Human remains found

Alaska State Troopers were contacted by a concerned family member of Donald R. Evans (age 89 of Palmer) on 5-27-20 at approximately 0956 hours. The family member reported that Evans was supposed to have traveled to his remote cabin located near mile 77 of the Tok Cutoff. The family member advised that Evans had planned to be at the cabin for approximately four days but he has been gone for 16 days. AST responded to the area and located Evans 2003 Volkswagen van parked at the trail head near mile 77 Tok Cutoff. Helo-2 responded and located Evans Cabin, which was unoccupied. Helo-2 conducted an aerial search of the area but were unable to locate Evans. Troopers also conducted a ground search of the most likely trail Evans would have used to access his cabin but did not locate him,

On 5-28-20 Alaska State Troopers, Alaska Wildlife Troopers, WSAR, and PAWS continued searching the area surrounding Evans cabin as well as the extensive trail system in the area. Searchers were unsuccessful in locating Evans. The search did not reveal any clues or further leads to Evans location.

UPDATE: On 10-02-20 Alaska State Troopers were notified that a human skull had been located near a trail in the area of mile 77 of the Tok Cutoff. AST responded and recovered human remains. The remains were sent to the State Medical Examiner for positive identification. On 10-7-20 The State Medical Examiner’s Office positively identified the remains as those of Donald R. Evans. Next of Kin for Evans has been notified. The cause of death is still under investigation.

Anyone having contact or information regarding Donald Evans is asked to contact Alaska State Troopers in Fairbanks at 907-451-5100 and reference incident AK20035517.