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Most people understand they face the risk of encountering wild animals when they enter the woods in Alaska, but they do not expect someone to shoot them. When a series of murders occurred in parks and on trails near Anchorage in the summer of 2016, residents demanded more information from the police. Were the murders related to each other? Was a serial killer stalking the city? Was it safe to go hiking after dark? And what were the police doing to solve these murders? Police remained tight-lipped, and tensions rose. Sources Hopkins, Kyle. Dec. 30, 2016. TIMELINE: The life of accused killer James Dale Ritchie. KTUU  News. Hopkins, Kyle. April 26, 2017. Serial killer: Police say James Dale Ritchie committed 5 murders in 2016. KTUU News James D. Ritchie. Murderpedia. James Dale Ritchie: A Serial Killer Caught By Chance. The Lineup. __________________________ Join the Readers and Writers Book Club for a Spring Fling Facebook Event and Explore the Haunted Harding House: April 15 - 29 Take a tr

When testifying at his trial, Teddy Kyle Smith said he thought he was shooting Enukins in self-defense when he fired his rifle at Chuck and Paul Buckel. Few believed him, but his testimony highlighted the inequalities of jury selection in rural Alaska. Sources My primary source for this article was the Audible Original production of Midnight Son by James Dommek Jr. I highly recommend this three-hour audiobook. James Dommek Jr. does a fantastic job of telling this story from the viewpoint of a Native man from northwestern Alaska. It is a first-class production and a thought-provoking story. Anderson, Ben. “Kiana man found guilty of attempted murder in remote Alaska.” November 26, 2014. Anchorage Daily News. Demer, Lisa. “Troopers hunt for resident of Kiana – Teddy K. Smith should be considered armed and dangerous.” September 11, 2012. Anchorage Daily News. Dommek, James Jr. Midnight Son. 2019. Audible Original. D’Oro, Rachel. Alaska actor arrested, charged in shooting of 2 men near Ki

Mechele Hughes-Linehan When a beautiful, intelligent, young woman pitted her three fiancés against each other, someone would die. Sources Brennan, Tom. 2015. Dead Man’s Dancer. Epicenter Press. Kent https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Mans-Dancer-Mechele-Linehan/dp/1935347160/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Dead+Man%27s+Dancer%2C+Tom+Brennan&qid=1591316098&s=books&sr=1-1 Mechele K. Linehan. Murderpedia. https://murderpedia.org/female.L/l/linehan-mechele.htm   Former Olympia mom wins appeal in Alaska murder case. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/former-olympia-mom-wins-appeal-in-alaska-murder-case/   John Carlin III Love and Death in Alaska. 48 Hours. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-presents-love-and-death-in-alaska-leppink-murder/   Holland, Megan. 5-15-2010. Freed from prison, Linehan sets up a new life. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. http://www.newsminer.com/news/alaska_news/freed-from-prison-linehan-sets-up-a-new-life/article_50e3b67c-53e4-50cf-

Alaska has spawned a long list of serial killers from the gold rush era in the early 1900s to the present day. Is Brian Steven Smith the latest member of this notorious fraternity? I did an episode on this case several months ago, but a great deal has happened with it since then. Smith’s first two murder cases have moved through the court system, and the police have released information suggesting he has more victims. Sources Batts, Amber. “Anchorage police ignored warnings, let Brian Steven Smith keep killing.” August 18, 2024. This is How We Rise. Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Anchorage jury sees horrific video evidence of woman’s slaying.” February 13, 2024. Anchorage Daily News. Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Are you guys in a rush?: Smith interrupted police interview to confess to second killing.” February 15, 2024. Anchorage Daily News. Boots, Michelle Theriault. “As Smith murder trial begins, a new explanation of how digital card showing killing got to police.” February 6, 20

Alaska’s slogan is the “Last Frontier.” To some people, this means Alaska is the Wild West, a place with less law and order where they can live as they choose. The man who called himself Papa Pilgrim believed moving his family to the wilderness of Alaska would offer him the opportunity to do anything he wanted. Papa Pilgrim was the worst kind of hypocrite because he hid his crimes behind his religious zeal. Like a charismatic cult leader, Pilgrim could appear charming and persuasive in public, but there was another side to him, and this was the side his family saw all too often. Sources Harden, Blaine. “A bulldozer runs through it.” September 28, 2003. Washington Post. Kirby, Mark. “Papa Pilgrim’s progress: The dark tale of an Alaskan frontiersman.” November 19, 2008. Outside magazine. Kizzia, Tom. Pilgrim’s Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier. 2013. New York: Crown Publisher. Kizzia, Tom. “Hale clan details abuse at the hand of their father, ‘

When a shooting at a precious metals and coin shop in Anchorage left three men dead, the two survivors claimed the other one was responsible. It took six years, two trials, and more than one thousand pieces of evidence for a jury to unravel the whodunnit and decide which survivor was a murderer and which was another victim. Sources “Anchorage man gets 300-year sentence for 2017 triple murder in gold shop.” May 24, 2024. Anchorage Daily News. Andrews, Lisa Demer Laurel. “With 35 homicides in 2017, Anchorage set a disturbing record. Why? – Anchorage police say citizens shouldn’t fear for their safety, even with a record number of homicides and the lowest percentage of solved homicides in at least 20 years.” December 31, 2017. Anchorage Daily News. Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Anchorage isn’t a ghost town yet, But it’s not the same. – In big and small ways, a pandemic has altered what Anchorage feels like to live in, from Coffee to court to riding the bus.” March 19, 2020. Anchorage

Neil Mackay was ruthless in both his personal and business dealings, and associates learned not to cross him. When a car bomb instantly killed his ex-wife, Muriel Pfeil, police knew Mackay had planned her murder, but they could not find enough evidence to charge him with the crime. Sources: Associated Press. “Jury acquits Mackay of murder.” February 7, 1988. Brennan, Tom. Cold Crime. Chapter 10: “An angry man.” 2005. Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press. “Dynamite expected in car bomb killing.” October 19, 1976. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Jenkins, Paul. “Alleged contract shooting victim dies.” November 12, 1985. Mroch, Courtney. “The ghost of the Snow City Café.” October 27, 2019. Turner, Wallace. “Alaskan murder: Enigma within an enigma.” June 30, 1987. New York Times. _______________________________________________ Join the Last Frontier Club's Free Tier ___________________________________________________________   The Crime is More Horrible Than You Can Imagine!

