White/Caucasian male Benjamin Parson, age 39, was found on the morning of Sunday, September 11, 2016, in a parking area near the University of Alaska Southeast campus housing off University Drive in Juneau. According to police, he had a facial injury and appeared to have died from a gunshot wound; a firearm was recovered close to his body. His remains were sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office in Anchorage for autopsy as detectives secured the scene and began their inquiry.
By the next day, investigators publicly indicated that foul play did not appear to be a factor. The initial updates emphasized the setting—a quiet trailhead lot by student housing—and the rapid handoff to the medical examiner, signaling that the key answers would come from ballistics and autopsy findings rather than a manhunt. Local reporting and memorial listings fixed the date and place of death as September 11, 2016, in Juneau, underscoring that the loss was sudden and tied to a single morning's events.
As the week's police summaries noted the case as a death investigation, no shift in tone followed—no alerts for a dangerous suspect, no publicized search warrants, no community warnings—only the steady reminder that the medical examiner's review was pending. In the months and years that followed, community-curated archives continued to reference the case as an apparent gun death near university housing without introducing a named suspect or a new criminal narrative.
There were no arrests announced, and authorities did not identify any suspect or suspects connected to the death of Benjamin Parson, age 39, on September 11, 2016, in Juneau. The available public record remains consistent: investigators recovered a firearm at the scene, sent the body for autopsy, and communicated that foul play did not appear to be involved, leaving no criminal charges or suspects on the public ledger.
