Search under way in Fairbanks and Huslia areas for missing Fairbanks man

A hasty search is under way in the Fairbanks and Huslia areas for Sterling Dewilde, a 45-year-old Fairbanks man who was reported missing to the Fairbanks Police Department on Oct. 24, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said Wednesday.

Dewilde was last heard from Sept. 11, according to the daily dispatch the department posted Wednesday morning.

A Fairbanks Police Department post Monday gives a later sighting. Police say a neighbor saw Dewilde on Sept. 25 on the 1900 block of Turner Street in Fairbanks. His family had not talked to him for several months before reporting him missing, the post says. It is not known what he was last wearing.

The dispatch does not describe the circumstances of the disappearance.

The state lists the case as a Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons investigation. The Alaska Bureau of Investigation runs a unit for such cases that handles suspicious missing-person cases involving Alaska Native or American Indian victims. According to the state, the unit works with patrol and major-crimes investigators.

The Department of Public Safety says there is no waiting period to report a missing person in Alaska and that early reporting is critical. The department also says every missing person is entered into the federal NamUs database within 60 days.

Fairbanks police are handling the investigation. They ask anyone with information or sightings to contact Detective Barnes at 907-450-6500.