Mt. Iliamna is an active cone-shaped volcano located one hundred and forty miles (225 km) southwest of Anchorage and seventy miles (113 km) northwest of Homer. It is part of the Chigmit Mountains and rises from its base near Cook Inlet to 10,016 feet (3052.9 m), one of the highest peaks in the volcanically active area of the Alaska Peninsula. Ten glaciers radiate from the volcano's slopes. Iliamna last erupted in 1867, and observers have occasionally seen smoke wafting from the summit since then. However, it is the weather surrounding the mountain, not the volcanic activity, that makes Iliamna dangerous. Clouds frequently cloak the mountain’s peak, and turbulent winds buffet this mountainous region, creating some of the most hazardous weather on the planet. Coastal fog and rain often create restricted visibility and a low ceiling. For aviators, flying in this area of the state can be challenging, dangerous, and sometimes deadly. Between 1958 and 1977, four mid-sized planes either crashed into Mt. Iliamna

In 1988, forty-four commercial fishermen died at sea near Kodiak, Alaska, making it the deadliest fishing year on record. That year, fishermen also earned $2.40 per pound for sockeye salmon, the highest price ever paid to fishermen for sockeye salmon before or since. Commercial fishing proved lucrative but dangerous in 1988. Alaska fishermen know their jobs involve risk.  They work on the North Pacific, often in big seas and brutal weather, but no fisherman expects to be murdered by his crewman. Sources: Sullivan, Toby. 2016. Sea Stories: Missing brothers turn up dead in Uganik. Kodiak Daily Mirror. Shepard v. State (2/19/93) ap-1283 _________________________________ Join the Last Frontier Club's Free Tier ___________________________________________________________   The Crime is More Horrible Than You Can Imagine! _________________________________________________________________________ IF YOU ENJOY LISTENING TO YOUR NOVELS, CHECK OUT THE AUDIOBOOK VERSION OF MASSACRE AT BEAR CREEK

The Greatest High-Seas Rescue in Coast Guard History Imagine alarm bells startling you from a peaceful sleep aboard a luxury cruise ship at 1:00 a.m. You didn’t take the “abandon ship” drill seriously on your first afternoon on the boat, and now, you struggle to remember what to do in an emergency. You find your life jacket and open the door to your cabin. The passageway smells smoky, and you hear an explosion in the bowels of the large ship. You realize the boat is not moving, and you can’t hear the rumble of the engines. Your concern morphs into panic as you race after the other passengers fleeing their cabins. The above scenario played out for passengers on the cruise liner Prinsendam in the early morning hours of October 4, 1980. Sources Day, Boswell. “The long blue line: Prinsendam – Coast Guard’s ‘Miracle Rescue’ over 40 years ago!” November 24, 2022. Commandant’s Bulletin Magazine. Hartmeyer, Phil. Seascape Alaska 5: Gulf of Alaska remotely operated vehicle explorat

Most teenagers fight with their parents, and during a heated argument, some kids might even scream, “I hate you” at their mother or father, but such disagreements signal normal growing pains. Few teens order a hit on a parent, simply because the child feels the parent is too strict. Matricide, the killing of one’s mother, is uncommon, and matricide by a girl under the age of 18 is extremely rare. Of the few cases in recent history where a girl under the age of 18 killed her mother, the offender either had been abused by her mother, or the killer exhibited extremely antisocial behavior. Despite what she told her friends, Rachelle Waterman was neither abused nor antisocial. She appeared to be a normal, high-achieving junior in high school. Rachelle sang in the school choir and played on the volleyball team. Residents of Craig, Alaska adored Rachelle’s mother, Lauri, who was active in her church, worked as a teacher’s aide, and was always the first to volunteer to help with any community function. R

What was his name? How old was he? Where did he come from? What happened to him? These are a few of the questions concerning the man known as William Dempsey. Eyewitnesses saw him murder Deputy U.S. Marshal Isaac Evans, and a jury convicted him of killing Marie Lavor, but did he murder others? Was he a young man named William Dempsey, as he claimed, or did he steal the real William Dempsey’s identity? One hundred years later, these questions continue to elude historians. Sources Herron, Charles.”Charles E. Herron questions arch-fiend and obtains inside information on Lavor murder.” September 6, 1919. Anchorage Daily Times. Fair, Clark. “A Nexus of Lives and Lies: The William Dempsey Story – Part 1.” February 3, 2023. Homer News. Fair, Clark. “A Nexus of Lives and Lies: The William Dempsey Story – Part 2.” March 23, 2023. Homer News. Fair, Clark. “A Nexus of Lives and Lies: The William Dempsey Story – Part 3.” March 30, 2023. Homer News. Fair, Clark. “A Nexus of Lives an

We’ve all seen the horror movie where a stranger towers over his unsuspecting victim while she sleeps, and she awakes just in time to see him swing the machete toward her head. Imagine if this is no horror movie but a terrible, true event happening as you struggle to clear your mind from sleep and attempt to focus on your survival instincts. Now, what if you know the maniac wielding the machete, and he is someone close to you? Can you fathom anything so horrible? Elann Moren had no choice; she had to grapple with the situation and spring into action. In one moment, her beautiful, new life turned into a horrible nightmare. Sources Associated Press. “Another 189 years for Alaska machete murderer.” December 26, 2012. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Associated Press. “Man charged with killing father with machete.” December 4, 2007. MSNBC. Court of Appeals of Alaska, no. A-10635. Rogers v. State. June 15, 2012.https://caselaw McKinney, Deborah. “Palmer machete killer’s sentences now total 498

When the Kotzebue police entered a bedroom in a house on the mayor’s property on May 23, 2018, they found the lifeless body of twenty-five-year-old Jennifer Kirk curled at the foot of the bed. A rifle lay across her feet. She had strangulation marks on her neck and a bullet wound under her chin. Even before receiving the autopsy report, the Kotzebue police quickly ruled Kirk’s death a suicide. Two years later, the police were called to an adjacent house on the same property to examine the body of Susanna Norton. They could not so easily dismiss Susanna’s death because the medical examiner ruled it a homicide. Someone had strangled Susanna to death. The deaths of Jennifer Kirk and Susanna Norton, both Inupiaq women, highlight the continuing issue of violence against Alaska Native women. Sources: Boots, Michelle Theriault. “’No more silence’: her kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder stunned a town and started a movement. Anchorage Daily News. College of Health. “Alaska Victimization Survey.

