Body of cruise ship passenger missing since Tuesday found below ridgeline on Mount Roberts
- Mark Sabbatini
- Jul 3, 2025
- 1 min read
Marites Buenafe, 62, never returned to ship after telling family she was going hiking
A woman who arrived in Juneau aboard a cruise ship Tuesday and vanished after telling her family she was going hiking was found dead at midday Thursday below a ridgeline on Mount Roberts, according to an Alaska State Troopers news release.
Marites Buenafe, 62, a passenger aboard the Norwegian Bliss, told her family about her hiking plans at about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to a bulletin issued at midday Wednesday by the Juneau Police Department. She was reported to be hiking alone.
Rescuers with AST, Juneau Mountain Rescue, and other agencies conducted ground and air searches for her after she failed to return to the ship by its 1:30 p.m. Tuesday scheduled departure.
"On July 3, 2025, at 11:56 am, an Alaska Army National Guard helicopter crew located Marites’ body approximately 1,700 feet below the ridge line of Gold Ridge," the AST news release issued Thursday states. "Troopers and Juneau Mountain Rescue were able to recover her body with the assistance of Temsco Helicopters and the National Guard. Her next of kin have been notified, and her body will be sent to the state medical examiner's office for autopsy."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
