Alaska State Troopers are investigating the death of a former colleague, who had gone on a remote bird hunting trip.
A pilot had dropped off Alex Arduser near Cordova. Troopers say the two had agreed to meet on a small sandbar on Egg Island on Tuesday, but Arduser didn’t show up at the appointed time.
Tim DeSpain, a spokesman for the Troopers, says it’s the only place on the island that an airplane with wheels can land.
He says the pilot spotted Arduser’s body a short time later, about two-and-a-half miles from the sandbar, partially submerged.
Troopers have recovered Arduser's body and sent it to the State Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy to learn more about whether injuries were involved, as well as a possible time of death.
Arduser was living in Cordova with his family. He was 44 and retired from the Alaska State Troopers last August, after serving in the department for two decades.
Arduser was an Alaska Wildlife Trooper. He worked in Aniak, Cordova, Soldotna and Unalaska and took part in the department’s commercial and sport fishing enforcement in Bristol Bay.
He told KUCB, the public radio station in Unalaska, that he tried to be “fair and consistent” in his work.