In one of my last episodes, I profiled Israel Keyes, a serial killer who moved to Anchorage in 2007.  Many serial-killer experts consider Keyes to be one of the most intelligent, organized serial killers of all time.  He randomly chose victims who lived thousands of miles from his home, and he stashed murder kits around the country, planning to access them at some future date.  It is easy to understand why Israel Keyes wasn’t captured sooner than he was.  He methodically planned his crimes and always had an exit strategy.  He only began making mistakes when his murderous impulses grew too strong for him to control, and these mistakes led to his apprehension. Around the same time Israel Keyes was active, another serial killer stalked the residents of Anchorage, but the story of Joshua Wade and his crimes is far different than that of Israel Keyes.  Investigators consider Wade intelligent, but he did not stalk his victims or plan his crimes.  His crimes were sloppy, happened on the spur of the momen

Harvey Carignan was a vicious serial rapist and killer. He murdered his first victim in Alaska, and she should have been his last because the jury condemned him to death by hanging for the crime. Unfortunately, the sentence was overturned when it became clear a police officer had obtained Carignan’s confession illegally. Instead of death, Harvey Carignan served eight years at Alcatraz and then headed out into the world to prey on more women. Sources Azarian, Nash. “Harvey Carignan: Harv the Hammer.” n.d. Serial Killer Magazine. Krauss, Louis. “Serial killer Harvey Carignan dies in Minnesota prison at 95.” March 16, 2023. Star Tribune. Rule, Ann. The Want-Ad Killer. 1983. New York, NY: Berkley. Murderpedia. “Harvey Louis Carignan.” n.d. _______________________________________________ https://youtu.be/7Fv52Bf8yfY ______________________________________________ Now Available at 25% off the Cover Price in The Reader's and Writers Facebook Club Christmas Book Bazaar Join the Club

“I’ll tell you everything you want to know. I’ll give it blow by blow if you want. I have lots more blow-by-blow  A monster moved to Anchorage in 2007. Israel Keyes didn’t look evil; he appeared normal. To those who crossed his path, he seemed like a dedicated businessman, a doting father, and a loving boyfriend. No one could see the darkness lurking inside him, but by the time he moved to Alaska, Israel Keyes was already a thief, an arsonist, a rapist, and a serial killer. He did not give up these hobbies when he arrived in Anchorage. Sources: Callahan, Maureen. American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century. 2019. New York: Viking. “FBI requests the public’s assistance in case of serial killer Israel Keyes.” August 13, 2013. FBI. “Seeking information regarding serial killer case.” FBI. ______________________________________________ Now Available _________________________________________________________________________ IF YOU EN

When crew members decide to abandon a floundering ship in the North Pacific in the winter in twenty-foot seas, they know they are unlikely to survive, even when they do everything right. If the captain can send out a May Day, everyone dons a pristine survival suit and seals it around their face, and they deploy and enter a life raft, they still face a long list of things that could and often do go wrong. Proper gear, training, and the captain's strong, calm, logical voice significantly increase the crew’s chances of survival. The crew of the F/V Saint Patrick had none of these things, and they paid a horrible price for their decisions. In the mid-1970s through the 1980s, the death rate for commercial fishermen soared to seventy-five times the U.S. national average for deaths on the job, and the mortality rate for fishing in Alaska in the winter peaked twenty-five times higher than the death toll for the rest of the commercial fishing industry.  It was nine times more dangerous for an individual to take

People imagine snow, ice, and bitter cold when they think of Alaska in January, but Alaska is a big place. I live on Kodiak Island in the southern part of the state, and the winter temperature here averages around 35⁰F (1.7⁰C). That may seem cold if you are from California, South America, or Australia, but is not a harsh winter temperature for most of the United States. The following story, though, gives you a feel for Alaska at its coldest. This brutal crime occurred north of the Arctic Circle in January, where the temperature hovered at -50⁰F (-45.6⁰C) when someone shot three men on a caribou hunting expedition and left them to die in their tent. Sources Brennan, Tom. 2001. Murder at 40 Below. Chapter 3: “The caribou murders.” 2001. Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press. Francis, Alfred. “Lone survivor says driver of snowmobile did shooting.” January 27, 1970. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. “Court upholds murder charge, overturns drug conviction.” June 16, 1973. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Klutuk is Alaska’s version of the boogeyman – a terrifying character you tell stories about around the campfire. He is a man shrouded in mystery and myth. What was his actual name? Was he tall or short? How many men did he kill? Did he possess mystical powers? How did he die? One hundred years after he terrorized western Alaska, it is impossible to separate truth from fiction. Sources Dihle, Bjorn. “Klutuk, the mad trapper of Bristol Bay.” June 6, 2020. Outdoorlife.com. Heaton, John. “Klutuk: ‘The Man from the Mountain.’” 2015. Guilford, CT. TwoDot. Hunt, William R. Chapter 18: “Native Legends.” 1987. Norman, OK. University of Oklahoma Press. ___________________________________ My New Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560476951157 ___________________________________________________ Facebook Podcast Group (If not already a member, please try to join and let me know if you are admitted to the group) https://www.facebook.com/groups/704680564121523 Now A

Most parents can imagine no nightmare worse than the disappearance of a child, but how can a parent possibly cope when both of their children vanish, swallowed by the Alaska wilderness? Sometime during the late-night hours of Sept. 5 or the early morning hours of Sept. 6, 1978, Scott Fandel, 13, and Amy Fandel, 8, disappeared from their Sterling, Alaska home on the Kenai Peninsula, 136 miles (218.9 km) south of Anchorage. The mystery of what happened to the Fandel children has baffled Alaska State Troopers for over four decades. How can two kids vanish from their home without a trace?   Age Progression ________________________________________________________ Now Available _________________________________________________________________________ IF YOU ENJOY LISTENING TO YOUR NOVELS, CHECK OUT THE AUDIOBOOK VERSION OF MASSACRE AT BEAR CREEK LODGE ________________________________ Robin Barefield is the author of five Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fish

If you want to murder someone, consider inviting them on a cruise. With little law enforcement oversight and a fear of negative publicity, cruise ship officials often prefer to look the other way and ignore unpleasantness on one of their vessels. Cruise ship officers have even been accused of covering up murder scenes or pretending missing passengers never existed. Cruise ships play an essential role in the tourism industry in Alaska. Cruise ships boost the economy of a handful of port towns in the state, and overland excursion packages tied to the cruise lines provide money to many interior regions of Alaska. While cruise ships are not the best way to visit the state's wild, remote regions, they offer a comfortable, easy way to get a feel for the 49th state. Many people think cruise ships provide a much safer way to travel, but do they? When Kenneth and Kristy Manzanares decided to celebrate their eighteenth wedding anniversary with a family cruise to Alaska, they probably looked forward to a relaxing

The double homicide I describe in this episode occurred on a secure Coast Guard base near the town of Kodiak, Alaska, on Kodiak Island, approximately 60 miles from where I live. This murder happened toward the end of the most brutal winter anyone on Kodiak can remember, and when the police did not quickly apprehend the killer, tempers flared, and citizens carried firearms wherever they went.  Our mail plane pilot, reporting the news to us on his weekly stop, compared the residents in town to a powder keg ready to blow.  When it was all over, many in law enforcement and the judicial system praised the investigation, but at the time, it seemed as if no one was doing anything to look for and apprehend the killer. Sources: Associated Press. “Man arrested in 2012 Alaska Coast Guard base deaths.” November 21, 2015. KOMO News. Grove, Casey. “Wells convicted, again, of Kodiak Coast Guard double murder.” Alaska Public Media. Joling, Dan. “Car expert testifies in CG trial.” April 10, 2014. Ket

