked of gasoline," Albertson said. "So we brought him to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, and they even said he definitely needed help."

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Oozevaseuk was sent to the Alaska Psychiatric Institute in Anchorage, where his stay was short -- one of several visits to the facility over the years. Eventually Oozevaseuk returned to the community of Gambell on the northwest cape of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, where he had spent much of his youth.

It was the dead of winter, and Albertson said his brother-in-law had no winter gear.

Oozevaseuk often bounced between Gambell, Fairbanks and Anchorage, where he was homeless.

"That is where Kevin wanted to be because he thought he had more freedom there," Albertson said of Anchorage.

Sometimes Oozevaseuk seemed to be doing better, and he'd start carving again -- a talent passed down from his father. A Siberian Yup'ik, Oozevaseuk carved ivory and petrified whale bone, when he could find it, and created mostly earrings and sculptures of puffins and owls. He would sell his art to Alaska gift shops.

Soon though, Oozevaseuk would be back in his old habits -- homeless, huffing and hard to reach, Albertson said.

"It's too common," Albertson said. "Why does anyone do that? Sometime's its experimentation. But I don't know, there are a lot of reasons. No one can stop you from huffing. What you need to do it is easy to get and it's not illegal.

"Kevin was like many people in his circumstance, caught in that little circle," he said.

Megan Edge

Megan Edge is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News.

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