Remains found on remote Alaska island identified as hunter missing since 2009 | FOX 13 Tampa Bay
Published August 5, 2026 2:15 PM EDT
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The Brief
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- Human remains found on Alaska’s Nunivak Island were identified as George Smith Sr., who disappeared in 2009.
- Smith vanished after his snowmachine broke through river ice during a hunting trip near the village of Togiak.
- DNA analysis using family reference samples solved the case and identified Smith 17 years later.
Human remains discovered on a remote island in western Alaska have been identified as those of a 79-year-old hunter who disappeared after his snowmachine broke through river ice in 2009, according to the Alaska State Troopers.
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Dig deeper:
Authorities said they were notified July 14 that DNA analysis confirmed the remains, which were found on Nunivak Island in October 2009, belonged to George Smith Sr. Nunivak Island lies in the Bering Sea off Alaska’s southwest coast.
The backstory:
Smith, of the western Alaska village of Togiak, disappeared on April 30, 2009, while hunting with a companion. Investigators said Smith’s snowmachine broke through the ice on the Ungalikthluk River near Togiak, a small community about 330 miles southwest of Anchorage.
Search crews responded immediately, and additional searches were conducted in the months that followed, but neither Smith’s body nor his snowmachine was found. He was later presumed dead.
The case remained unsolved until earlier this year, when investigators with Alaska’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) unit collected DNA samples from Smith’s relatives as part of an effort to identify several missing people from the region.
After the family reference samples were submitted to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs), the DNA matched the unidentified remains found on Nunivak Island, providing answers 17 years after Smith’s disappearance.
What’s next:
Smith’s next of kin have been notified, troopers said.