On the night of January 31, 2017, Michael Big-Chris Chris, an Alaskan Native and 32-year-old City of Bethel utility maintenance worker, stepped outside his Bethel home after telling his wife he was going to smoke a cigarette. A single gunshot was heard and his wife found him on the ground outside with his truck door ajar. Police initially described the death as a possible self-inflicted gunshot and sent the body to the State Medical Examiner in Anchorage.

Family members disputed the early suicide framing, saying funeral photos showed bruising they didn’t recognize and that Michael had been receiving threats after struggling with heroin following a back injury. By February 2017 the family suggested he had been killed in a drug dispute. A year later detectives reclassified the death as a homicide and said they suspected it was drug-related; police also acknowledged community silence was hampering the investigation. No charges or suspects have been publicly announced, and the killing remains unsolved.

If anyone knew Michael, his movements that night, or the local contacts who might help untangle the drug-related leads, please share what you know.