The summer brings death to the streets of Anchorage this year.

Police found another body near Campbell Creek Park on Saturday, the fourth body discovered in anchorage in nine days.

This time a white man with graying hair was found about 1:30 p.m. face down in Campbell Creek, close to the spot where a 38-year-old man was found Thursday.

Police won't call it a pattern, but the number of deaths certainly has their attention.
Two homeless men were found before the Campbell Creek deaths. The first was located near the woods at Sullivan Arena on May 7. Police say his name was Stanley Ivey.

The second was found near Orca and Third Avenue on Wednesday. Police haven't been able to find his family yet, but say he was 50 years old.

Meanwhile, it's too early to know if Saturday's death has anything to do with the others. All are still under investigation and police have already ruled out murder in the previous deaths.

Something that is not often talked about is how many people lose their lives on the streets of my fair city. Mostly they occur during the harsh winter months to homeless people with no place warm to sleep. But they have also been known to happen in the middle of summer.

The causes of death range from drowning in the creeks, drug overdose, hit and runs, suicide, and even murder.

In my years in this city I have been unfortunate enough to discover three bodies myself. Two were when I was just a kid, and the last was several summers ago when I was walking by with a whole group of kids in tow. Fortunately somebody else had already called the police and they started to arrive as I herded the children away from the "sleeping" man.

Despite all of its amenities Alaska is still a harsh and challenging environment. It can be unforgiving to the careless and almost predatorial toward the weak.

I certainly hope that these deaths are not related and that we do not have yet another killer loose on our streets. We have had more than a few over the years.

With the uptick in suicides in Northwest Alaska, and now this in Anchorage, I am beginning to wonder just what is going on in our state this year.