The investigation into the death of a 19-year-old Alaska Native college student in January is still ongoing. While Anchorage Police say they’ve taken some unusual steps, advocates continue to push for answers.
Questions remain about the role illegal alcohol sales may have played in the case.
Last week, the department revealed it sent detectives hundreds of miles away to Kelly Hunt’s home village. They traveled to the Bering Sea community of Shaktoolik on a U.S. Marshals Service plane in September, eight months after she disappeared in Anchorage.
Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case says investigators had a two-fold mission -- to give Hunt’s family an update and learn more about her last moments, which she might have shared through texts or phone calls with folks back home.“Although the case remains open, there's a very narrow window that this can turn into a homicide,” Case said.
In January, Hunt stopped in Anchorage while traveling back to the Alaska Christian College in Soldotna. She stayed with some friends, who told police she was last seen headed to meet someone to buy alcohol.
Three months later, as the snow began to melt, Hunt’s remains were found at the bottom of a steep wooded embankment in the Spenard neighborhood, not far from the home where she stayed.
The Medical Examiner said she died of hypothermia with alcohol in her blood.
Alexis Savage, an advocate for the Hunt family, said investigators have yet to explain how Hunt, who was underage, wound up with alcohol in her system. The legal drinking age in Alaska is 21.
“In my heart, I just don't feel like a 19-year-old would end up in that ravine,” Savage said. “And even if she did, we need to know who has supplied that alcohol to her.”
Anchorage Police have said little about what the investigation has uncovered, except that investigators are trying to answer the same question.
“If we can uncover that question, we are also going to get more of the story,” the police chief said.
Savage says this case is bigger than Kelly Hunt. She believes there’s a network of illegal alcohol suppliers who target underage Alaska Natives when they come to Anchorage, looking for someone to buy them alcohol.
“A lot of times they'd say something like, I'll give you a tip of $15 and gas money,” Savage said. “A lot of times it's just that.”
But a lot of times it can turn into something more dangerous. Savage says what starts as an alcohol sale can become a gateway to sex trafficking.
Savage says these sellers, often called “plugs,” usually operate under aliases on messaging apps like Snapchat. She says they are often familiar to the young people who contact them, perhaps someone from their own village or social circle. That familiarity can create a sense of trust, but Savage warns that trust can be dangerous.
“They are finding vulnerable young girls that can be trafficked, and it is happening,” Savage said. “And it's the conversation that I feel like we're not having as openly as we should be.”
She says the cycle will never be broken until those who sell drugs and alcohol to minors are held accountable.
Case says trafficking does not appear to be a factor in Hunt’s case but says alcohol sales to minors often end in violence.
“We have so many cases, and it's in sexual assault cases. It's in assault cases. It's in robbery cases,” Case said. “We've seen this over the years.”
Case declined to say whether police have any suspects in the Kelly Hunt case, or what leads they might have developed in Shaktoolik. He did say it was important for his detectives to meet with Hunt’s family and provide an update on their investigation.
While the case remains active, with little new information to share, Case says he understands that families find comfort in learning as much as possible about what happened to their loved ones.
Before heading back to school, Hunt had spent her winter college break in her home village, working to raise money for her school expenses.
She is remembered as a strong student with a bright future. Her teachers say she hoped to return to Shaktoolik one day, either as a teacher or health care worker.
