A tragic update: Missing Alaska girl is dead

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The father of a 10-year-old girl whose body was found east of a remote Inupiat Eskimo town on Alaska’s northwestern coast says his daughter always had a smile and loved to use her allowance to buy things for her friends.

Walter “Scotty” Barr tells the Anchorage Daily News that Ashley Johnson-Barr liked playing basketball and went to church every week.

Her remains were found Friday east of Kotzebue. Authorities say 41-year-old Peter Wilson of Kotzebue is facing charges of making false statements to a federal agent investigating the girl’s death.

The girl was last seen playing with friends at a local park Sept. 6. Her cellphone was later found a half mile from Rainbow Park, in the opposite direction of her home in the community of 3,100 people.

Since the disappearance, volunteers, Kotzebue police and others conducted searches. A Coast Guard helicopter and aircraft from wildlife troopers also were used.

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