On Saturday afternoon, an Alaska State Trooper helicopter spotted Melanie Gould’s abandoned truck along the Denali Highway, far enough off the road it would not have been seen by a passing vehicle.
Since that time, Troopers have been able to focus their search. Trooper spokesperson, Beth Ipsen, said on Sunday a total of 14 wilderness search and rescue personnel were on the ground. Searchers include a PAWS rescue dog team from Fairbanks and another canine unit.
Troopers had been on the lookout for Gould, a Talkeetna resident and former Iditarod musher, since Tuesday when she was reported missing by friends and employers in Talkeetna. According to Ipsen the last confirmed sighting of Gould was on Tuesday the 31st.
Local pilots, both with fixed wing and helicopter, were in the air searching for Gould Friday and Saturday from Talkeetna northward. Residents of Denali Park volunteered to search along Denali Highway Friday afternoon. Friends of Gould’s in Fairbanks combed the Richardson Highway south to Paxson for clues.
Gould’s truck was found along an old mining about 18 miles east of Cantwell. Troopers say it appeared that someone had just parked the truck and walked away.
An online public information clearinghouse was started on a facebook site for Melanie and by Sunday afternoon had over thirteen hundred followers.
