The identity of a body found in Lake Laberge last Sunday has been confirmed to be Robert 'Robbie' Arthur King.

The 52-year-old resident of Whitehorse was first reported missing to police on June 20, and was last seen June 15.

King's partially-submerged body was found by recreational kayakers in Lake Laberge late last Sunday afternoon. The kayakers contacted the RCMP and provided them with GPS co-ordinates.

The body was sent to Vancouver on Tuesday. The preliminary autopsy conducted Wednesday ruled out foul play as the body did not sustain any trauma, injury, or broken bones.

King accompanied a group of friends to Johnson's Crossing on June 15 to assist with a canoe trip. He was last seen when he left his friends to drive one of the vehicles back into Whitehorse.

The vehicle was reported to police on June 22 and found abandoned in a parking lot off Second Avenue near Kishwoot Island.

At the time of his disappearance, investigating RCMP said family members and friends had not noticed anything out of the ordinary about King's behaviour prior to his disappearance.

David Hedmann and his wife, Cindy McNeil, had known King for close to 15 years. While they hadn't seen him recently, Hedmann said today his death strikes them as strange.

They had heard King was planning an upcoming fishing trip with his father in Prince Rupert, B.C., and that he had also just received confirmation from the territorial workers' compensation board that a lengthy settlement battle had finally drawn to a close.

'All in all, he did not sound like a guy who would be jumping into the Yukon River,' Hedmann said. 'I hope that before they close the book on this one, they talk to a few more people who knew Robbie.'

King was the president of the Injured Workers Alliance in the Yukon, which advocated for fair and just treatment for persons injured on the job.

Also well-known locally for his curling prowess, King was the skipper for the Ross Sheppard High School's curling club when he lived in Edmonton. He led the team to a provincial championship in 1973-74, and they went on to win the Canadian Junior National title the same year.

They attended the 1974 world championships as well but did not win.

Dawn Cowan (nee Nolan) remembers King as a skilled player and mentor who helped coach her and other members of the Yukon's junior team that went to the nationals in 1988 and again in 1989.

'He helped our team,' Cowan remembered in an interview today. 'He knew what he was talking about.

'It was kind of before the no-backswing delivery and he tried to give us the best technique that he knew to teach at the time,' she said.

Cowan remembers how at the 1989 Canadian championship she shared the top curling percentage with one other junior.

'He was pretty proud of that,' she said fondly. 'He never came with us, but he kept track of what was going on.'

King also assisted with the boys' junior program during the 1980s, an era that included Chad Cowan, Dawn's husband and a two-time skip for the Yukon's team at the Canadian Brier.

King also skipped the territory's mixed team to gold at the 1990 Arctic Winter Games in Yellowknife, a team which included Dawn, Chad and Michle Cowan the last Games that permitted adult curling teams.

'Ever since the curling days when he had to quit because of his accident, he's always kept in touch,' Dawn said.

She said he would follow the success of Chad and the Yukon's team at the Brier and would call Chad regularly.

'He talked to Chad all the time, and he bought the babies gifts when they were born.'

The RCMP's Whitehorse detachment and the coroner's office continue to investigate the matter.