Two Alaska teenagers reported missing from their homes hours earlier were discovered dead from gunshot wounds in a wooded area near their middle school Monday afternoon.
Leotis Phillips, 16, was reported missing from his home at 5:52 a.m., while Zoey Clark, 16, was reported missing from her house at 8:49 a.m., according to the Juneau Police Department. The teens’ bodies were found in a wooded area near Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School off Glacier Highway in Juneau just before 2:30 p.m.
Police had initially advised that the couple was believed to have a firearm with them, though they did not disclose where the minors obtained the weapon. The teens’ bodies were sent to Anchorage for an autopsy by the Alaska State Medical Examiner’s Office.
Officials have not yet ruled on the cause or manner of deaths, but family members and loved ones have described the incident as an apparent double suicide.
Phillips’ grandmother, Bobbiebo Johnson, expressed her devastation in a Facebook post.
“In a million years I never thought id be writing my oldest handsome grandson Leo obituary….its wrong…someone else should be writing mine… me not writing my grandchildren,” she wrote.
Clark’s father, Zac Clark, wept as he spoke at a candlelight vigil held for the teens at the school’s campus.
“My life is never going to be complete anymore,” he said. “Parents just need to love their kids harder and stronger — that’s all I can say.”
He pressed for answers about what transpired in the woods. “There are still so many answers that a lot of us need, like what happened up there,” he continued. “If any forensics can say what happened, what truly happened.”
The vigil drew community members who remembered the pair as sweethearts who loved each other and their families. Clark’s cousin, Ariah Clark, spoke about the bond the teens shared.
“The happiest I saw him was with her,” she said at the vigil, according to KTOO. “Through all the things she’s been through, he’s been there. I believe they both were hurting, and that their last moments were peaceful.”
A GoFundMe established for Clark described her character and passions. “Zoey was smart, loving, and genuinely kind-hearted. She had a rough upbringing, but still helped others and cared deeply for the people around her. She loved art and drawing, and was a beautiful artist whose life touched many people,” the fundraiser read.
Phillips was described as an Alaskan native in police announcements. The pair’s deaths have left multiple families grappling with loss and searching for understanding about the circumstances that led two 16-year-olds to a wooded area with a firearm on a Monday morning.
The Juneau Police Department has not released additional details about the investigation or the source of the firearm.