Fred Mayac lays in a hospital bed on a ventilator, unable to speak or explain what happened to him one recent summer evening in South Anchorage.

Mayac, 50, is an ivory carver whose family is from King Island, a remote island in the Bering Sea in Western Alaska. A passerby found him bloody and unconscious on a private driveway surrounded by an estuary park on June 8. The person called 911 at 9:11 p.m., according to police.

The official story, as told by Anchorage authorities, has changed again and again. At first it appeared Mayac had been knifed, but workers at the hospital then determined he was attacked by an animal, possibly a bear, police said. Then Fish and Game officials said it was more likely a moose.

Some friends, family members and co-workers of Mayac aren't so sure. They say Mayac’s injuries do not appear consistent with a moose stomping and wonder if Mayac was instead a victim of foul play.

On the day he was wounded, late in the afternoon, Mayac had phoned his boss to say he had received a threatening phone call from someone purporting to be a probation officer. The man said Mayac owed money and he was going to come over to collect it.

“He was pretty nervous about it. His voice was trembling,” said Wayne Johnson, owner of Arctic Bed and Breakfast.

A tall man with shoulder-length brown hair and a large nose showed up at Mayac’s room at Arctic Bed and Breakfast about 7 p.m. that evening, about two hours before Mayac was found hurt, said Robert Jones, maintenance manager of the Spenard property. Mayac worked as there as a night manager.

Jones said the man told Mayac to leave with him. As the two left the building, Jones said he saw the tall man grab Mayac by the back of his shirt and lead him to an “old red beater” of a car parked down the street.

“He grabbed him as if to keep him from running,” said Jones.

Mayac is a registered sex offender but he’s been off probation since 2012, according to the Department of Corrections. A probation officer would not contact someone about owing money nor try to collect it, said DOC spokesman Corey Allen-Young.

“Whoever did this was not following any DOC protocol,” said Allen-Young.

“Something went wrong here,” said Flossie Spencer, who lives and does housekeeping at Arctic Bed and Breakfast.

Spencer has visited Mayac several times in the hospital. She’s disturbed about what happened to her co-worker and wants answers.

“There are no bruises on his body. You would think if he was stomped there would be bruises. The cuts are clean, like a knife,” said Spencer, sitting outside on a deck at the bed and breakfast.

Mayac’s niece and another woman were with the ivory carver when the unidentified man showed up at his room. They could not be reached for comment. But Spencer, Jones and Mayac’s cousin, who asked not to be named, say the niece fears that the man will return and try to harm her. She’s left Anchorage and flown to a Western Alaska village to fish and seek safety.

“The family is fearful for their safety,” Spencer said.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game investigated the scene the morning after Mayac was found. Biologists and a wildlife physiologist concluded Mayac was stomped by a moose based on hair and tracks left at the scene. They also reviewed Mayac’s injuries in person and heard from Anchorage police officers who had seen an agitated young moose near the spot were Mayac was discovered.

A Fish and Game spokesman said the department is confident Mayac’s injuries were caused by a moose.

“Certainly moose hooves are capable of inflicting wounds that look like a knife,” said Ken Marsh, a Fish and Game spokesman.

Marsh noted that hospital staff who treated Mayac said a single hair, not of his own,was found on their patient. They asked Fish and Game if biologists could tell if it came from a moose.

"We determined that the hair did not come from a moose," Marsh said.

The case has been a spellbinder from the start, even before reports surfaced of a man apparently taking Mayac away just hours before the attack.

Police initially responded to the scene near Edinburgh and Selkirk Drives thinking Mayac was stabbed. The 911 caller told them the victim “looked like he may have been cut with a knife,” according to a police dispatch.

After being taken from the wooded scene near Campbell Creek Estuary Natural Area, Mayac arrived at Providence Alaska Medical Center in critical condition. Medical staff who examined and treated Mayac told police it was more likely he was attacked by a bear than stabbed. Anchorage police turned the case over to Fish and Game.

As Fish and Game investigated the scene the next morning, they took a call from someone in the area reporting a black bear that appeared to show no fear. Biologists killed the bear in the interest of public safety.

But they never found clues pointing to a bear attack. All the evidence suggested it was the work of a moose, Marsh said. The biologists are working on a written report about the incident which should be available in about two weeks. It should answer any lingering questions about what happened to Mayac, Marsh said.

The police report does not mention any moose hair being found on Mayac, said spokeswoman Anita Shell.

Neither Dave Battle nor Sean Farley, the two Fish and Game employees who are writing the upcoming report, were available to comment.

Meanwhile, Mayac’s second-story room at Arctic Bed and Breakfast remains exactly as he left it. Artwork, photos and a New England Patriots towel cover the walls next to Mayac’s unmade bed. A blue tarp and a sleeping bag lie at the bottom.

Johnson, the bed and breakfast owner, said he visited Mayac Wednesday morning at the hospital. His eyes were open and he squeezed Johnson’s hand, seemingly recognizing him.

“The swelling on his head has gone down. They told me he’s doing better,” Johnson said.

Johnson said he’s holding onto Mayac’s room for him for the time being. He hopes his injured night manager will eventually improve enough to return to work.