Missing Man: John Wipert--AK--06/2009

[Jenn]

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/interior/story/854625.html

Lodge caretaker, two horses go missing

Anchorage Daily News / adn.com
Published: July 5th, 2009 10:36 PM
Last Modified: July 5th, 2009 10:37 PM



WRANGELL ST. ELIAS -- The search continued Sunday for a 60-year-old lodge caretaker missing since at least July 1, Alaska State Troopers said.

The last contact anyone had with John Wipert was in mid-June.

Wipert, who was taking care of the Ptarmigan Lake Lodge in the Wrangell St. Elias National Park, was reported missing, and so were two of the lodge's horses.

Officials believe Wipert may have attempted to ride the horses north to Beaver Creek, which troopers said was about 35 miles away.

Troopers have searched from the air and ground, including using search dogs, but without success.

Wipert is described as being 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 190 pounds. He has blue eyes and grey hair.

Anyone who may have seen Wipert or a man with two horses in the area is asked to call troopers at 907-883-5111 or 907-451-5100.

Troopers also ask that if anyone bought two horses from a man matching Wipert's description to call them.

[Jenn]

http://www.ktva.com/ci_12759063

Alaska State Trooper Search for Missing Man Near Northway
Source: Alaska State Troopers

Updated: 07/05/2009 05:48:23 PM AKDT

John Wipert
Age: 60
White male
Weight: 190 lbs
Height: 5'8"
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Gray

Case number 09-56452

Alaska State Troopers are asking for the public's assistance in locating John Wipert, 60, who was reported missing on July 1, 2009 from the Ptarmigan Lake Lodge where he worked as a caretaker. Wipert is described as 5-foot-8, weighing approximately 190 pounds, with blue eyes and gray hair. His last known contact was in mid-June. He was reported missing after the lodge owner traveled to the lodge and discovered Wipert and two of the horses stabled there missing. It is possible Wipert, who does not have knowledge of the area, is attempting to ride the horses to Beaver Creek, which is located 35 miles from the lodge. Alaska State Troopers have conducted searches with search teams and dogs without finding any sign of Wipert. Troopers are still doing aerial searches of the area for search and rescue purposes.

Anyone who has knowledge of a someone matching Wipert's description, a man with two horses or has bought two horses from a man matching his description is asked to Alaska State Troopers in Tok or Northway at (907)883-5111 or Fairbanks at (907)451-5100.

[Kathylene]

http://newsminer.com/news/2009/jul/07/lodge-caretaker-2-horses-disappear-wrangel-mtns/

Lodge caretaker, 2 horses disappear in Wrangel Mtns.

By Amanda Bohman

Published Tuesday, July 7, 2009

FAIRBANKS - Alaska State Troopers are looking for a drifter hired to look after a lodge in a national park about 100 miles outside of Tok.

An air and ground search for John Wipert, 60, continued Monday, according to lodge owner Urban Rahoi and trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters.

Rahoi, of Fairbanks, owns Ptarmigan Lake Lodge in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. He hired Wipert in late May, he said.

Wipert was down on his luck when Rahoi met him and was trying to make his way to the Lower 48. His job was to protect the lodge from marauding bears.

“He seemed like a helluva nice guy,” Rahoi said.

The lodge owner said he last saw Wipert two weeks ago while visiting the lodge. Wipert had been repairing horse saddles, Rahoi said.

“Everything was fine,” he said.

Wipert and two horses were discovered missing last week. The lodge and the 10 horses left behind were OK, Rahoi said.

“He didn’t take his clothes. He didn’t take his driver’s license,” he said.

Rahoi didn’t know why Wipert would leave.

“If he had stayed with me another month, I was going to buy him an airline ticket and send him on his way,” Rahoi said.

A trooper report described Wipert as 5 feet 8 inches tall with blue eyes and gray hair. He reportedly weighs 190 pounds.

Rahoi said he provided 165 gallons of gasoline for the air search, which is being conducted by a trooper Super Cub .

Another lodge owner conducted a brief ground search, Rahoi said. More searchers were preparing to travel by horseback to look for Wipert.

Rahoi planned to join the search today. He fears Wipert might have tried crossing the White River and been swept away.

No foul play is suspected, trooper spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said.

“The main concern is he doesn’t know the area,” she said. “He had been staying there about a month and was living in either Fairbanks or Anchorage prior to that.”

Anyone who has seen a man matching Wipert’s description is asked to call (907) 883-5111 or 451-5100.

[Jenn]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2009/07/14/alaska-search.html

Search called off for Alaska man missing near Canadian border

Last Updated: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 | 6:17 PM CT

State troopers in Alaska have called off the search for a man who went missing several weeks ago from a wilderness lodge near the Yukon border.

John Wipert, 60, has not been seen for the past three weeks. Owners of the Ptarmigan Lake Lodge, where Wipert had been working as a caretaker, reported him missing earlier this month.

The lodge is located about eight kilometres from the U.S.-Canada border, near Beaver Creek, Yukon. Wipert was on his own at the remote site, but somehow disappeared, taking two horses with him.

After a two-week aerial search on both sides of the border, Alaska state troopers say they're scaling back the air search for now.

"Once the foliage and the leaves fall off the trees and clear the way, we'll probably put some planes back up in the air and see if we can see anything that way," trooper Megan Peters said Tuesday.

"We can actually see the ground once the leaves are gone."

Guides working for the lodge say there are many boggy areas and few trails, making travel difficult.

Peters said the troopers will continue conducting a ground search closer to the lodge, to see if they can pick up any hint of which direction Wipert may have been travelling.

"We're going [to] do some searches closer to the home. Maybe he just went to go cut down some trees or something for firewood and maybe perhaps met his demise that way," she said.

"There still is a chance that he just rode out…. It's a small possibility, but it's there. But it seems like it's more likely to believe that he went out in the woods and something happened to him."

[Jenn]

Alaska State Trooper Bulletin for John: http://www.dps.state.ak.us/AST/ABI/docs/bulletins/Wipert.pdf

Charley Project profile for John: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/wipert_john.html

[Jenn]

http://www.ktva.com/home/outbound-xml-feeds/Lost-in-the-Last-Frontier-KTVAcom-exclusive-144048066.html?strypg=2

Lost in the Last Frontier (KTVA.com exclusive)
Active and open doesn’t mean investigating in missing persons cases

By Megan Edge

Story Created: Mar 23, 2012 at 4:08 PM AKDT
Story Updated: Mar 23, 2012 at 8:37 PM AKDT


.......

ENDANGERED MISSING PERSON” runs across the top of a more recent flyer.

In the middle of June 2009, John Melvin Wipert was working as a caretaker at Ptarmigan Lake Lodge in the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park when he disappeared with two of the lodge’s horses. He was unfamiliar with the area and is suspected to have been taking the horses to Beaver Creek.

Urban Rahoi, who hired Wipert, had returned to the lodge in the first weeks of July to drop off groceries, and found the door off the hinges, a horse starving and dehydrated in the stable and rotting bacon on the counter.

Rahoi found a note reading “Gone to check out the cabin. Back tomorrow night,” but the closest cabin was more than a day’s ride away.

Wipert remains yet another unsolved Alaska mystery.

.....