Paul Michael Lemaitre

Status:

Open

Missing From:

Seward, Alaska

Summary:

Michael Paul LeMaitre, a 66-year-old businessman and grandfather from Anchorage, went missing on July 4, 2012, while competing in the Mount Marathon footrace in Seward, Alaska. He was running the race for the first time on an especially rainy, foggy and slick day, and was last seen climbing just shy of the race's turnaround point at an elevation of about 3,000 feet. An extensive search turned up nothing.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

The race's second wave, including LeMaitre, started at 3:15 pm. At around 5:45 pm on the race day, Tom Walsh, a race steward, saw Michael ascending to the turnaround point with about 200 feet to go. At this point, the area was getting foggy and cold. Walsh asked LeMaitre for his bib number, and he replied, "Five-four-eight." As he descended back towards the town, he texted race officials: Bib number 548 would be home in about an hour and a half. By 6:30 that evening, more than four hours after the start of a race that takes most people less than two hours to complete, LeMaitre's wife, Peggy, was worried. Race officials told her to be patient, but to notify them if Michael hadn't shown by 8 p.m. By 9 p.m. the first of several searches were being organized. Volunteers manning the halfway turnaround in 2012 left their positions before Michael -- the last runner in the race -- reached that point. It is widely believed he eventually reached the turnaround rock, which is well short of the summit of Mount Marathon.

Additional Details:

By 2 am, an Alaska State Troopers' helicopter equipped with infrared radar was scanning the mountain. The following day, July 5, the 210th Rescue Squadron of the Alaska Air National Guard arrived with its HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter for another infrared scan. A team of up to 60 searchers scoured the mountain, looking everywhere, even the other side, away from the race course. On July 7, a Saturday, the Alaska State Troopers terminated the official search, but volunteers kept looking. The Seward Fire Department stepped in to coordinate search efforts. Dozens of people, possibly hundreds, went to Seward to help look for LeMaitre on the weekend after the troopers gave up. All of them, too, came up empty handed. Mountain rescue experts, firemen, state troopers, search dogs, and LeMaitre's family spent thousands of hours searching the area without a single clue being found. Even after the official search was called off in mid-July, volunteers continued to search the mountain, including LeMaire's daughter Mary Anne, saying, "Seward has so much meaning to my dad, so here he is, looking out. He's on Mount Marathon somewhere." He was officially declared dead in August 2012 after a presumptive death hearing. The widow of Seward Mount Marathon runner Michael LeMaitre and the Seward Chamber of Commerce have settled a lawsuit over his 2012 disappearance for $20,000. New rules were instituted, including one that says runners now must sign a pledge saying they've completed the roughly 3-mile race course at least once prior to race day. Participants who don't make it a halfway-point within one hour are disqualified, and race sweepers now follow the last runner to the top of the mountain and back down. Though declared legally dead for about nine years, LeMaitre is still considered a missing person by Alaska State Troopers. Being declared dead by the court system doesn't remove someone from the state missing persons clearinghouse.

Case Last Updated:

Sep 18, 2026