Anchorage police search for missing Alaska Army National Guardsman

Update, Friday morning:

Anchorage police have arrested Saria Hildabrand’s husband, Zarrius Hildabrand, and charged him with murder. Read more here.

Original story:

Anchorage police are looking for a 21-year-old Alaska Army National Guardsman missing from her Midtown home, as loved ones join soldiers and officers in a search expanding across the city.

Police said Spc. Saria Barney Hildabrand was last seen Sunday near the 5200 block of Mockingbird Drive, off Brayton Drive between Dowling and East Tudor roads. She was reported missing the next day.

Since then, several family members from the Lower 48 have flown to Alaska to help scour nearby trails and parks, and hang posters.

“We immediately left to come here,” said Hildabrand’s aunt, Brittany Monson said. “Her mom is from Utah, and I live in Las Vegas. So we simply got on the quickest flight we could up here so that we could start helping with the process.”

Hildabrand moved to Alaska at the beginning of the year. She joined the Guard in March, and currently serves as a combat medic with the 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment. She also works at Bread & Brew Alaska, a restaurant on East Tudor, not far from her home.

Hildabrand’s husband, an Army soldier, was the last person to see her Sunday morning, said Monson. She left home to walk to work at the restaurant. A GoFundMe set up for the search says Hildabrand never returned home from work, and then her husband learned she had never arrived at the restaurant that morning either. He reported her missing Monday.

Hildabrand’s phone was found at her home, which Monson said was unusual for her.

“She was a super in-touch and communicative person, so it does seem a little out of the ordinary,” Monson said.

Monson said police haven’t mentioned any concerns about Hildabrand’s disappearance involving foul play. Police said in an alert that its Crime Scene Team had responded to Mockingbird Drive Wednesday afternoon for an “ongoing investigation,” but declined to comment further.

According to Monson, police have been joined by searchers from the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division. Initial efforts have focused on the walking path north from Hildabrand’s home to Bread & Brew, with a Thursday search at the University Lake dog park which she frequented.

Monson said finding Hildabrand, who planned to sign up for college courses this fall on her way to a career in medicine, is crucial to her loved ones.

“We have a lot of family up here already willing to disperse information and participate in the search to find her,” Monson said. “She’s a really important person to us, and we’ve definitely made it our top priority.”

Police describe Hildabrand as standing 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing 160 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes. She was last seen wearing a T-shirt, jeans and shoes, all in black, and carrying a purse. Anyone who sees her is asked to call APD at 311.