Imagine a small town where, between 1968 and 1983, the clergy sexually abused eighty percent of the children -- a village where today, the city government is forced to hire police officers with extensive criminal records, including domestic violence, because there is no state law enforcement in this remote area of Alaska. Imagine this same community where the violent murder of a young woman remains unsolved six years after her body was found bruised and bloody on a lonely beach. Now, put this village on an island at the southeastern end of Norton Sound, where it is exposed to the Bering Sea and some of the most hazardous weather in the world. This is the village of St. Michael, Alaska. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ NOW AVAILABLE! __________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Join Beach Blanket Books—a Facebook Eve

What happened on a foggy September day in 1982 in the small fishing village of Craig, Alaska? Many believe they know who killed the crew and passengers of the Investor, but only the killer knows why the massacre occurred. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ NOW AVAILABLE! __________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Join Beach Blanket Books—a Facebook Event. The Fun begins on May 15th and lasts until the Summer Solstice on June 21st. Join in the games and win some prizes. Sign up now so you don't miss a thing! ________________________________________________________________________ IF YOU ENJOY LISTENING TO YOUR NOVELS, CHECK OUT THE AUDIOBOOK VERSION OF MASSACRE AT BEAR CREEK LODGE ______________________________________________________________________________________ Join the Murder and Mystery in the First Frontie

By all accounts, Doctor Eric Garcia truly cared for Jordan Joplin, but Joplin considered his relationship with the doctor as a means to an end; or as the prosecutor put it, Garcia believed he was in a romantic relationship with Joplin, but Joplin considered it transactional. Garcia had money and objects of value, and Joplin wanted it all for himself. Sources “Anchorage jury finds Jordan Joplin guilty of murder in Dr. Eric Garcia case.” June 2, 2023. Ketchikan Daily News. Jordan Joplin Cole, Shannon. “WA man sentenced to 99 years for murder of Ketchikan doctor.” April 9, 2024. KTUU. Gremore, Graham. “Sean Cody star Jordan Joplin charged with murdering wealthy Alaskan surgeon.” February 6, 2018. Queerty. “Ketchikan doctor’s death, home thefts investigated.” April 3, 2017. Anchorage Daily News. “Washington man held in Ketchikan murder.” July 24, 2017. Anchorage Daily News. Williams, Tess. “Jury convicts Washington man of murder in 2017 killing of Southeast Alaska su

People move to the Alaska wilderness either because they enjoy solitude and crave a subsistence lifestyle or because they wish to escape society. People who fall into this second category are either misfits who don’t know how or don’t want to blend in with others, or they are criminals, seeking to escape arrest and hoping to disappear into the vast wilderness. Many of my episodes have dealt with individuals who ran to Alaska from a life of crime elsewhere. They might have hoped to turn their lives around but instead, most brought their problems and psychopathic tendencies with them. Until Memorial Day weekend in 1997, Paul Stavenjord seemed to have succeeded at escaping his criminal past, but then something in him snapped, leaving two people dead and forever altering the course of Stavenjord’s life. Sources: Brennan, Tom, 2003. Murder at 40 Below. Chapter 7: “The bank robber next door.” 2001. Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press. Court of Appeals of Alaska, no. A-7418. Stavenjord v. State. March

As a state, Alaska has never had the death penalty. It was abolished in 1957, two years before Alaska became the 49th state in the union. However, from 1869 until 1957, twelve male felons were hanged for murder, robbery, and other crimes. This is the story about the unequal application of the death penalty in Alaska and why capital punishment was abolished in the state. Sources: Heaton, John W. Outlaw Tales of Alaska. “Fred Hardy.”2015. Guilford, CT. Rowman & Littlefield. Green, Melissa S. “A History of the Death Penalty in Alaska.” July 20, 2001. UAA Justice Center Website. Green, Melissa S. “The Death Penalty in Alaska.” Winter, 2009. Alaska Justice Forum. Kiffer, Dave. “Abolition of Alaska’s Death Penalty.” October 15, 2005. Sitnews. Lerman, Averil. “The Trial and Hanging of Nelson Charles.” Spring, 1996. Alaska Justice Forum. ______________________________________________________________________________________   COMING SOON! _________________________________

Anchorage, Alaska, is the small plane capital of the world, and flying in Alaska is a thrilling experience where you can view spectacular scenery and reach remote lakes, rivers, and stretches of wilderness that are inaccessible by road.  For the commercial pilots who fly these small planes, though, the job can be stressful at times, and they must depend on their skills and common sense. Commercial pilots in Alaska have a tough job, but near the bottom of a pilot’s list of concerns is the fear he will be murdered on the job.  After all, who would want to kill his pilot? Sources: “Duryea v. State.” Court of Appeals No. A-6964. Court of Appeals of Alaska. Any Law. Rinehart, Steve. “Sniper fire kills pilot man who called plane in custody.” May 18, 1983. Anchorage Daily News. Sullivan, Patty. “Judge sentences killer to 50 years.” January 14, 1998. Anchorage Daily News. “William Duryea v. State of Alaska, Department of Corrections, and Joseph Schmidt,  Commissioner of the Department o

On the evening of July 7th, 1979, a plane disappeared near Kodiak Island in fair weather and moderate seas. News agencies in Alaska reported little about the missing plane and its occupants. Although reports of the apparent fatal crash made more of a splash in Great Britain, official sources offered no comment about the loss of a man who had done so much to protect Britain against the USSR during the Cold War. Even now, the disappearance of Ian Mackintosh is cloaked in secrecy, and many wonder if he died in the plane crash or if the accident was a cover story, allowing Mackintosh to disappear.  The 2012 book, The Life and Mysterious Death of Ian Mackintosh by Robert G. Folsom explores everything the author could uncover about a brilliant man's secret life and mysterious disappearance. Sources Folsom, Robert G. The Life and Mysterious Death of Ian Mackintosh.2012. Washington, D.C. Potomac Books, Inc. Mackintosh, Lawrie. “My brother, Ian Mackintosh.” OpsRoom.Org. MacLeod, Calum. “Did spy writer

