Two missing Juneau teenagers found dead of gunshot wounds

Two 16-year-olds who were reported missing in Juneau, Alaska, on Monday morning were found dead of apparent gunshot wounds that same afternoon in a wooded area above Glacier Highway, the Juneau Police Department said.

The bodies of Leotis Phillips and Zoey Clark, both 16, were located at about 2:25 p.m. on Aug. 31 in a wooded area on a hillside above the 6800 block of Glacier Highway. A firearm was recovered at the scene.

Preliminary information indicates both teenagers died from gunshot wounds. Their bodies will be sent to the Alaska State Medical Examiner's Office in Anchorage for autopsy. Next of kin has been notified, and the investigation into the deaths remains ongoing, with no additional information released so far. In its earlier appeals, the department had referred to the two as missing juveniles.

Reported missing that morning

Phillips was reported missing from his residence on Kanata Street at about 5:52 a.m., and Clark from her home on Teal Street at about 8:49 a.m., a few hours later. Officers believed the two teenagers were together, and the search stretched across the morning before they were found in the early afternoon.

While the pair were still missing, police issued a public advisory warning residents not to approach or contact them because they were believed to have access to a firearm. An update to that release, sent at about 5:10 p.m., reported that both had been found dead in the woods.

Because the juveniles may have access to a firearm, members of the public should not approach them or attempt to contact them

Deputy Chief Krag Campbell issued the release. The site sits in the Lemon Creek area of Juneau, near an Alaska Department of Transportation facility and the Alaska Marine Highway System call center and close to Switzer Village Mobile Home Park, according to local news reports.

Descriptions in the appeal

When it first sought the public's help, the department described Phillips as an Alaska Native male about 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing between 140 and 160 pounds, with long black hair that he usually wore in a ponytail and brown eyes. The description was posted while officers were still trying to find him.

Phillips typically wore a purple bandana around his neck, a black hooded sweatshirt and brown pants, police said. Clark was described as a white female about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing about 140 pounds.

The appeals appeared on the police department's Facebook page, each accompanied by a photograph of the teenager. The search ended a few hours later, when officers found the bodies in the wooded area off Glacier Highway and revised the same release to report that both were dead.

The cause and manner of both deaths will be determined by the Alaska State Medical Examiner's Office, which conducts autopsies for cases from across the state at its facility in Anchorage.

Police have not said who fired the weapon, and no one has been charged.

What investigators have not said

Police have released no account of what happened between the two teenagers, who fired the firearm found at the scene, or how the pair came to be in the wooded area above the highway.

On Sept. 2, Campbell said the two teenagers were the only people at the site when the deaths occurred, and that an autopsy to determine the circumstances would take time. The department has released nothing further about what happened in the woods.

Both missing-person reports came in Monday morning, and the bodies were found early that afternoon, at about 2:25 p.m. Investigators have not described the teenagers' movements in the hours in between, or where they went after leaving their homes.

Police cautioned that everything in the release was based on a preliminary investigation and could change as the case develops.

A response from the schools

The Juneau School District plans to make support and counseling services available to students and staff affected by the deaths, according to the police release, which did not detail how or when the services would be provided.

More than 150 friends, family members and teachers gathered for a candlelight vigil on the evening of Sept. 1 at the Lemon Creek school campus where Clark was a student, close to the woods where the two were found. The police department extended its condolences to the teenagers' families, friends and classmates.

Two teenagers, hours apart

Phillips and Clark, both 16, were reported missing hours apart on Monday morning and found dead together that afternoon in the woods above Glacier Highway. Both had gunshot wounds, and a firearm was recovered at the scene, police said, though the department has not explained how the two teenagers died.

The scene off Glacier Highway

The bodies were found on a hillside above the 6800 block of Glacier Highway, in a wooded area in the Lemon Creek section of Juneau, Alaska's capital. The spot lies near an Alaska Department of Transportation facility and the Alaska Marine Highway System call center, local news outlets reported.

Police recovered a firearm near the bodies but have not said who it belonged to or who fired it. The department released no timeline for the teenagers' final hours and offered no account beyond its preliminary findings about the cause of death. It said its account could still change as the inquiry continued.

The gunshot-wound finding is preliminary, and police said it could change as the medical examiner completes the autopsies of both teenagers.

Beyond confirming that both teenagers were dead and that a gun was found near them, police have disclosed little about the sequence of events that led to the deaths, and no timeline of the day has been made public in the days since.

The families of both teenagers were notified before the department made the deaths public. Police did not release any statement from the families, and the medical examiner's autopsies had not been completed. The department did not indicate when it expected to say more.

Still under investigation

The Juneau Police Department said the investigation into the deaths of Leotis Phillips and Zoey Clark remained open, with no further details released. The police release said counseling would be available to students and staff affected by the loss, and police repeated their condolences to the families. If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day.