She Was Only 19 — Then Her Body Was Found on a Remote Alaskan Beach. Her Family Is Still Waiting for Answers.
In the summer of 2017, Chynelle “Pretty” Lockwood had every reason to be excited about what came next. She had turned 19 in April, graduated high school in May, and was set to start at the University of Alaska Anchorage that August, drawn to the medical field after helping care for her grandmother. She was the oldest girl among eight siblings, and though her nickname was “Pretty,” her mother Yvonne remembered her as a tomboy who took care of herself and was close with the whole family.
Chynelle’s best friend since childhood was a young man named Mitch Shelikoff — the two had grown up as neighbors in St. Michael and were “basically together” every day, often going on walks together. Mitch had been out of the village for a couple of days on an appointment in Nome and hadn’t seen Chynelle since July 9.
The last walk
On the evening of July 10, 2017, Chynelle told her mother, who lived in Anchorage, that she was heading out for a walk toward an area called Russian Gardens. Yvonne, worried about wildlife, told her daughter not to go alone — Chynelle said she’d call when she got back. She never did.
Mitch returned to St. Michael the next day, July 11, expecting to meet up with Chynelle for their usual walk. Instead, people kept asking him where she was — which struck him as strange, since he’d only just gotten back into town. Not long after, word spread that a body had been found on the beach.
How the family found out
Yvonne was getting ready for bed in Anchorage when her younger sister called and asked what she was doing. When Yvonne answered, her sister said simply, “Pretty’s dead.” Yvonne didn’t believe her and hung up, then tried calling Chynelle directly — the call went straight to voicemail. She called a health-aide on-call line and reached her niece, who began crying and told her to call the police department. When she did, an officer handed the phone to her own son, who was already at the station. He broke down and told her, “You can’t [talk to her], Mom. She’s dead.”
Mitch learned the news soon after and went straight to comfort Chynelle’s sisters — the whole group crying together.
The investigation
Alaska State Troopers were notified around 6:30 p.m. on July 11 after a community member found the body on the beach and called it in; troopers responded along with a village public safety officer and village police officer. The State Medical Examiner’s Office positively identified the remains as Chynelle’s.
For years, almost nothing was made public. Two months after her death, her mother still didn’t know whether troopers were even treating the case as a homicide, an accident, or a suicide — only rumors were circulating in St. Michael and neighboring Stebbins about who Chynelle had been with that night. Though troopers never disclosed a cause of death publicly at the time, bruising on her face and a missing chunk of her hair led the family to suspect she had been killed. Her grandfather, Chuck Lockwood, spent years afterward pushing for accountability, determined that her case not be lost among the many unresolved deaths of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
It took until 2021 for troopers to publicly confirm they were investigating Chynelle’s death as a homicide. Then, years later, more details finally emerged: the medical examiner’s office had determined her cause of death was “drowning of undetermined etiology due to submersion in ocean water under unknown circumstances” — and while officials considered her death a homicide, the manner of death remained formally undetermined.
A suspect — but no charges
Perhaps the most striking revelation came from troopers themselves: DNA was collected at the scene but was found by two separate labs to be insufficient for analysis. Troopers said 75 people were interviewed over the course of the investigation, and that a member of the community was in fact identified as a suspect.
That finding was sent to the Alaska Department of Law — which declined to prosecute. Troopers stated there were no further investigative measures available to increase the likelihood of prosecution, and the case has since been closed on their end. The Department of Law confirmed it had thoroughly reviewed the investigation and determined there was insufficient evidence to file charges at this time — though it noted it would reconsider if new evidence ever emerged.
Still waiting
Yvonne Lockwood says pursuing answers for her daughter feels like shouting into a void. “I’m knocking on the door, but nobody’s answering,” she told Dateline. Mitch Shelikoff says he still prays for justice for his best friend every night before he sleeps.
Chynelle’s case remains listed among Alaska’s unresolved homicides to this day.
💔 A young woman with her whole future ahead of her. A family still knocking on a door no one answers. A community that hasn’t forgotten.
Someone knows what happened to Chynelle.
If you have information, please contact Alaska State Troopers at 907-269-5511.
🕯️ Remember Chynelle “Pretty” Lockwood.
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