Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

Steve Keel, the mystery

Posted

I met Steve Keel when I was looking for an electrician to wire the meter box and the main service panel in my new house. I had been building the house for two years using a portable generator to run the power tools. But as the time approached to connect to the grid, I needed an electrician to do the required install. I asked at the local Hardware store and the owner Andy gave me Steve’s number. Steve was a quiet and very likable guy and we became friends quickly.

As I was running behind schedule for my completion date, I ended up hiring Steve to help finish the interior wiring. I set boxes, pulled wire and located where all the switches, outlets, ceiling boxes and appliance hook-ups went. I had designed the house from the ground up and the blueprint was mostly in my head. We would work all morning and then drive up to Esha’s Country Restaurant for lunch. It was enjoyable to discuss many topics as we worked together. We wrapped up the project by the end of July and I headed back to Minnesota while Steve had a caribou hunt in Alaska planned for August.

Steve and his hunting partner flew in to Fairbanks, Alaska on August 20th and then drove five hundred miles north to Deadhorse where they planned to hunt. On August 27th, Steve left the campsite to retrieve some supplies where they stored the caribou meat. It was less than a mile hike, although the rough terrain took about an hour to cover the distance. He never returned, and a missing persons report was made. The two hunters had been in daily contact with their wives with a special satellite phone since there is no cell phone signal in the Alaskan wilderness. Steve was a lifelong outdoorsman with survival skills military experience and had no medical conditions that were known.

 

Steve’s two adult sons, immediately flew up to the area to search for their father but with no luck. Four friends from Tennessee also formed a rescue team and flew up to Alaska to help look. They had military special forces and search and rescue experience, but after two weeks not a sign had been found.  The family had requested that North Slope Search and Rescue unit deploy their RECCO device which is placed in a helicopter and can ping off a cell phone even if its battery is dead. Air support for two additional groups was requested because the terrain of the arctic steppe is a spongy one to four foot thick mat on top of the permafrost. Still not a sign of Steve anywhere was found.

During the short summer the Arctic tundra slopes are lush with vegetation supporting some of the largest herds of wild animals in the world. The caribou migrate there to bear their calves. Migratory fowl travel from Florida and Mexico for the summer as well. Wolves, polar bear and grizzly bear also hunt the land. But winter sets in by November and high winds with six or more feet of snow and temperatures down to 70 degrees below zero will be the norm until the end of March.