17-year-old found dead in woods three days after fleeing party, Alaska officials say

A missing teen was found dead in the woods after fleeing a party three days earlier, Alaska officials said.

Talen Luth-Ney, 17, was at a party in Fairbanks on Sept. 3 with his friends when he “freaked out” and “ran straight into the woods” after being told cops were coming, according to a Sept. 7 release from the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

One of Luth-Ney’s friends called troopers after no one had heard from him in five hours, officials said.

Troopers searched the ground and a helicopter searched from the air, officials said.

On Sept. 6, a volunteer search team found Luth-Ney in a “small pond in a gravel pit,” troopers said.

Luth-Ney’s body was sent to the state Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of death, the release said.

Troopers said the investigation is ongoing.