Missing Kugluktuk man found in Edmonton hotel

Edmonton police have found a Kugluktuk man who’s been missing for over 10 days.

Peter Kakolak, 55, went missing April 30 near the Edmonton International Airport, and missed his flight back to Kugluktuk May 2.

In a May 12 press release Leduc RCMP said Kakolak was found at a hotel in Edmonton “unharmed and in good spirits.”

“We received a message from [Edmonton Police Service] that they were called to a hotel,” said Const. Tim Gaultois, media liaison for the Leduc RCMP.

“And at that point they went and they approached the gentleman, they looked at his photo ID, and ID’d him as the person that was missing,” he said.

Gaultois did not know how specifically Kakolak had been located.

Leduc RCMP interviewed several tipsters after the missing persons report first came in. The RCMP also gained access to phone and bank records in an effort to locate Kakolak.

Kakolak’s niece, Melody Kuneluk, said it isn’t like him to go missing.

She said her aunt — Kakolak’s common-law spouse Alice Algona — found out he was no longer missing two days ago, and flew down to Edmonton to meet him.

Kuneluk said she’s still waiting for a phone call from Algona, but right now she’s just relieved that her uncle has been found.

“I’m so relieved that I could breathe now and the weight has lifted off my shoulders,” Kuneluk said.

She said when Kakolak returns, she’s going to “visit him and give him a big hug and tell him I love him.”