Alaska State Troopers had been trying to identify who Chris McCandless was for a week by the time The New York Times published an article about him in 1992. Jim Gallien, the man who gave McCandless a ride to the trailhead, saw an article in the Anchorage Daily News and called the Alaskan State Troopers. The trooper who answered was skeptical that Gallien knew McCandless, but Gallien identified McCandless in police photos.

Wayne Westerberg heard about McCandless’s death over the radio while working in North Dakota. Westerberg called the Alaska State Troopers to tell them what he could about McCandless. Once again, the cops were skeptical at first, but Westerberg provided them with Social Security information that helped authorities reach McCandless’s family. Chris McCandless’s older brother Sam received a call from authorities after he read an article about the death of a hiker in The Washington Post. He was brought into the Fairfax County Police Department and shown a photograph of his brother. Sam confirmed that the dead hiker was Chris McCandless and drove to his parents’ home to tell them the news.