Alaska State Troopers report that the remains of Fairbanks man, 43-year-old Nathan Charlie, were located and retrieved from the Gravel Pit Lake in the Chena Point Avenue area after he drowned on July 4th while swimming with family and friends.

According to troopers, they were notified at 8:15 pm on July 4th that Charlie had sank beneath the surface and never reappeared. Troopers, along with fire and EMS personnel responded and conducted the initial search. They were followed soon after by Wilderness Search and Rescue and PAWS.

The searchers searched until midnight then returned on July 5th with sonar technology and took up the search again. The search for Charlie continued throughout the week until on Friday evening, using sonar scanning and dragging, Charlie was located in 20 feet of water in the lake.

The Medical Examiner’s office released Charlie’s remains to his family.

  drowning, fairbanks, gravel pit lake, nathan charlie, search