Chynelle Lockwood was ready to embark on a new chapter in her life during the summer of 2017. At the time, the 19-year-old lived in a small village in Alaska called St. Michael. Chynelle, known as "Pretty" by her loved ones, had lived in that small village her whole life. She had just graduated from high school in May of 2017 and planned to move to Anchorage to study at University of Alaska in August. Unfortunately, before she was able to move on to this new phase in life, Chynelle's life was taken.
Chynelle was last seen alive by her loved ones on July 10th, 2017. She had spent the early evening with her uncle; the two road ATVs together and then ate dinner. Afterwards, Chynelle told her uncle she was going for a walk along the beach - something she did almost every evening. This time, though, Chynelle never returned home.
The following day, a body was found face down on the beach in St. Michael - located nearby Chynelle's family's home. Police in the village contacted the Alaska State Troopers, and the investigators began working together to piece together what had happened. The State Medical Examiner's officer soon determined that the body was that of Chynelle Lockwood.
An investigation into Chynelle's death was immediately launched. Unfortunately, the case remains unsolved to this day. There are also many unanswered questions that have arisen throughout the investigation. These unanswered questions have led to several rumors and theories about Chynelle's case.
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Limited information, rumors and a pregnancy.
In the early stages of the investigation, it appears that very little was shared with the family and the public about Chynelle's death. In September 2017, Chynelle's mother told reporters that she still did not know if her daughter's death was being investigated as a homicide, suicide, or accident. The family did learn, however, that Chynelle had been pregnant - a fact they did not know prior to her death.
Around the same time, social media rumors began to swirl about the case as well. According to a September 2017 article, "the names of a half-dozen young adults and teenagers from Stebbins, a village about 13 miles away, have been repeated in publicly shared social media posts as being the last people to see [Chynelle]." To this day, none of these individuals have ever been charged with anything related to Chynelle's death.
Years passed without any publicly confirmed information about Chynelle's death investigation. In 2019, family members stated that they believed Chynelle had been murdered; that she had been beaten and possibly strangled. While investigators never corroborated this, circulating social media rumors about Chynelle being murdered remained strong as well.
A homicide with very little answers.
By 2021, the Alaska State Troopers finally confirmed that they have been investigating Chynelle's death as a homicide. They also stated that they turned the case over to prosecutors. However, no additional details were released at that time.
In 2023, a report on Chynelle's case stated that Chynelle's death was due to "drowning of undetermined etiology due to submersion in ocean water under unknown circumstances." It appears that this was confirmed years earlier via autopsy, but this was the first time that this statement had been made to the public. In the same report, it was stated that investigators generally consider Chynelle's death to be homicide, but the exact manner of her death has never been determined.
Unanswered questions and theories.
Although there a few more details available about Chynelle's case today than there were in 2017, there is still an abundance of unknown information. The lack of confirmed facts has left room for many rumors and theories to emerge.
As noted above, several individuals were named in social media posts as the last people to have seen Chynelle before her death. There have been inevitable rumors of one or more of these individuals being responsible for Chynelle's death. There have also been rumors about drugs and/or alcohol playing a role. None of these rumors have been confirmed, nor has any person ever been publicly labeled as a person of interest or suspect.
Additionally, very little has been said about the fact that Chynelle was pregnant at the time of her death. Information about the child's father remains unknown. Due to the fact that her family was unaware that she was pregnant, it's safe to assume that she was not very far long at the time. It's unknown if anyone else knew that Chynelle was pregnant prior to her death, but if she did disclose her pregnancy to anyone, it's possible that this was a motive for her death.
It's worth noting again that none of these theories have been confirmed by investigators. Various rumors and theories have continued to arise on social media, but very little has been publicly confirmed about the investigation.
An ongoing epidemic of violence against indigenous women.
Chynelle's case is one of many cases involving a missing and/or murdered indigenous woman that remains unsolved. Violence towards indigenous women, and a lack of action to convict those responsible, has been a widespread issue amongst indigenous people throughout the country. In recent years, this has been more prevalent in Alaska.
A 2024 report on this issue states that "Alaska Natives comprise only 20% of the state’s population, but Alaska Native women represent 54% of Alaska’s sexual assault victims. Compared to all other women in the U.S., Alaska Native women are ten times more likely to experience domestic violence." The information regarding these studies and statistics can be found here.
An unsolved case.
By 2025, Chynelle's case was listed as an unsolved homicide by the Alaska State Police. The case remains on that unsolved list to this day. Chynelle's loved ones have not given up their fight for answers.
If you have any information that could help solve the case of Chynelle "Pretty" Lockwood, please contact the Alaska Bureau of Investigation (ABI) at 907-269-5611 or submit a tip online.
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