One individual has been confirmed as deceased after a vehicle plunged through thin ice on Hidden Lake.
At approximately 7:19 this morning, the Soldotna Communications Center received a call from two individuals on Hidden Lake reporting that 45-year-old David S. Riss was missing.
Riss had been ice fishing with 47-year-old Arthur D. Fena and 44-year-old Herbert D. Myddelton, all of Sterling. The trio drove a Dodge Caravan out onto the lake at approximately 4 pm yesterday.
At about 6 pm last night, Riss left in the van to go ice fishing elsewhere on the lake. When Riss hadn’t returned to the original camp by nightfall, Fena and Myddelton set out on foot to search for him.
While searching, both Fena and Myddelton fell through the ice but were able to get out of the lake and make it back to their camp where they made a warming fire. They called for help the next morning once their cell phone was operational. A Fish and Wildlife Service office responded to the lake and at 10:20 am found Riss’s body floating in an open section of water on the northwest side of the lake. The van was not located. CES technicians recovered Riss’s body at 12:30 p.m.
Riss’s body will be transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Anchorage for an autopsy. No foul play is suspected at this time. Next of kin was notified.
