Searchers find body of Mountain Village man

After a weeklong search, the body of Carlie Alexie was found on the night of Wednesday, Aug. 9.
The 37-year-old man from Mountain Village had been missing since Aug. 3 after going overboard from a boat near Stebbins.
Alexie was found in the area of the Pikmiktalik River, according to a dispatch from the Alaska State Troopers. His remains were taken to St. Michael, where troopers arrived for an investigation and transportation of the remains.
The State Medical Examiner’s Office will also investigate Alexie’s remains.
“All the searchers, including Stebbins searchers, drove him by boat to complete his journey home to his original destination where he was received by his family and friends,” said his cousin Anna Matthias Nashoanak.
After the U.S. Coast Guard had called off its search of the waters, a local search effort was organized with a camp set up at Pikmiktalik. Nashoanak said that those who donated their time and left their jobs to help in the search will be forever remembered. She also expressed thanks for the people across the state who prayed for Alexie’s return.
“This kind of kindness never goes unnoticed,” she said.
Two people have been charged with crimes in relation to Alexie’s death. Warren Okitkun, a 37-year-old Kotlik resident, and Caitlyn Prince, a 25-year-old Kotlik resident, were on the boat when Alexie allegedly jumped off and didn’t resurface. Okitkun and Prince are accused of speeding away from the scene after they alerted a Stebbins VPO of the incident. An 11-year-old child on the boat with them as well. Both Okitkun and Prince have been charged with endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree, operating a watercraft while under the influence, assault in the third degree and reckless endangerment.