Search for missing Alaska family comes to grim end

KENAI, Alaska – A nearly yearlong search for a missing Alaska family has come to a grim end with the discovery of four bodies, a dead dog and a handgun just off a trail in a rural area near the family’s home.

Authorities said Monday they could not comment on the circumstances surrounding the deaths but there’s no reason to believe anyone else was involved.

Rebecca Adams, 23; her boyfriend, Brandon Jividen, 38; and her children, Michelle Hundley, 6, and Jaracca Hundley, 3, lived on a quiet street on the outskirts of Kenai, a fishing community of 7,100 about 65 miles southwest of Anchorage.

They were last seen in May.

At the time, relatives said it appeared the family left without packing. The couple’s two vehicles were parked outside their duplex, and their rent for June had not been paid. The family’s dog – an English springer spaniel named Sparks – also was gone.

Kenai police Lt. Dave Ross said Monday the bodies haven’t been officially identified by a coroner, but authorities have every indication it’s the missing family.

A gun found with the bodies matched the serial number from a box found in the family’s home, he said. Officers also discovered other items reported missing from the residence.

Ross said there’s no reason to believe another person was involved in the deaths, and it appears the four people died where they were found.

He provided few other details, saying the investigation remains open.

The bodies were discovered within a half-mile of the family’s home late Saturday after a person driving a vehicle on a trail spotted clothing and human remains and called police.

The bodies were about 15 yards from the trail, which is used mostly by four-wheelers and snowmobiles. They were in a slight depression in the ground amid grass and bushes, Ross said.

When the family disappeared, authorities conducted a massive search using airplanes, helicopters and dogs. “I can only speculate how close searchers may have come,” Ross said.