Crime & Courts

Employee fatally stabbed by coworker in restaurant of Trapper Creek lodge

Alaska State Troopers say they are investigating a fatal stabbing Monday morning involving two employees at the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge in Trapper Creek.

Troopers said they were notified just after 10 a.m. of the stabbing, which took place in a hotel restaurant. They responded with emergency medical services.

Florida resident Jose Torres-Ayala, 21, died after a medical airlift from the hotel, troopers said. A 33-year-old man has been arrested in the stabbing on charges of first- and second-degree murder. Both were hotel employees from out of state.

Torres-Ayala’s body was sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy.

The hotel is at Mile 133 of the Parks Highway in Denali State Park and offers proximity to Denali National Park and Preserve as well as day trips into Talkeetna.

No additional information was immediately available. The Alaska Bureau of Investigation is looking into what motivated the stabbing, troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said Tuesday.

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