Riccardo Pozzobon Missing Person Case

Sep 09, 2025

Sep 10, 2025

Riccardo

Pozzobon

40

40

73 inches

175 lbs

Uncertain

Male

On September 2, 2025, a brilliant Italian geologist, 40-year-old Riccardo Pozzobon, was in Juneau, Alaska, as part of a significant research expedition on the Mendenhall Glacier. He had arrived from Italy about a week earlier to participate in a study of the fractures on the vast Juneau Icefield. The project, funded by the National Geographic Grant Program, aimed to use the Alaskan glaciers as an analogue to understand the icy surfaces of moons orbiting Jupiter and Saturn. Riccardo, a researcher from the University of Padua, was an expert in planetary geology and had even served as an instructor for the European Space Agency's astronaut training program. While on the glacier with two colleagues, he went to fill a water bottle in a meltwater stream, a seemingly simple act in a profoundly complex environment. The immense and dynamic landscape of the Mendenhall Glacier presents unique dangers. On that day, as Riccardo was near the stream, he tragically slipped and fell. The current of the meltwater was strong, and it swept him towards a moulin, a nearly vertical shaft carved into the ice by surface water. The opening was only about two feet wide, and the force of the rushing water pulled him down into the icy depths of the glacier, out of sight of his horrified companions. They were unable to reach him and had to travel some distance to find help, as Riccardo had been the one carrying their communication devices. Emergency responders, including the Alaska Wildlife Troopers and a specialized team from Juneau Mountain Rescue, were promptly deployed to the scene. However, upon assessing the situation, they found the moulin he had disappeared into was filled with a torrent of rushing water, making any rescue or recovery attempt exceptionally dangerous. The search had to be suspended due to the hazardous conditions. The incident marked a profound loss for the international scientific community, which remembered Riccardo not only as a brilliant and passionate researcher but as a generous, cheerful, and kind person. The case serves as a heartbreaking reminder of the inherent risks involved in scientific field research, where a dedicated geologist, working to unravel the secrets of distant worlds by studying our own, disappeared into the very landscape he was trying to understand.

Sep 02, 2025

Juneau

Alaska

Juneau Borough

Juneau

No

177576

Alaska State Troopers

Anchorage

Alaska

Anchorage Borough

99507

Malia Miller

Missing Persons Clearinghouse Manager

5700 East Tudor Road, Alaska

9072695511

State

Law Enforcement

AK25088857

2025-09-02

Alaska State Troopers

Gray or Partially Gray

Blue

Blue

No

06/27/2026