Body of man presumed dead found near helicopter crash site in Southeast Alaska, troopers say

Searchers recovered the body of a man who was missing and presumed dead following a helicopter crash in Southeast Alaska on Friday.

David William King, 53, of Sutton, was found deceased Monday around 11 a.m., about three-fourths of a mile south of the crash site, near Lituya Bay, in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, Alaska State Troopers said in an online dispatch.

King was the owner of Last Frontier Air Ventures in Palmer, which provides helicopter flights.

Presumed dead in the crash are Anchorage business owner Josh Pepperd, 42, his son, Andrew, 11.

Aiden Pepperd, 14, was the sole survivor of the helicopter crash. Pepperd was rescued by Coast Guard personnel from a beach about 3 miles from Lituya Bay, and was taken to an Anchorage hospital.

The group was traveling across the country in a new helicopter that Pepperd, owner of Davis Constructors and Engineers, had acquired from Airbus Helicopters in Texas.

Some of the wreckage washed ashore. A search comprised of the U.S. Coast Guard, the Alaska Air National Guard and Civil Air Patrol was suspended on Sunday afternoon, with no signs that the three had survived.

King's body was sent to the State Medical Examiner Officer, troopers said.

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