Woman Fleeing Trooper Dies in Seward Highway Crash

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A woman fleeing from an Alaska State Trooper died early Tuesday morning when her sport-utility vehicle went down an embankment off the Seward Highway.

AST spokesperson Beth Ipsen says the woman, 46-year-old Zoe Ivanoff of Unalakleet, was contacted in a pullout at Mile 47 of the highway, north of the Seward’s junction with the Sterling Highway, by a trooper who discovered that she had a revoked driver’s license.

Ivanoff was issued a summons to appear in court for driving with a revoked license, and a tow truck was called to take Ivanoff’s Nissan Pathfinder from the scene. During the one-hour wait for the tow truck to arrive, however, she hit the gas and headed south along the Seward just after 4 a.m.

Ipsen says the trooper pursued and followed Ivanoff through several curves on the road but didn’t see her vehicle at a straightaway, so he turned around and found her Pathfinder off the highway at Mile 37.

Ivanoff was ejected from the vehicle in the crash, and declared dead after troopers and a Kenai Police Department officer attempted life-saving measures. Her next of kin have been notified, and her body will be taken to the state medical examiner's office in Anchorage for an autopsy.

Troopers remained on the scene Tuesday afternoon to investigate the incident, during which traffic on the Seward was restricted to one lane.