Body of Missing USCG Hiker Recovered on Christmas Day

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT
The body of a Coast Guardsmen missing since Saturday was recovered yesterday (Monday) on Barometer Mountain. Alaska State Troopers led the search for 20-year-old Derek Russell who was last seen on Saturday when he reportedly told friends he was going to hike Barometer. Russell was reported missing Sunday night around 6 p.m.
Coast Guard helicopters from Air Station Kodiak conducted aerial searches Sunday night and members of the Coast Guard, Kodiak Island Search and Rescue and community volunteers searched the areas near the trail on Christmas Eve. Search efforts continued on Christmas day and three search dogs and four handlers were flown in from Anchorage to help.
Nick Szabo is a member of Kodiak Search and Rescue and said search teams were flown to the summit of the mountain on Christmas day.
Sara Francis is the spokeswoman for the Coast Guard and said Russell was a fireman on the Coast Guard Cutter Munro and relatively new to Kodiak. She said his body was recovered from the mountain shortly after being discovered yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon.
Russell’s body will be sent to the state medical examiner so actual cause of death can be determined.