A Kenai man is dead after falling off the top of the bluff in Old Town Kenai on Saturday, the Kenai Police Department reported Monday.
The department said it responded to a report of a body, later identified as 32-year-old Austin Struthers, on North Kenai Beach, near the Kenai River and Cook Avenue. Struthers is believed to have fallen from the top of the bluff, estimated to be about 75 feet high in that area, the department said.
The department does not believe foul play was involved, and that alcohol “may have been a factor.”
Struthers’ body was transferred to the Alaska State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy and the investigation is ongoing, the department said.
The area where Struthers is believed to have fallen is located near the project area of the Kenai Bluff Stabilization Project. Through that project the City of Kenai aims to stabilize 5,000 feet of eroding bluff from the mouth of the river to the city dock. It’s estimated that the bluff is eroding at a rate of about 3 feet per year.
Struthers on Monday received an outpouring of support on social media from friends and family, and a GoFundMe organized by Sara Heminger Cochran had already surpassed its $5,000 goal less than 24 hours after going live.
“A beautiful, amazing soul, and beloved friend of all has left us,” Heminger Cochran wrote in the GoFundMe description. “Austin Struthers, has tragically lost his life, leaving everyone who knew him shocked and heartbroken. He made it his duty to see people smile, always being a light in the lives of anyone he met.”
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
