The City and Borough of Wrangell has halted the search for 12 year-old Derek Heller, who is the only missing person until November. 20’s devastating landslide.
The news comes on the heels of 15 days spent clearing and searching for landslide debris from volunteers from the Wrangell Volunteer Fire Department. a variety of support volunteers K9 scent dogs as well as the local operators of equipment.
Kale Casey representative of Kale Casey, spokesperson for Alaska Interagency Incident Management Team was on the site of the landslide with the responders and says that the teams joined together for one purpose.
“The search was absolutely massive,” he said. “It’s an extremely dangerous slide path, and they’ve took care to reduce the risks. They operated extremely safely for days, fifteen days consecutively, both day and night. It took a lot of courage to be at the front in a storm and obviously, extremely emotional.”
The searchers discovered five remains including 65-year-old Otto along with four of members from the Heller family – 44-year old Timothy and 36-year-old Beth 16, the 16 year old Mara as well as 11 year-old Kara. The searchers also found a survivor, a 63-year-old Christina the wife of Otto.
The slide was nearly 4,000 feet long, and the bottom stretched into the water, making the investigation. The slide surrounding the destroyed homes was approximately 450 feet wide. Casey claims that the rescuers had to deal with “endless amounts of slippery and clay surfaces” and responders accessed the entire area accessible over and beyond that intertidal zone.
“They are determined to locate Derek as well as bring peace to their family” Casey said. “When you’ve exhausted all your search areas, then you return to them and look at for them, when you’re doing the type of work that they’re doing there’s a moment when your search areas are searched, and that’s what they ended up last night.”
A press release issued by Wrangell’s City and Borough of Wrangell states that Search and Rescue volunteers and K9 scent detection are available in the event that you have any fresh leads or signs in particular areas in the near future.