You might be familiar with the recent National Geographic documentary series, Alaska State Troopers. The show followed several troopers from different areas of the state as they made their daily rounds. Two of the troopers featured on the show were Sergeant Patrick “Scott” Johnson and Gabriel “Gabe” Rich. Both men worked out of the Alaska State Troopers’ Fairbanks Rural Service Unit. A camera crew was not with the men on the fateful day of May 1st, 2014. Sources Chomicz, Dorothy. “Kangas found guilty of evidence tampering in Alaska State Trooper deaths.” April 23, 2015. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Chomicz, Dorothy. Arvin Kangas sentenced in case related to Alaska StateTrooper killings.” September 3, 2015. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Chomicz, Dorothy. “Courtroom tenses as Nathanial Kangas murder trial gets underway.” May 9, 2016. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Chomicz, Dorothy. “Pilot describes scene in Tanana minutes after troopers killed.” May 10, 2016. Fairbanks Daily New

This story has all the elements of a Greek tragedy or a Shakespearean play, and it could easily inspire the plot of a movie or a mystery novel. Unfortunately, this is a true drama, and the outcome deprived children of their father and a wife of her new husband. We will never know how this event truly ended. The last few moments aboard the R66 helicopter and the pilot’s mindset will remain a mystery. Did Andy Teuber’s helicopter crash into the Gulf of Alaska because he purposely flew it into the ocean, sparing his family and himself the embarrassment of a tawdry, drawn-out court case that could land him in prison? Or was Teuber distracted and perhaps taking chances he wouldn’t usually take because he was rushing to get home to his family in Kodiak before the news media broke the story about his messy affair? Some people believe the Anchorage Daily News, the largest newspaper in Alaska, bears a portion of the blame for Teuber’s tragic death. If the paper hadn’t rushed to print a story about Teuber

Gary Zieger, a brutal serial killer, stalked the streets of Anchorage in the early 1970s. We’ll never know how many people Zieger killed, but eventually, the psychopath made a fatal mistake. Sources Brennan, Tom. Cold Crime. Chapter 8: “Alaska’s Billy the Kid.” 2005. Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press. Gordon, Mike. “The hired gun.” March 26, 2014. Turnagain Currents. Hale, Leland. “The lonesome death of Beth van Zanten: The killer is killed.” October 17, 2018. Butcher Baker. Hale, Leland. “Lonesome death of Beth van Zanten: Whodunnit.” October 18, 2018. Butcher Baker. __________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ Now Available  Massacre at Bear Creek Lodge Audiobook Narrated by Beth Chaplin   _________________________________________________________________________________________ Join the Murder and Mystery in the First Frontier Facebook Group! _________________

Neighbors suspected Elmer Haab was up to no good, and when his wife, Bonnie, mysteriously disappeared, they feared Elmer had done something to her. Alaska State Troopers also found the disappearance of Bonnie Haab suspicious, but with no body, there was little they could do. Sources: Anderson, Dianne. “Haab leads troopers to pyre where he burned wife’s body.” July 17, 1969. Anchorage Daily Times. Anderson, Diane. “Man admits he cremated body of his wife.” July 16, 1969. Anchorage Daily Times. Anderson, Dianne. “The last time he saw Bonnie, her face was bruised and bleeding.” July 7, 19, 1969. Anchorage Daily Times. Brennan, Tom. Cold Crime. Chapter 2: “Mystery of Mendeltna Lodge.” 2005. Kenmore, WA. Epicenter Press. Drebert, Richard. “Ashes on the Mendeltna.” Cache of Grace. Maguire, Sean. “The Mendeltna Creek Lodge near Glenallen has burned down.” KTUU News. Webster, Dave. “Police crack theft ring; three sought.” February 22, 1968. Anchorage Daily Times. W

Plane crashes are far too common in Alaska, and many of these accidents are due, at least in part, to poor weather conditions. If commercial pilots refused to fly in marginal weather, though, they would not make money because the weather is often bad in Alaska. For those of us who live or work in remote areas, we must fly in small planes, and we can’t always pick our weather. Mysteries abound in Alaska about airplanes that took off and were never seen again. The following is a story of one of the most famous airplane disappearances in the history of the state. Sources: Alpert, Bruce. “Author writes about disappearance of plane carrying Hale Boggs 43 years ago over Alaska.” June 16, 2015. Nola.com. Glass, Andrew. “Hale Boggs’ plane vanishes in Alaska.” October 16, 1972. Politico. https://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/hale-boggs-plane vanishes-in-alaska-oct-16-1972-229692 Liefer, Gregory P. 2011. Aviation Mysteries of the North. Chapter 16: “Accident or conspiracy?” Publication Con

The U.S. military defines a “Broken Arrow” as an “unexpected event involving nuclear weapons that result in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft, or loss of the weapon.” The first Broken Arrow event occurred in 1950 during a mission from Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska. Questions still surround this event and the mystery of what happened to the B-36 aircraft and the Mark IV atomic bomb it carried. Map Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada Sources Adams, Sharon. “The lost nuke of British Columbia.” January 26, 2022. Legion. Wreckage Clearwater, John M. “The first one to get away.” November/December 2004. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Liefer, Gregory P. Chapter 12: “Broken Arrow.” 2011. Anchorage, AK. Publication Consultants. Roos, Dave. “’Broken Arrow’: When the first U.S. atomic bomb went missing.” January 13, 2020. History.     ____________________________________________________________________________________

After a string of murders of young women near Fairbanks in the late 1970s and early ’80s, the abductions and murders mysteriously stopped. Troopers didn’t believe the vicious killer had suddenly halted his murder spree, but they feared the predator had moved somewhere else. Unfortunately, at the time, they had no database to track the killer’s movements beyond Alaska. Only the deductive reasoning and hard work of seasoned investigators traced the monster to his new hunting grounds, four thousand miles away. Sources: Brennan, Tom. Murder at 40 Below. Chapter 9: “Having trouble with girls.” 2001. Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press. Capps, Kris. “Bunday never denied he was killer, trooper recalls.” March 17, 1983. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Capps, Kris. “Bunday was suspect in 1980.” March 17, 1983. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Fisher, Susan. “Authorities were awaiting more facts.” March 17, 1983. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Ice Cold Killers. Season 1, episode 5: “North Pole s

Trailer for Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier Welcome to Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. Listen to tales of true crime and mystery in Alaska. What evil lay in store for the residents of McCarthy, Alaska, when they gathered to meet their weekly mail plane? Did infamous serial killer Robert Hansen fly his victims into the wilderness and hunt them just as he had hunted the trophy animals hanging on the walls of his home? Who slaughtered the Coulthurst family and their crew on the Fishing Vessel Investor and then set fire to the boat? Who kidnapped the Fandel children? What horrors awaited the residents of Manley Hot Springs when they visited the boat landing? Why did a young man in Palmer, Alaska, attack his father and his girlfriend with a machete? Was the disappearance of the plane carrying Representatives Hale Boggs and Nick Begich an accident or something much more sinister? Why do so many people step into the Alaska wilderness and disappear? What is the Alaska Tria

