A day after newly elected Juneau mayor Greg Fisk was found dead in his apartment by his son, police still aren’t sure what happened. Police Chief Bryce Johnson told the Juneau Empire, “There’s lots of possibilities … There were some injuries, but there were different things that can cause that.” He added that the death may have been caused by a fall and that the authorities “don’t know that there was an assault.” Suicide has been ruled out. There was no sign of a break-in, but police are still looking around the house for clues. Yesterday, a police spokeswoman told KTUU, “We haven’t determined if there’s anything suspicious or not.” A day later, she told the Alaska Dispatch News, “The injuries could be characterized as signs of trauma.”
Fink’s body is being sent to Anchorage for an autopsy; investigators hope the results will be able to help solve this sad puzzle. Seventy-year-old Fisk — who filed his campaign paperwork on the last possible day — won 66 percent of the vote in the mayoral election in early October and was sworn in only a few weeks ago. He spent his career dealing with fisheries; his campaign manager, Bob King, said he and Fisk bonded because they were both “fish heads.”
“For that potential to be snuffed out is just a crushing loss,” King told the AP. Shortly after news of Fisk’s death started to spread, candles began to appear at a public sculpture in Juneau.
On Monday, neighbors heard nothing out of the ordinary at Fisk’s house until Ian Fisk came to check on his dad, who hadn’t been answering the phone. He started shouting and called 911.
Deputy Mayor Mary Becker will fill in for Fisk until an election is held. “We will keep going,” she said on Monday, according to the Dispatch News, “but it’s just very, very sad not to have Greg as our mayor.”
