Alaska hunting trip ended in tragedy. Seventeen years later, a family finally got answers.

Human remains found on a remote Alaska island nearly 17 years ago have been identified as a hunter who disappeared after falling through river ice during a trip near his home community, bringing long-awaited answers to his family and closing one of the state’s oldest missing-person cases. Investigators confirmed that remains discovered on Nunivak Island in 2009 belonged to George Smith Sr., a Togiak resident who was 79 when he vanished, Anchorage Daily News reported.