Nathan Joseph Daniel Oney was 22 when he was thrown from a boat into the Yukon River after it struck a submerged sandbar on September 3, 2011. He was last seen between Mountain Village and Pitkas Point; a friend in the boat threw a life jacket but Nathan could not reach it and was swept away by the river’s currents.

He was wearing a brown coat, blue jeans and white socks. Described as an American Indian/Alaska Native male with black hair and brown eyes, he was 5 feet 10 inches and about 150 pounds. The Alaska State Troopers opened a missing person case and a search was conducted, but the river’s size and power prevented a recovery; his family later provided DNA samples and his information was entered into national missing persons databases.

The official account treats this as a boating accident and presumes drowning with no evidence of foul play. If anyone was in that area of the Yukon River that day or has information that could help bring Nathan’s family more answers, please share what you know.