Unharmed baby found with 2 dead parents in Alaska

[December 20, 2011]  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A man and woman were found dead with their unharmed baby in a remote western Alaska village when worried relatives went to check on them, family members said Monday.

State troopers were investigating the deaths of Jonathan Paul, 29, and Gina Martin, 26. The couple's 1-year-old daughter, Deann, is staying with Martin's family.

Troopers have not said how the couple died at their home in Kipnuk, a Yupik Eskimo community of 640 people. Even relatives said they haven't been told.

"Nobody knows what happened," said Gina Martin's sister, Patricia Martin. "Just pray for us."

Patricia Martin said she and her mother found the bodies when they went to the couple's home late Saturday night after not hearing from Gina Martin all day.

The door was locked, so Patricia Martin broke in with a butter knife, she said. She couldn't tell what caused the deaths.

"I just took the baby and left," she said.

Her mother, Dolly Martin, called a tribal police officer, who notified troopers.

Kipnuk is located near the coast of the Bering Sea, about 475 miles west of Anchorage.

Many in the community rely on a subsistence lifestyle, and trapping brings income as well. Most jobs, such as commercial fishing and construction, are seasonal, according to a state community database.

[Associated Press; By RACHEL D'ORO]

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