Troopers Suspend Search for Elderly Platinum Man

74-year-old Henry Williams went missing on the return leg of a grocery run between Goodnews Bay and Platinum late last week. Image-Google Maps
74-year-old Henry Williams went missing on the return leg of a grocery run between Goodnews Bay and Platinum late last week. Image-Google Maps

The search for a missing Platinum man that began on the last day of February has now been suspended by AST, with one more aerial search weather permitting the trooper dispatch reports.

It was at 1 pm on Saturday that 74-year-old Platinum man, Henry Williams was reported missing after he failed to show up at Platinum after leaving Goodnews Bay on Friday afternoon. Williams had left Goodnews Bay on his ATV at 4pm on Friday on the thirty minute trip on the trail between the communities. Williams had gone to Goodnews Bay on a grocery trip and was returning home when he disappeared.

Searchers immediately set out to look for the elderly man on Saturday, and on Sunday Bethel troopers took to the air in two state planes to conduct an aerial search for the missing man. The aerial search covered both the beach and overland trail between the two communities without success. Searchers on the ground covered the beach as well as the Tunulik River and Beluga areas between the villages.

Troopers say that the instability of the ice on Goodnews Bay, which has gone out earlier this week, and lack of any clues, were factors in the suspension of the search. Troopers state that if any clues as to the whereabouts of Williams arise, they will analyze them and possibly take up the search again.