Daniel Alcantra Missing Person Case

Jan 01, 1970

Jan 01, 1970

Daniel

Alcantra

36

White / Caucasian

Male

In the late summer of 1985, the vast and rugged wilderness of Alaska was the backdrop for a hunting trip that would end in enduring mystery. On August 13th, a 36-year-old man named Daniel Vern Alcantra prepared to leave his hunting camp situated in the remote Upper Cheshnina River area near Glennallen. An experienced outdoorsman, he set out around 11:00 AM, riding one horse and leading another that served as a pack animal. He was dressed for the elements in a blue plaid shirt, blue Levi jeans, a brown leather bomber-style jacket with a fleece lining, and leather chaps. The landscape he ventured into was as unforgiving as it was beautiful, a place where the line between adventure and peril is often thin. The first sign that something was amiss came the very next day. On August 14th, fellow hunters in the Upper Kotsina River Valley, a distance from where Daniel had started, made a startling discovery. They found two horses and a dog, alive but alone, on the south side of the powerful Kotsina River. The animals were identified as belonging to Daniel. The condition of his saddle horse offered a silent, troubling testimony; the animal was cut and bruised, and the saddle it wore was damaged, suggesting it had rolled violently in the turbulent waters of the river. This discovery immediately triggered concerns for Daniel’s safety, painting a grim picture of a possible accident. As search efforts were organized, another clue surfaced from the wilderness. A single cowboy boot, confirmed to belong to Daniel Alcantra, was found near the lower Kotsina River drainage, further downstream from where his horses were located. The discovery of the boot, separated from its owner and his animals, intensified the search, but the river and the surrounding terrain held their secrets close. Despite numerous and extensive searches of the area by authorities and volunteers who combed the riverbanks and dense wilderness, no further trace of Daniel was ever found. The case remains an unsettling portrait of a man who vanished into the wild, leaving behind only scattered clues that hint at a struggle with the powerful forces of nature. The narrative of his disappearance is pieced together from these findings: a man on horseback, a dangerous river crossing, and the enduring silence that followed.

Aug 13, 1985

Glennallen

Alaska

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07/24/2026