Active search called off for missing Anchorage hiker

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - An active search for 28-year-old Juan Toscano, who was last heard from in Far North Bicentennial Park on Tuesday afternoon, has been called off.

Corey Aist of Alaska Search and Rescue said rescue groups conducted extensive searches in the area on Wednesday and Thursday and had done all they could with the clues, but they had with no sign of Toscano.

Family members say Toscano was messaging and sending pictures of his hike along the Basher Trail to his mother. His last contact was around 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Aist says cellphone pings showed his phone near the South Fork of Campbell Creek, close to Campbell Creek Gorge, but the phone has not been recovered.

Family members say Toscano told his mother he was hiking with a friend, but they do not know who. Police could not confirm whether Toscano was hiking with anyone else.

Toscano’s younger sister Itzel said the family is grateful for the support and help they’ve received looking for their loved one. She said she wished the official search would continue, and that her family intends to keep looking.

Aist said they are encouraging those in the trailhead area to keep their eyes open and report anything that could be considered a clue to Toscano’s whereabouts to police. If there is new information, he said, it’s possible a more robust search could resume.

According to Aist, conditions in the gorge will continue to be monitored. Search teams may be able to get a better look when water levels on Campbell Creek recede.

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