A wealthy, powerful man, a beautiful widow, a scandalous affair, a murder, and a suicide: This true-life crime drama had it all, except for the answer to the question: Who killed Cecil Wells? Sources Bartlett, James T. The Alaskan Blonde. 2022. North Haven, CT. Territory Books. Johnny Warren Reamer, David. “In 1953, Cecil Wells was a rich and powerful Alaska Businessman. His murder made headlines nationwide.” August 30, 2020. Anchorage Daily News. “Wells, Cecil M.” Alaskahisitory.org. Anchorage 1910 – 1940. Legends and Legacies. https://www.alaskahistory.org/biographies/wells-cecil-m/           For more information on this case: Read The Alaskan Blonde by James Bartlett https://www.amazon.com/Alaskan-Blonde-Secrets-Hollywood-Shocked/dp/0984973028/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2PUC5AS77DQ9&keywords=The+Alaskan+Blonde&qid=1700280903&s=books&sprefix=the+alaskan+blonde%2Cstripbooks%2C192&sr=1-1 Check out The Alaskan Blonde Website Watch my interview with James Bartlett, t

Manley Hot Springs, located 160 miles west of Fairbanks, marks the end of the road, where civilization meets wilderness, and the boat landing in Manley Hot Springs offers the last portage for fishermen, trappers, and wanderers to launch their boats and travel further up the icy Tanana River. Because the road ends in Manley, residents admit they see their share of drifters and people trying to escape from somewhere or something. When Michael Silka arrived in Manley on Monday, May 13, 1984, folks accepted him as another straggler searching for a new life. They should have been terrified. Michael Silka was about to forever change sleepy Manley Hot Springs. Sources: Brenan, Tom. Murder at 40 Below. Chapter 8: "Manley Hot Springs Murders." 2001. Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press. Hall, Jeff. "Michael Alan Silka and the firefight at Manley." Tactical Life magazine. Ice Cold Killers. Season 1, episode 5: "Frozen carnage." Murderpedia. "Michael Alan Silka." n.d. ______________________________________________

Alaska has spawned a long list of serial killers from the gold rush era in the early 1900s to the present day. Is Brian Steven Smith the latest member of this notorious fraternity? Sources: Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Defendant in hotel killing indicted on additional charges; FBI ‘actively’ assisting investigation – Court documents filed this Kathlee Henry week indicate an active, wide-ranging investigation that may extend beyond Alaska.” October 15, 2019. Anchorage Daily News. Boots, Michelle Theriault. “Victim’s family members and activists pack court hearing of man accused of killing two Alaska Native women – Veronica Abouchuk’s family members filled the courtroom as Brian Steven Smith pleaded not guilty to her murder.” October 22, 2019. Anchorage Daily News. Brown, Lee. “Wife of ‘memory card’ murder suspect Brian Smith shocked at his ‘dark’ side.” October 24, 2019. New York Post. Hollander, Zac. “Anchorage man accused of hotel killing charged in the death

The brutal murders in 1987 of a mother and her two daughters terrified the residents of Anchorage. Who would commit such a barbaric act, and would he strike again?   Sources: Barer, Burl. Murder in the Family. 2016. Denver: WildBlue Press. Brennan, Tom. Murder at 40 Below. Chapter 6: “The Newman family masasacre.” 2001. Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press. “Murder in Alaska: The Newman family slaughter.” September 14, 2019. What Lies Beyond.     ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Karluk Bones Audiobook Narrated by Beth Chaplin _________________________________________________________________________________________ Join the Murder and Mystery in the First Frontier Facebook Group! __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Robin Barefield is the a

What would you do to survive? Most of us believe there are some things we would never do, even if they could save our lives. However, until we find ourselves in a life-and-death situation, we can never know how far we might go for self-preservation. The marooned survivors from the James Allen did not hesitate to do what they felt was necessary to prolong their lives. Sources: De Armond, R.N. “The wreck of the James Allen.” December 1945. AlaskaWeb.Org. https://alaskaweb.org/jasallenwreck.html. Stein, Gary C. “Their Feast of Death: The wreck of the whaler James Allen.” 2018. Coriolis, Vol. 7, Number 2. Sullivan, Toby. “Wreck of the whaler James Allen.” June 8, 2022. Kodiak Daily Mirror. __________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Karluk Bones Audiobook Narrated by Beth Chaplin ___________________________________________________________

Robert Hansen is Alaska’s most notorious serial killer.  Several television shows have portrayed Hansen’s life; numerous books have detailed his horrific deeds; and a 2013 movie, The Frozen Ground, starring John Cusack as Hansen and Nicholas Cage as an Alaska State Trooper, chronicles Hansen’s crimes and dramatizes the police investigation and apprehension of Hansen. I hesitate to repeat this story, but if my goal for this series is to recount some of the worst crimes in the history of Alaska, I would be remiss not to include those of Robert Hansen.  This story is also important for two other reasons.  First, it showcases the time during the construction and early operation of the trans-Alaska pipeline when thousands of people flocked to the state for jobs, and crime soared.  Second, this case represents the beginning of the change in the criminal justice system in Alaska when investigative techniques, evidence processing, and in particular, dealing with sexual assault crimes and victims moved ou

Christian Klengenberg greatly impacted Inuit settlements in the Arctic from Nome to central Canada. Many of his descendants are community leaders and active in Canadian politics. However, not all stories about Christian Klengenberg are good. He returned from one fateful voyage with only five of his nine crew members on board, and according to the remaining crewmen, Klengenberg murdered the four who were missing.           Sources Harper, Kenn. “Christian Klengenberg, an Arctic enigma.” February 26, 2009. Nunatsiaq News. https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/Christian_Klengenberg_an_Arctic_enigma/ Harper, Kenn. “Christian Klengenberg: The rest of the story.” March 12, 2009. Nunatsiaq News. https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/Christian_Klengenberg_The_rest_of_the_story/ Hunt, William R. Distant Justice. Chapter 12: “Tough Characters.” 1987. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ______________________________________________________________________________________

In the early morning hours of Monday, April 26, 1993, someone brutally raped, stabbed and shot Sophie Sergie in a college dorm on the University of Alaska campus in Fairbanks. Several hours later, a janitor discovered Sophie's body stuffed in a bathtub in a second-floor bathroom in the dorm. No one saw or heard anything. Sophie's case soon went cold and remained cold for the next 18 years. Would her murder ever be solved? Sources: Alaska Department of Public Safety, State Troopers: Alaska Bureau of Investigation. “Cold Case Investigation Unit.” n.d. https://dps.alaska. gov/ast/abi/cold case Associated Press. “AST cold-case unit faces elimination.” April 10, 2015. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Bohman, Amanda. “New theory revives old murder case.” April 25, 2009. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Farneski, Anna. “Sergie was target of opportunity.” May 8, 1993. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Farneski, Anna. “While troopers hunt Sophie’s killer, family tries to cope.” July 8, 1993. Fair

