Overview

Last known date: October 10, 2012
Last known location: Spenard area, Anchorage, Alaska
Age when missing: 32
Status: Endangered missing person; disappearance considered suspicious.

Main circumstances: Alexie traveled from Fairbanks to Anchorage on October 9 to pursue schooling at Alaska Career College. At about 3 a.m. October 10, she contacted friends from the Spenard area, sounded confused/disoriented and said she did not know where to go. She was never heard from again. Searches, public appeals and later cold-case review have not produced a publicly announced resolution.

Detailed Case Breakdown

Mary Anne Alexie Disappearance: The Unsolved 2012 Anchorage, Alaska Missing Person Case

Mary Anne Alexie was a 32-year-old Alaska Native mother of four from Fairbanks when she disappeared shortly after arriving in Anchorage, Alaska, in October 2012. More than a decade later, her whereabouts remain unknown, and authorities continue to classify her disappearance as suspicious. Her case remains listed with the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System under NamUs MP24130.

Alexie was born November 13, 1979. At the time she vanished, she was approximately 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighed about 120 pounds. She had black hair, brown eyes and a tattoo on her upper right arm. She has also been identified by the names Mary Jane Alexie and Mary McNeil.

A Trip to Anchorage and a New Direction

On October 9, 2012, Alexie arrived in Anchorage after traveling from Fairbanks. She intended to pursue training at Alaska Career College, with reports describing her goal as studying to become a medical assistant. Family members later spoke about how proud they were that she was preparing for school and trying to build a better future for herself and her children.

Something went wrong almost immediately.

Contemporary reporting from Alaska Public Media stated that Alexie arrived in Anchorage on October 9 but never contacted Alaska Career College as planned. What she did during much of the day and evening remains unclear from publicly available records.

The crucial event occurred during the early morning of October 10.

At approximately 3 a.m., Alexie communicated with friends while somewhere in Anchorage’s Spenard neighborhood. Police said she appeared confused and did not know where to go. Other accounts describe her as sounding intoxicated or disoriented and needing somewhere to stay.

That communication became the last known contact with her.

Mary Anne Alexie’s Last Known Location

Spenard became the center of the investigation. Alexie had specifically told friends she was in that area when she called during the early hours of October 10. Exactly where in Spenard she was located has never been publicly established.

The Alaska State Troopers’ Missing Persons Bulletin lists Alexie as last seen in Anchorage on October 10, 2012. The bulletin states that her clothing description and direction of travel were unknown and describes her disappearance as suspicious.

Her lack of contact was especially alarming to those close to her. Family members said it was unusual for Alexie to stop communicating with her children, friends and relatives. She seemingly vanished without a confirmed sighting that explained where she went after the phone call.

Search Efforts in Anchorage

Anchorage Police Department detectives began searching for Alexie in the days following her disappearance. By October 22, police were publicly asking for information and expressing increasing concern for her safety.

Search efforts concentrated heavily on Spenard. Volunteers distributed missing-person posters, while investigators and searchers examined areas where Alexie might have traveled or sought shelter. Later reporting documented searches around Lake Hood and surrounding areas.

As winter conditions intensified, investigators also considered the possibility that a disoriented Alexie could have entered an unsecured building or other location for shelter. In December 2012, Anchorage police asked people in the area to inspect their properties and unsecured sheds.

No discovery publicly reported from those searches explained her disappearance.

Family and Community Search for Answers

Alexie’s relatives traveled to Anchorage to participate in the search. Her mother, sister and niece joined volunteers and supporters who worked to keep her case visible. On November 13, 2012—Alexie’s 33rd birthday—family and supporters held a candlelight vigil in Anchorage.

A reward for information also increased as the search continued. By November 29, 2012, contemporary reporting stated that the reward had risen from $500 to $2,000 through efforts associated with Project Angel Eyes and supporters seeking information about Alexie’s whereabouts.

Despite searches, publicity and appeals from the family, investigators did not announce a resolution.

Questions That Have Never Been Answered

Several significant gaps remain in the publicly known timeline.

It has never been publicly established where Alexie spent the afternoon and evening after arriving in Anchorage, precisely where she was standing when she made her final phone call, whom she may have encountered that night, or what direction she traveled afterward.

Authorities have also never publicly established whether Alexie disappeared because of an accident, exposure to the elements, criminal activity or another circumstance.

Her official Alaska State Troopers bulletin does not identify a suspect. Instead, it continues to describe the disappearance itself as suspicious.

The Case Enters Anchorage’s Cold Case Review

A significant development came in 2020 when the Anchorage Police Department established a dedicated cold case unit to review longstanding unsolved cases.

Alaska’s News Source specifically identified Mary Anne Alexie as one of approximately 125 unsolved cases the newly created unit hoped to examine. Police said the unit was going through old case files in search of information or investigative opportunities that could produce new leads.

That development did not mean investigators had identified a suspect or determined what happened to Alexie. It meant her disappearance remained among the unresolved cases receiving attention from Anchorage investigators.

The department’s current organizational directory continues to maintain a Homicide/Missing Persons/Cold Case function within its Detective Division, confirming that Anchorage maintains dedicated personnel for these types of investigations.

Latest Publicly Available Investigation Information

As of August 2026, there has been no publicly announced recovery of Mary Anne Alexie, arrest in connection with her disappearance, or publicly identified suspect located in the official and established case sources reviewed for this article.

Her NamUs MP24130 entry remains available as a missing-person case, and the Alaska Department of Public Safety continues to host the official endangered-adult bulletin stating that Alexie’s disappearance is considered suspicious.

The Alaska bulletin continues to direct anyone with information to the Anchorage Police Department and identifies incident number 12-49442.

Current Anchorage Police Department records list the department’s main number as 907-786-8900 and identify a dedicated Homicide/Missing Persons/Cold Case section within the Detective Division.

Mary Anne Alexie’s case therefore remains unresolved. The central question that began with a confused early-morning phone call from Spenard on October 10, 2012, remains unanswered: What happened to Mary Anne after that call?

Anyone with information—even information that may have seemed insignificant at the time—is encouraged to contact the investigating authorities and reference the case number below.