Anchorage woman missing after Turnagain walk found safe

Update, Tuesday 9:30 a.m.: Anchorage police said in an update Tuesday on Faith Rasmussen’s missing-persons bulletin that she has been found.

APD spokeswoman Renee Oistad declined to provide further details on the circumstances Tuesday.

Rasmussen’s spouse, Ingrid Rasmussen, confirmed in a Facebook update to a post about the search that Faith had been found safe.

Original story:

An Anchorage woman has been missing for a week from the city’s Turnagain neighborhood, as police and her family look for her.

Faith Rasmussen was last seen Oct. 5 near her home in the 3600 block of Carleton Avenue, near Turnagain Elementary School, according to police, who declined to answer questions about the case as it remains an active investigation.

Ingrid Rasmussen, Faith’s spouse, said Faith is transgender. She carries identification bearing her name at birth, Matthew.

Faith lives with Ingrid and her sister. She also likes to take long walks, but Ingrid said she didn’t return from her walk last Wednesday.

“The last time we saw her was on Wednesday,” Rasmussen said. “And then – and then we realized she hadn’t been back. She’s never not come home from one of her walks like, overnight. So we contacted APD Thursday that she was missing.”

Ingrid described Faith as a free spirit.

“Oh, she’s really sweet – she’s really funny,” Rasmussen said. “She’s a smart person, loves to draw art and things like that, huge music lover. Like I said, she’ll just walk for hours listening to her music. I think she had her shoulder bag with her and sometimes that’s her sketchbook.”]

An Anchorage Police Department Facebook post about Faith on Tuesday – which referred to her as both “Faith” and “Matthew” – drew more than 230 comments, some accusing police of “deadnaming” her by including her given name. Other commenters deliberately misgendered Faith.

Police spokesperson Cherie Zajdzinski said details given to investigators by Faith’s family “prompted them to ask for the public’s assistance” in Tuesday’s post. She said staff monitor comments on the police department’s Facebook posts, but “we do not have the capabilities to monitor 24/7.” Police can delete comments in accordance with the municipality’s social media policy.

Ingrid said Faith sometimes uses “they” pronouns and her given name. She said APD has done well in terms of language regarding Faith.

Faith’s family will meet at 11 a.m. Saturday at Turnagain Elementary to walk two routes Faith may have taken.

Police said Faith stands 6 feet, 1 inch tall, weighs 230 pounds and has black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a fuzzy white coat with black hearts on it and red shoes. Anyone in Anchorage with information on her whereabouts is asked to call police at 311.