UNALASKA — The body of Alexander Johannesen, 30, was found in the boat harbor in Unalaska last week. His remains have been sent for an autopsy, and local police hope they don't have to wait three months again for the results from the busy state medical examiner's office in Anchorage, where a new homicide record was set last year.
Johannesen's body was found at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 18, in the water beneath C-Float at the Carl E. Moses Boat Harbor. He had not been seen alive since the previous evening. A team of responders spent about two hours at the scene, according to Unalaska Deputy Police Chief Jennifer Shockley.
Shockley declined to provide further information, as the death remains under investigation. Officials are still awaiting the autopsy results from the state medical examiner's office. Typically, the results are received in two to three weeks.
But only this month did Unalaska police receive the autopsy report of Tyrone Matthew Towarak of Unalakleet, whose body was found by divers near his boat underneath the G-1 Dock at the Unisea seafood plant in Unalaska on Sept. 17. Towarak was employed on the fishing vessel Patricia Lee, according to Public Safety Director Michael Holman, who at the time accurately predicted a long wait due to a backlog of bodies awaiting autopsies because of Anchorage's high homicide rate.
Shockley said that because Towarak's results arrived in Unalaska "very recently," she couldn't release the findings.
Anchorage set a new record in 2017 for homicides, at 35, breaking the previous record set the year before by one body, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
Shockley said she hopes the state medical examiner will complete the most recent case within six weeks, and not three months again.
"It's been quite a big delay," she said, likely attributed to the high homicide rate in the state's largest city. "I'm sure that's part of it," she said, adding that staff reductions at the state laboratory caused by budget cuts may also have contributed.
Unalaska police ask that anyone who may have any information about Johannesen to contact Sgt. Kevin Wood at 907-581-1233, especially if they were around the Moses Harbor late on Jan. 17 or early Jan. 18.
This story was republished with permission from The Dutch Harbor Fisherman.