On Saturday evening, the body of 11-year-old Kara Heller was recovered from the landslide debris in Wrangell, the small town of 2,127 people on Wrangell Island in Southeast Alaska. A search has gone on for days since the Nov. 20 landslide across Zimovia Highway, and the discovery of Kara’s body leaves just two people known to be still missing, but presumed by most in the community to also be deceased: Otto Florschutz, 65; and Derek Heller, 12.
A scent detection dog signaled to searchers to look in an area of the debris and with the assistance of an excavator, led to Kara’s remains. Next of kin and the State Medical Examiners Office have been notified. A scent detection K9 team remains on standby and will resume searching if new information or evidence leads to a specific search area, the Department of Public Safety said.
The entire Heller family of five appears to have been taken by the disaster.
