In the late summer of 2016, a 22-year-old man named Christopher 'Chris' Edward Orcutt vanished from Juneau, Alaska, leaving behind a few personal belongings and a community searching for answers. On the evening of August 25, 2016, Chris, an American Indian/Alaska Native male, was last seen leaving a party in the downtown area. He was reportedly intoxicated when he left and left behind his cell phone and several layers of clothing.
When he did not come back for his items, a host of the party contacted the Juneau Police Department on August 30th, five days after he was last seen. At the time of his disappearance, he was described as being 5'11' and weighing around 160 pounds, with brown hair, brown eyes, and a mustache and beard. He was last seen wearing an orange-red button-up shirt and grey jeans, and he may have been wearing black, round-rimmed glasses.
The initial investigation into Christopher's disappearance revealed that his connections to the Juneau area were somewhat transient. He had told people he was camping on Thane Road, but he was not a registered camper at the local campground, and others camping in the area did not recognize him. He was known to frequent the Glory Hole, a local shelter and soup kitchen, and the Foodland IGA for meals, but he had not been seen at either location since his disappearance. Authorities checked with the ferry system and airlines but found no indication that he had left Juneau. His mother and another relative in the downtown area also had not had any contact with him since the night he went missing. The five-day delay in reporting him missing meant that any immediate leads were no longer fresh, complicating the search efforts from the start.
Despite the passage of time, the search for Christopher involved both law enforcement and community efforts. Three weeks after he was last seen, the Juneau Police Department, with the assistance of four dog teams from Southeast Alaska Dogs Organized for Ground Search conducted a search of the Thane Campground area where he was thought to have been staying. Unfortunately, this search did not yield any clues as to his whereabouts. The case has been marked by the pain and frustration of his family, who have sought to bring attention to his disappearance. The Juneau Police Department has maintained that finding him remains a priority. The circumstances surrounding Christopher Orcutt's disappearance remain unclear, with no definitive evidence to suggest his fate. His case is a somber reminder of the many individuals who go missing, leaving their loved ones in a state of perpetual uncertainty.Last Seen: Aug 25, 2016
