Friend concerned for Alaska man Tony Kronos, who vanished in March: 'Where's Tony?'

NBC News

3 hours ago

'Where's Tony?'
It's a question Asa Chandler hasn't stopped asking since he heard his old friend Tony Kronos was missing.
The 40-year-old was last seen at his residence in the 1600 block of Eleonora Street in Eagle River, Alaska, on March 6, 2025.
That was three months ago — and the people in Tony's circle haven't stopped pushing for answers since.
Asa Chandler met Tony when they were teenagers. Back then, before he legally changed his name to Tony Kronos, Asa knew him as Josh Kronbach. They grew up in Eagle River — about 20 minutes north of Anchorage. 'I think it's around 50,000 people live here in Eagle River,' Asa said. 'So it's not like that small of a town, but you also quite often run into people that you went to school with.'
'He was always a small, little goofball,' Asa said. 'One of the things we'd all do is go out even further north than where we live to a big sand dunes recreational area by a river and have bonfire parties.'
As they got older, Tony got into bodybuilding. 'He was, I think, in 2015, named Mr. Alaska,' Asa said. 'So he went from being a real small guy to being real buff.'
'It was a transformation,' Asa said. When Tony wasn't working out, he was working as a longshoreman. 'Basically loading the ships with cars and whatever is, you know, coming in and going out of Alaska.' According to Asa, Tony had recently purchased property in Hawaii and was planning on moving there.
Asa would never have imagined hearing the news that his old friend Tony was missing.
But in March 2025, that's what happened. Asa says he saw a Facebook post by a mutual friend asking if anybody had seen or heard from Tony. No one had. 'And then I saw a few other people posted about it over the next couple days,' he said.
Asa told Dateline what he and Tony's other friends were able to put together about the day Tony was last seen – Thursday, March 6. 'A neighbor saw him pull into his garage that last time that he was ever seen and he had been seen, you know, just before that at the Planet Fitness gym,' he said. Tony's two cars, keys, wallet, and phone were all located at his home, according to Asa.
'By the third week, some friends had organized a meet-up to pass out posters,' Asa said, adding that he showed up to that. 'From there, we all just started making our own efforts to find him.'
'I came up with 'Where's Tony?'' Asa said of the campaign to spread awareness about his friend. He made a video of the staff at a restaurant he frequents posing that question. 'I put that together, and then the next day, I had a bunch of people that wanted to be in on that. So they sent me videos of them saying 'Where's Tony?' and pretty soon it turned from like a 30-second video to two and a half minutes of all these people saying, 'Where's Tony?''
'We had a big fundraiser,' Asa said. 'So we raised somewhere between 15 and 20 thousand dollars. That's supposed to be reward money.'
Asa also reached out to Dateline about Tony's disappearance. He said he wondered if he was missing, would he want people out there pushing for him. 'I just started trying to put myself in his shoes, and hoping someday he will come back and know that some of the old friendships he had panned out — there were people who cared,' Asa said.
So Asa worked to bring greater attention to Tony's story. He says it was a major topic of discussion in town for the first couple of weeks after Tony vanished because friends and family were doing radio, TV, and local news interviews. Plus, missing person posters had been hung all around the community. 'But over the last month, it's kind of — kind of dropped off, you know, which – eventually that was probably bound to happen,' Asa said.
NBC affiliate KTUU is part of Alaska's News Source, which has been covering Tony's case since March. On April 9, they reported that the Anchorage Police Department and the FBI were searching a property located directly behind Tony's home. Alaska's News Source reported that online municipal property records showed that the home officers were searching is owned by an Anchorage police officer. On April 11, they reported that after three days of searching, officers left the residence. 'Police have not confirmed that activity at the duplex has anything to do with Kronos' disappearance,' reporter Lauren Maxwell wrote.
By the end of April, a lieutenant with the Anchorage Police Department sat down for an interview with Alaska's News Source. 'The detectives are working different angles on every piece of information that they've gathered,' Lieutenant Denielle Hrovat, of APD's Violent Crimes Unit, told Alaska's News Source. 'We are not releasing a lot of information, because that could hinder the furtherance of this case.' Hrovat would not comment on why that residence was searched for three days or what, if anything, was found.
Dateline reached out to Christopher Barraza, the Deputy Director of the Anchorage Police Department Community Relations Unit, to see if an officer would be available to discuss the case. Barraza told Dateline they are not doing interviews at this time and that 'this case is currently still being investigated.'
Barraza stated that the April press release on their website is the most recent update on Tony's case. 'At this time, there is no new information to release,' the release stated. 'However, we want to emphasize that our detectives, in partnership with the FBI, are working diligently and around the clock to bring Tony home.'
The release explained that investigations like this one take time. 'All evidence must be carefully analyzed, items must undergo forensic testing, surveillance footage is being reviewed, search warrants executed, and witnesses interviewed,' it stated. 'These steps are critical to ensuring a thorough and accurate investigation.'
The Anchorage Police Department ended the release by stating that their top priorities remain: 'the safe return of Tony and holding those responsible accountable.'
Tony is 5'9' and weighs about 185 lbs., with hazel eyes. He is 40 years old, has multiple tattoos on his chest and stomach, and has been known to dye his hair various bright colors.
The Anchorage Police Department encourages anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Tony Kronos to contact them on the dedicated tip line at 907-786-8999.