Author Topic: FLAGPOLE JOHN DOE: WM, 20-40, jumped from a flagpole in Anchorage, AK - 24 August 1989  (Read 238 times)

Akoya

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http://www.anchoragepress.com/news/unearthing-the-truth/article_af2602b1-c7fe-595d-8d8e-bd6a2359d0de.html

On August 23, 1989, a bearded man strolled down Anchorage's Mountain View Drive around lunchtime. Completely naked. He looked to be in his early 30s and people stopped and stared and honked their horns from their cars nearby. He walked over to the nearby McDonald's where he walked over to the center of three flagpoles in the parking lot and started to climb.

A police officer was stopped by a citizen who told him about a man running down the road with no clothes on. The officer watched as the man climbed up all the way to the top (about 30 feet) and looked as if he was surveying the area.

Officer Jones called up to him, but did not get a response. "I saw him come around to the left side of McDonald's, walk right up to the flagpole and shinny up it like a squirrel," recalls Jones. "I've never seen anything like it. Naked, and right up the pole like nobody's business. It was rather impressive."

When the man reached the top, 30 feet up, he clung on with his legs and began fiddling with the flagpole topper. Other officers had arrived by then and tried talking to him. He didn't seem to hear or see anyone. It looked as if he was having a conversation with the eagle at the top of the pole. Facing west, the man then stretched out his arms-like eagle wings. Then, he kicked off with his feet as if to fly, and dropped headfirst onto the pavement.

He died with no noticeable birthmarks scars or tattoos. No drugs were found in his system. His clothes or any identifying features were never found. His Doe Network page notes: He may have come from another country and jumped ship near Anchorage.

In 2011, there was a possible break in the case. A woman in CA was certain that the man was her brother, Gordon Lopez, a man who disappeared from Reed College in Portland, OR in 1986. Gordon cleaned out his apartment, sent his uncashed tution check to his sister along with a note that he would not see her again and left. He had connections to Alaska, the man died on their mother's birthday and had an uncanny resemblance to the sketch. She paid for the body to be exhumed and DNA tested, but alas, he was not Gordon.