FBI: Volunteer Search During Kodiak Double Homicide Investigation 'Went Well'

Kodiak Residents Still Frustrated Over Lack of Public Information

May 02, 2012|By Ted Land | Channel 2 News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Roughly 120 volunteers in Kodiak showed up to search for evidence Wednesday near the communications station where two Coast Guard members were shot and killed April 13, the FBI said.

Radio station KMXT said the search for a gun, clothes, boots, plastic bags or anything that looked out of place, in an area along Anton Larsen Bay Road, didn't produce any results.

A post, which originally appeared on the Coast Guard Kodiak Facebook page and has since been taken down, requested 100+ volunteers to meet at 8 a.m. for the search, which was expected to be completed before noon. People with metal detectors were encouraged to help.

“It went well,” Eric Gonzalez, an FBI spokesman said Wednesday afternoon. “Morale is high.”

Searchers were told to look for anything inorganic or out of the ordinary that shouldn’t be where it is, Gonzalez said.

The FBI continues to investigate the double homicide that killed Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class James Hopkins and retired Chief Petty Officer Richard Belisle, but has released little information on its progress. No arrests have been made and investigators have not named a suspect.

“You’re just wondering, ‘Where are the answers? Is this guy still on the loose? Are we still safe in our home?’” Diane Descloux, a longtime Kodiak resident, said Wednesday.

“We hope we get some answers here real soon,” she said.

Investigators are still looking for anyone who may have observed a white 2002 Dodge Ram pickup truck and/or a blue 2001 Honda CR-V in the vicinity of the Kodiak airport or the communications station the day of the shooting.

The FBI recently subpoenaed the Comfort Inn Kodiak in order to obtain contact information for guests who stayed at the hotel the day of the crime.

Investigators then sent an email to guests asking for their help identifying photos of the vehicles.

Someone who was at the hotel the day of the shooting and asked to remain anonymous told Channel 2 that the two cars were in the Comfort Inn parking lot the day of the shooting and that the owner was staying at the hotel.

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