Musher late-night run, call saves Kotzebue woman

Published on March 4th, 2010

By VICTORIA BARBER

A late night training run by sled dog musher John Baker saved the life a Kotzebue woman Jan. 29. Baker was headed home around 1 a.m. after a long camp run when he spotted some clothing to the side of the trail and alerted police. Upon investigation, officers discovered a hypothermic, intoxicated woman hidden in the rafters of a nearby bridge, about 10 feet off the ground.

Kotzebue Police Chief John Ward said if Baker hadn't alerted police when he did, the young woman would have most likely died.

"The truth of the matter is I don't think we would have found her 'til springtime," Ward said.

There was a full moon illuminating the trail that night, and the weather was fine so Baker was out later than usual when he passed under a bridge about a mile from his home. The bridge, known locally as "second bridge," is on the outskirts of town, and is notorious throughout the area for being the site of several suicides. After the bridge the road dead ends, so there is very little traffic near it in the winter.

As he was passing under the bridge, Baker noticed a jacket and pair of gloves set to the side of the trail. He thought it looked strange, but there was no place for Baker to put his hook down to brake the sled, so he called Kotzebue police on his cell phone and again from his house.

An hour or so after he got home, police called him back to tell him they'd found a woman up in the bridge. The woman, who is in her early 20s, had somehow crawled up into the piping section under the bridge - a difficult-to-see spot that local children use as a hiding place.

Ward said that the woman was "highly intoxicated, passed out and extremely hypothermic." One officer had to climb up after her and hand her down to the other; she was then rushed to the hospital.

Baker's wife, Iva Baker, said that the rescue had a profound impact on her husband.

"The next morning we were having breakfast and he quietly said 'I just saved someone's life.' I said 'Praise God . . . if it wasn't for you she would have frozen to death,'" Iva said.

"I couldn't imagine how terrible it would have felt to have woken up and heard about a tragedy, so I was sure thankful I was going by," Baker said. He said he didn't know who the woman was and "didn't feel it was any of my business."

"Thank goodness we were there to be helpful," he said.

Ward said that the important thing to remember is that "John Baker is a hero for having the foresight to see something that looked out of the ordinary, and of course Sergeant Hughes and Officer Hamilton deserve credit for going out and thoroughly searching the area and finding her."