Search continues for missing Ketchikan woman

The second full day of searching for a missing Ketchikan woman ends with few leads. Christiana Watt, 48, was reported missing around 8 p.m. Monday evening near Ward Lake, a popular recreational area north of the city.

Teams focused their search today on the lake itself. Soldiers said they used boats, dogs and a remotely operated underwater vehicle to search the waters, and that a diver was on standby in case they found anything.

Jerry Kiffer of the Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Team said they are wrapping up their ground search, having covered nearly 90 percent of the trails and woods in the designated search area surrounding the lake.

“We don't have any real new information that would prompt us to expand the search area,” Kiffer said by phone. “We've expanded the area out to the lake itself, so we're searching with the dogs on the day-use side of the lake, just offshore.”

Troopers said crews also searched the shoreline around Ward Cove, where water flows from Ward Lake into the Tongass Narrows. But the search for water was temporarily suspended this afternoon due to high winds, troopers said.

Kiffer said that by 2 p.m. they had covered most of the main Ward Lake aquatic search area using a network of tote cameras. It consists of a group of cameras attached to a torpedo-like sled, which is dragged across the lake bed. Kiffer said that doesn't mean they searched the entire lake bed. They based the initial underwater search perimeter on an area that search dogs were interested in, as well as eyewitness accounts from a person swimming in the lake the day Watt was reported missing. Still, Kiffer said they didn't find anything concrete.

“It’s not a very big area, we’re used to working on larger areas,” he said. “It’s not that big of an area – it’s not confined, but it’s very manageable. But so far we haven’t found many clues.”

Monday evening, officers located Watt's car in Ward Lake with his phone and wallet inside. Kiffer said her phone received a ping from her Apple Watch indicating that she — or at least her watch — was near the car around noon that day.

Kiffer said this stage of the search becomes extremely difficult when they lose daylight. They planned to finish the day's search plan around 5 p.m.

The U.S. Forest Service still advises people to avoid the area around Ward Lake. The road to the recreation area is closed during the day for active searching, but Kiffer said visiting the area after hours can still leave behind odors that could distract search dogs.

Kiffer said the Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Team and state troopers want to talk to anyone who has seen a white woman, with long brown hair, in the Ward Lake area in recent days or has potential information on the disappearance of Christiana Watt.

For the moment, police do not consider Watt's disappearance suspicious. Search efforts will continue tomorrow.

Anyone with contact or information regarding Christiana Watt is asked to contact Alaska State Troopers in Ketchikan at 907-225-5118 and reference incident AK24055622.