What happened to Harold Enzler and Nancy Bellamy? They were alive and well one minute and gone without a trace the next. Did they pack their things and flee the state? Were they hiding from authorities? Or did someone murder Harold and Nancy and dispose of their bodies in a way so the troopers would never find them? ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Now Available ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Karluk Bones Audiobook Narrated by Beth Chaplin _________________________________________________________________________________________ Join the Murder and Mystery in the First Frontier Facebook Group! __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Listen to a New Podcast from the Members of Author Masterminds _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Robin Bare

The scattered residents of the McCarthy area were not prepared for the horrors of mail day on February 29, 1983, when one of their neighbors attempted to murder them all. Beginning this month, I plan to release two episodes of Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier every month. One episode will be new, and I will bring you the other from the archives. I covered many of Alaska’s most famous crimes and infamous criminals in my first podcasts when my audience numbers were low, so I plan to dust them off, re-edit or re-record them if necessary and release them again. I hope you enjoy these episodes. Thank you so much for listening. __________________________________________________________________________________ Feedspot Ranks Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier at #22 in its list of Murder and Mystery Podcasts! Check it out. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Now Available ________________________________________________________________________

D Working as a crew person on a fishing boat on the high seas or as part of a Coast Guard search and rescue helicopter crew rank as two of the most challenging and dangerous jobs in the world. When the fishing vessel La Conte began to sink in eighty-mile-per-hour (128.7 km/h) winds, the terrified crew had to jump into sixty-foot (18.3 m) seas in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, a Coast Guard chopper crew in Sitka was deployed to search for the source of a distress call from a satellite beacon. The driving hail and fierce winds battered and bounced the helicopter around the sky while its occupants searched the dark ocean for the source of the EPIRB signal. The pilot dropped down as close to the sea as he dared, and he knew that a rogue wave could bury the chopper at any moment. What the crew of the helicopter saw stunned them. Four men fought to stay afloat in massive seas. Rescuing them seemed like an impossible task.     Sources: Lewan, Todd. “Helicopter crew braves vicious storm.” “Sto

Linda Skeek had three beautiful children and an excellent job, but she did not have a good marriage. However, Linda’s relationship with her husband, Thomas, seemed somewhat improved on New Year’s Eve, 2015. They loaded their kids in their new Navigator SUV and drove to downtown Anchorage to see the fireworks. They watched the movie Minions on the Navigator’s DVD player until the New Year’s festivities began. Linda texted with her sisters and posted photos of her family on Facebook. However, not long after midnight and at the beginning of 2016, Linda’s texts and Facebook posts stopped, and no one saw or heard from her again. Sources: Boots, Michelle T. “Domestic violence, personal disputes behind many deaths.” January 1,2017. Alaska Dispatch News. Boots, Michelle T. “The murder suspect says his wife is merely missing. Prosecutors say he bought supplies to clean up the scene.” February 26, 2019. Anchorage Daily News. https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2019/02/27/in-anchorage-a-r

Andrew Dolchok had glaring psychological issues, and he was often violent. Still, judges repeatedly released him from jail until one night when Andrew Dolchok’s demons convinced him to murder his cab driver. Sources: 1-22-1982. Dolchok v. State. Justia U.S. Law. https://law.justia.com/cases/alaska/supreme-court/1982/3920-0.html Brennan, Tom. 2005. The Search For Yellow 39. Cold Crime. Epicenter Press. 7-14-1971. Anchorage AP. Daily Sitka Sentinel. 7-15-1971. Search expands for murder suspect. Anchorage Daily Times. 7-21-1971. Andrew Dolchok charged in death of taxi driver. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. 7-21-1971. Suspect charged in cab driver’s death. Anchorage Daily News. 7-22-1971. Dolchok is given 10 days for plea. Anchorage Daily Times. 7-28-1971. Bail holds, says judge. Anchorage Daily Times. Weaver, Howard. 10-6-1972. Dolchok is found guilty of murder. Anchorage Daily News. 10-6-1972. Judge rejects insanity plea, finds man guilty of murder. Anchorage Daily Times. 10-7-1

With the nickname “Blueberry Tommy,” Thomas Johnson sounds like a harmless and even friendly historical figure, but nothing could be further from the truth. Historians don’t know much about Johnson except that he was a serial killer. Sources Hunt, William R. 1987. Distant Justice. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman, OK. Heaton, John W. 2010. Outlaw Tales of Alaska. Morris Book Publishing, LLC. Guilford, CT. The Blueberry Kid. Alaska Genealogy Trails. https://www.genealogytrails.com/alaska/blueberry_kid.htm 6-22-1914. Many “Blueberry Kids” confuse officers. Man wanted is “Blueberry Tom” Johnson. Fairbanks Alaska Citizen. 6-29-1914. Clew found to Alaska crime. Fairbanks Alaska Citizen. 7-20-1914. Launch Seal Pup found. Fairbanks Alaska Citizen. 8-8-1914. Mute reminders of the Koyukuk tragedy. Iditarod Pioneer. 10-12-1914. Will recover body. Fairbanks Alaska Citizen. ______________________________________________________ Want to learn more about Magic Mind or give it a tr

Winona Fletcher Tom Faccio heard the knock at the kitchen door. He arose from his seat at the dinner table and peered out a window to see a plump teenager with a cute face looking back at him. He probably wondered what the young girl wanted and opened the door to see if she needed help. It was the worst and last mistake Tom Faccio ever made. Sources Brennan, Tom. 2001. The Murderous Cherub, Murder at 40 Below. Epicenter Press. Fairbanks, AK. Cordell Boyd Grove, Casey. 4-15-2011. Imprisoned killer wants her case reconsidered. Anchorage Daily News. Sullivan, Sidney. 4-5-2018. Triple murder culprit of 1985 denied parole. KTUU. Alaska’s News Source. https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/content/news/Verdict-revealed-for-parole-hearing-in-1985-triple-murder-478933853.html 9-13-1987. We Alaskans. Anchorage Daily News. Weiford, Linda. 12-12-1993. Winona and the Justice Sisters. Anchorage Daily News. 6-10-2011. Winona Fletcher v. State of Alaska. Court of Appeals of Alaska Decision. https://casel

Cynthia Hoffman I don’t usually do an episode about a case until the case either works through the legal system or it seems unsolvable. I could not ignore this sickening crime, though. There is nothing worse than children killing children, except perhaps when a teenager murders her best friend for thepromise of money. Sources Brehmer, Schilmiller, McIntosh, and Leyland all pleaded not guilty. I’ll keep you updated. Denali Brehmer Sources: Farzan, Noori. Chilling Tale of killing, catfishing. The Washington Post. https://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/tribune/article_popover.aspx?guid=019ceeaf-d496-43d1-95e6-70dea767eba9 Burke, Jill. 6-17-2019. Who is accused killer Darin Schilmiller? Former classmates of catfishing ‘millionaire’ – turned – murder suspect talk about disturbing past. Alaska’s News Source. https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/content/news/Who-is-accused-killer-Darin-Schilmiller-Cynthia-Hoffman-murder-suspect-511444111.html Ortega, Michael. 6-18-2019. Interactive

