Overview

Date last seen: July 21, 2000
Last seen location: New Stuyahok Airport, New Stuyahok, Alaska

Main circumstances:

• Charlie T. Chocknok Sr., 84, disappeared after telling others he planned to travel to Dillingham.
• He was seen at the New Stuyahok Airport but never boarded a flight.
• Because he suffered from dementia, investigators believe he may have become disoriented.
• Extensive searches failed to locate him.
• The case remains an open missing person investigation.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Charlie T. Chocknok Sr. Disappearance (2000): What Happened, Timeline, and Latest Case Information

Brief Summary

Date last seen: July 21, 2000
Last seen location: New Stuyahok Airport, New Stuyahok, Alaska

Main circumstances:

• Charlie T. Chocknok Sr., 84, disappeared after telling others he planned to travel to Dillingham.
• He was seen at the New Stuyahok Airport but never boarded a flight.
• Because he suffered from dementia, investigators believe he may have become disoriented.
• Extensive searches failed to locate him.
• The case remains an open missing person investigation.

Charlie T. Chocknok Sr. Disappearance

Charlie T. Chocknok Sr. was an 84-year-old Yup’ik elder who vanished from New Stuyahok, Alaska, on July 21, 2000. More than two decades later, his disappearance remains unsolved.

According to investigators, Chocknok was last seen walking around the New Stuyahok Airport. He reportedly told people he intended to travel approximately 43 air miles south to Dillingham. Despite those statements, authorities determined he never boarded any departing aircraft. After that day, no confirmed sightings of him have ever been reported.

At the time he disappeared, Chocknok suffered from dementia, a medical condition investigators believe likely played a significant role in his disappearance. Authorities have long theorized that he may have become confused and attempted to walk toward Dillingham on foot through remote wilderness.

The region surrounding New Stuyahok is exceptionally rugged, consisting of dense vegetation, rivers, wetlands, and extensive wilderness inhabited by bears and other wildlife. Investigators have suggested several possibilities, including that Chocknok may have become lost, drowned while attempting to cross the Nushagak River, or suffered a fatal wildlife encounter. Despite extensive searches, no physical evidence has ever been located to confirm what happened.

Search efforts were conducted shortly after his disappearance but produced no trace of Chocknok. His family never received answers regarding his fate, and in 2001 he was declared legally deceased. The declaration was administrative in nature and did not resolve the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.

Today, Charlie T. Chocknok Sr. remains classified as an endangered missing person. His case is listed in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as MP34145, allowing investigators to compare unidentified remains with his profile if new evidence is discovered.

Latest Investigation Information

As of 2026, there have been no publicly announced major investigative breakthroughs, identified remains, arrests, or confirmed sightings in Charlie T. Chocknok Sr.’s disappearance.

The Alaska State Troopers continue to be the investigating agency, and the case remains open. Advances in forensic identification technology continue to help resolve decades-old missing person cases nationwide, meaning Chocknok’s case could still benefit from future comparisons involving unidentified human remains or newly developed forensic methods. However, no public updates indicate significant movement in this investigation.