Carl Degross Found Dead At Mile 27 Edgerton; They Were Looking For Him On The Glenn

Lost Man Crashed Into Trees On Edgerton  

DeGross Was Believed To Have Been On The Glenn Highway – Not The Edgerton 

The Edgerton Highway (Photo, Country Journal) 

Cameras At The Hub And In Glennallen Initially Seemed To Show He Had Headed Toward Anchorage 

When Carl Degross, an Anchorage fisherman on his way back from fishing in Valdez, was initially reported missing on September 8th, 2025, it was strongly believed, and reported by the Troopers, that he was headed from the Hub gas station west on the Glenn to Palmer and back home to Anchorage. Apparently there were two cameras that caught him, one at the Hub and the other, which was said to be at the Trooper "substation". 

Although this belief that Carl Degross gassed up at the Hub has prevailed for many days – leading searchers to comb the Glenn Highway –  he was found dead on the Edgerton on Thursday, September 18th. This might indicate he actually never made it to the Hub, and that cameras saw someone else's vehicle. Or, that he may have gassed up at the Hub and then doubled back towards Chitina. 

They call it the "Hub" because the Hub Marathon gas station, at the junction of the Glenn and Richardson Highways in Glennallen, is located at the center of a number of roads, which splay in all directions. This is a big deal. For years, the gas station advertised itself as "Where Alaska's Highways Meet" in its KCAM radio ads.

Roads that meet at the Hub Visitor Center. (Map by Copper River Country Journal)

In Alaska, the idea of a central location on the road system is not typical. There is only one road from the north into Alaska's largest city, Anchorage – the Glenn Highway. And there's only one route out of Anchorage to the south – the Seward Highway. 

Yet, when you're at the Hub, you can head all over Alaska on many roads: the Glenn, the Richardson, the Denali, the Tok Cutoff, the Edgerton, the Nabesna Road...

You can go to the Cutoff northeast to Eagle, Chicken, Tok, and Canada. Or, from the Hub, you can head straight north on the Richardson– to Delta and Fairbanks. You can also drive northwest – to the Denali Highway, Cantwell and the Parks Highway. Or, you can head southwest on the Glenn – to Anchorage, Palmer and the Kenai Peninsula. And, you can head south to Valdez on the Richardson, or southeast on the Edgerton and McCarthy Roads – to Kenny Lake, Chitina and Kennicott. 

If Carl Degross had gotten to the Hub, he would have had to double back to return to the Edgerton, which starts as a side road 82.5 miles north of Valdez. 

For days, friends and relatives have searched the Glenn Highway, looking for him, and believing he may have driven off the cliffs, or into the Matanuska River. It's not an unreasonable thought. This happens more often than we might believe. (See the story about the Glenn Highway and its dangerous history in this Country Journal). 

Then, on September 18th, his vehicle was found on the Edgerton.  It turned out that Carl Degross had not driven back home on the Glenn. Traveling at what the Troopers call "a high rate of speed," he ran off the road on the Edgerton, at Mile 27 – just three miles past Liberty Falls and six miles out of Chitina. He went into the trees, where the wrecked car wasn't easy to see. His body was found in the back seat. 

Here's the Trooper Report:

Location: Glennallen

Type: Missing Person

Dispatch Text:

UPDATE 9/19: On September 18, 2025, Degross' vehicle was located off the roadway near mile 27 of the Edgerton Highway. A preliminary investigation determined that Degross departed the roadway at a high rate of speed, crashing through trees before coming to a stop in a location not easily visible from the roadway. Degross was found deceased in the vehicle's backseat. His body has been sent to the State Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy, and his next of kin have been notified. 

ORIGINAL: On 09/08/2025 at approximately 1921 hours, Troopers took a report of a missing person in the Glennallen area. Carl Degross, 33, of Anchorage, was reported to have gone fishing in Valdez and had not returned to his home in Anchorage. Degross was last seen leaving HUB of Alaska at 09/07/2025 at approximately 2300 hours, and traveling toward Palmer. Degross has not been located at of 9/9/2025

Posted on 9/9/2025 5:12:57 PM by DPS\jbchroniger . Edited on 9/19/2025 9:17:48 AM by DPS\ajmcdaniel