VIDEOS: A missing Valdez woman is believed to be dead weeks after a massive fire burned down a hotel in Glennallen, according to an Alaska State Trooper dispatch report.
Mary Jo Evans, 86, was staying at the Caribou Hotel when it caught fire on Nov. 12, state troopers say. Officials searched the scene extensively, including with dogs and by hand excavation, but troopers said no human remains have been found, due to the duration and intensity of the fire. Authorities are “convinced” that Evans died in the fire, according to Austin McDaniel of the Department of Public Safety.
“Due to the intensity and the heat generated by the fire, we have not been able to find human remains at this time,” McDaniel said. “But based on our investigative efforts, we do believe she unfortunately died during the fire.”
Glennallen resident Nicholas Beshaw saw the fire from across the street, but still has questions. “I want to know what happened, and I want to know from what the people in the building saw, did, were told to do,” Beshaw said. “That is where my attention mostly is drawn.”
