Family of the woman whose body was found Wednesday off of Dowling road said she had been trying to turn her life around. Michelle Felber's body was found by a man passing through a wooded area north of Dowling Road Wednesday.
Family said the 24-year-old had been living in homeless camps and had problems with drinking in the past. They said she often ran with a bad crowd, but told her family she wanted to go back to school and leave her problems in the past.
Renee Felber says she still can't believe her older sister Michelle was found dead on Wednesday. “It's extremely surreal, it's heartbreaking,” said Renee Felber, “There are no words to describe it.”
Renee and her father are trying to remember the good times with Michelle before they say she found herself running with a bad crowd. It had been more than 2 months since Kenneth Felber had heard from his daughter Michelle, but he says that wasn't entirely unusual. He thought maybe she was in jail.
“I called and they said she hadn't been in jail since June and I'm like, right there, she's missing. Something’s up,” said Kenneth Felber.
That's when he reported her missing on Monday. He started talking to other family members about what could've happened. Then while watching the news Wednesday night, he knew...
"I pretty much knew it. Pretty much knew it. When somebody goes missing and then there's remains found you kind of have an idea," said Kenneth.
Both Kenneth and Renee say Michelle had aspirations to get out of homeless camps and start a new life for herself.
"She was generally happy. Kind of getting beat down in life by everybody that was trying to take advantage of her. She's always trying to escape that and get back on track, escape that and get back on focus with life,” said Kenneth Felber.
“Now she's gone and she may have been around bad people or bad things but she didn't deserve to die because of it,” said Renee Felber.
Kenneth says police and the medical examiner haven't given them much information about her death, but he believes foul play was involved. Anchorage Police have not released a cause of death.
Contact Mallory Peebles
