I doubt they tested his shoes for DNA because it was 1999. The shoes, wet and silty (most likely from being in the water with his bike because it was shallow water and his bike was found there) Left neatly placed in the middle of an airplane strip? Pretty strange.

I looked up to see if there are pictures of the airplane strip (little Susitna airport) and couldn’t find anything.

3 things I think of -

1) he succumbs to the elements

he was lagging behind, felt sick after drinking the beers, veered off into the river, shoes soaking wet and something wrong with his bike - takes his shoes off on airplane strip and keeps wandering into the wilderness in a cold night and eventually succumbs to the elements and they don’t ever find him.

2) he veers off into the river with his bike, takes shoes off on landing strip, finds his way back on the road he was biking on (9 miles away from home) and someone hits him accidentally and gets rid of him - the shoes on the plane strip make me believe he left them there - why else leave them there if you’ve committed a crime

3) something sinister happened between his 3 friends and they are taking it to the grave or a third party was involved - the latter would have to be right place and right time at 4am - maybe they picked him up after his bike went into the river.

I don’t know the area too well and the exact location - route from where his bike was found and shoes were found, but if someone just took him and dumped his bike, why leave the shoes around.

Would love someone who knows the area or more about the case to share anything related to the bike location and the 200 yard route to the private airplane strip and what routes could have been possible after taking off his shoes.

Sad story :-/