A 67-year-old Haines man found dead beneath a vehicle near Main Street Nov. 7 suffered heart disease, acute intoxication and hypothermia, according to acting Haines Borough Police Chief Josh Dryden.
“There’s nothing to make a case that it’s anything but an accident,” Dryden said. “No trauma contributed to his death.”
Dryden summarized the state coroner’s autopsy of Jay Proetto, a two-year resident whose body was discovered near an alley off Main Street between Third and Fourth avenues, about two blocks from his home. Dryden declined to release the coroner’s report but said Proetto’s blood alcohol was more than twice what’s considered legally drunk.
The coroner’s office also said that hypothermia likely contributed to Proetto’s death. The office reported that Proetto suffered from an enlarged heart, coronary heart disease and pulmonary edema.
Proetto had been seen at two local bars the night before his body was discovered, Dryden said. His wallet and a green backpack are missing. A brimmed hat with earflaps he was known to wear was discovered in the alley, but closer to town. A water bottle also was found nearby, although it’s not clear it was Proetto’s, Dryden said.
Dryden said it’s not known why Proetto’s body came to be under the truck. The truck is located across a wide drainage ditch that separates the alley — where Proetto is thought to have been walking — from a Main Street property. A set of his keys was found on a nearby creosote block, according to a resident who discovered his body.
A retired park ranger, Proetto moved to Haines in July 2014 and worked as a volunteer at the Haines Animal Rescue Kennel and Southeast Alaska State Fair, and as a bear monitor for Alaska Chilkoot Bear Foundation. He was a member of the American Legion.
Proetto worked about nine years as an interpretive ranger in Skagway’s Klondike National Historic Park and at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Preserve in New Mexico and at Great Basin National Park. He had lived in Sitka before moving to Skagway, friends said.
A memorial was held at the American Legion in December.