Officials find the body of a woman who got off a cruise ship in Alaska to hike and didn’t return
Jul 4, 2025, 5:58 AM
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Authorities say they have found the body of a woman visiting Alaska’s capital city who did not return to her cruise ship from a hike she said she was taking.
The Alaska Department of Public Safety said the body of 62-year-old Marites Buenafe of Kentucky was found by an Alaska Army National Guard helicopter crew late Thursday below the ridge line of Gold Ridge. Troopers and Juneau Mountain Rescue were able to recover the body with help from Temsco Helicopters and the National Guard.
Her next of kin have been notified, and her body will be sent to the state medical examiner’s office for autopsy.
The Juneau Police Department received a report Tuesday afternoon that the woman, who told relatives that morning that she was getting off the Norwegian Bliss to hike, had not returned to the vessel by its departure time.