Keith Raniere Perhaps you heard about the NXIVM (pronounced Nexium) scandal when the police tracked down and arrested the cult leader, Keith Raniere, in Mexico. Soon, tales of sex trafficking, branding, and child pornography painted Raniere as an evil man. Like me, you probably shook your head and wondered how anyone could get drawn into a cult. From the outside looking in, cults always seem crazy. I didn’t pay much attention to the news about NXIVM. I didn’t want to read about more evil in our world. Then, a friend sent me a news story about an Alaska woman who disappeared after attending a NXIVM Executive Success Program class in Anchorage. When Kristin Snyder repeatedly blurted out that she was pregnant with Keith Raniere’s child, NXIVM officials dragged her out of the class, and she was never seen again. I suddenly wanted to know what happened to Kristin, more about NXIVM, and why successful, intelligent women flocked to Raniere to be close to him. Raniere is an average-looking man who denigra

As the 40-ft. waves crashed down upon him and threatened to wash him and his charge, Captain Singh, off the deck of the sinking ship, Petty Officer Aaron Bean knew the helicopter would not return to rescue them for several hours. Would the freighter remain afloat? Could he survive the relentless pounding by the freezing North Pacific waves? Would Captain Singh, who wore only street clothes, survive? Bean shook off his doubts and concentrated. As long as he could, he would do his job to the best of his ability, and he would give his life if necessary to save Captain Singh. Sources: My primary source for this story was On the Edge of Survival by Spike Walker. If you want to know more about this event, I strongly recommend this book. I have only touched on the bare facts of the story here, but Mr. Walker puts the reader in the helicopter in the fierce storm. I couldn’t put the book down. Walker, Spike. 2010. On the Edge of Survival. St. Martin’s Press. New York, NY. Alex Haley 12-10-2012. MV S

In September 2000, Shelia Toomey, a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, wrote a front-page story about six unsolved homicides in Anchorage.  The article displayed the photos of the six victims. All were women; five were Native Alaskan, and one was African American.  Nothing connected the victims, and the police did not know if they were looking for one, two, or six murderers. Serial Killer Joshua Wade eventually admitted that he murdered Della Brown, the last murder victim profiled in Toomey’s article. Investigators believed Wade might have also killed some of the other victims. The police also found the murderer of Cynthia Henry, but the murders of the other four women listed in the article remained unsolved. One of these women was Genevieve Tetpon. Police initially thought they were on the right path to solving Genevieve’s murder, but they hit a dead end and had nowhere else to turn. Finally, in 2009, a new cold-case detective looked at Genevieve’s file, and what he found turned the case on

On a cold February night in 1921, Jack Sturgus, Anchorage's first police chief, patrolled downtown Anchorage. He strolled past local businessman Oscar Anderson at 9:00 P.M., and they exchanged pleasantries, but what happened over the next few minutes constitutes one of the biggest mysteries in Anchorage history. At 9:30 P.M., night watchman John McNutt discovered Sturgus lying in an alley behind the Anchorage Drug Store and the Liberty Café near Fourth Avenue and E Street. Sturgus was bleeding from a single gunshot wound to the chest. The watchman summoned help, and several men carried Sturgus to the hospital. Sturgus kept mumbling about being cold and needing to be turned over. In the hospital, he complained about the bright lights. He repeatedly called, 'Oh, Bobby, Bobby, Bobby." but when asked who shot him, he did not reply. Sturgus died at 10:50 P.M.   Who murdered Jack Sturgus? A hard look back into history reveals several possible suspects. Still, authorities never arrested anyone for his murder

David Grunwald Any murder represents a level of greed, lust, or stupidity abhorrent to most humans, but when a child murders another child, the depravity reaches a new low. It is a sign of a rip in our society's moral fabric when a teenager thinks murder is the best way to handle a petty fight with his friend. I do not like to read or write stories about kids killing kids, but I also do not feel it is acceptable to look the other way. The problem won't simply disappear if we ignore it. Two horrible incidents of teen murderers have occurred in Alaska in the last few years, and in this episode, I will profile one of them.     Sources: 12-7-2016. Docs: Alaska teen was walked into woods, shot execution-style. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/david-grunwald-docs-alaska-teen-was-walked-into-woods-shot-execution-style-suspect/ 5-24-2018. The details in the Grunwald killing fell into place one early December day in 2016 – Investigators lured suspects to a Palmer hotel, found the 16-year-old's body

On July 18, 1967, a catastrophic snowstorm pummeled Alaska’s Mt. Denali, killing seven of the twelve young men in the Wilcox Expedition attempting to reach the summit. This is still the worst climbing disaster ever to occur in the United States.  We will never know what happened at the top of Mt. Denali. Experts can only guess the fate of those seven unlucky climbers. Sources: My primary source for this episode was Denali’s Howl by Andy Hall. I highly recommend this book if you want to learn more about this tragic event. Hall, Andy. 2014. Denali’s Howl. Plume, the Penguin Group. New York, NY. Manley, Kelley McMillan. 7-2017. Disaster on Denali. 5280.com/ Magazine. https://www.5280.com/2017/06/disaster-on-denali/ Duke, Kevin. 3-28-2012. Finishing the climb: Babcock finally tells his story of Denali tragedy. Gvnews.com. https://www.gvnews.com/sports/finishing-the-climb-babcock-finally-tells-his-story-of-denali-tragedy/article_d158684c-78f7-11e1-871e-0019bb2963f4.html Worrall, Simon. 

An electrician found the badly beaten and defiled body of 48-year-old Martha Hansen behind the Elks Club on 3rd Avenue in downtown Anchorage. She was naked except for a white sock on her left foot. When police detectives arrived at the scene, they were determined to do everything they could to find the animal who had perpetrated this horrible crime. They put in hours of dogged perseverance and executed a forensic technique few investigators thought was possible. Sources: Man Charged in Woman’s Death. 8-19-1996. The Daily Sitka Senitnel. Man Sentenced in Murder Case. 9-22-1997. The Daily Sitka Sentinel. D’Oro, Rachel. Bar Video Cameras Give Vital Clues in Homicide. 9-4-1996. The Daily Sitka Sentinel. Reprinted from the Anchorage Daily News. Toomey, Sheila. Anchorage police get palm print off body, a ‘rare’ forensic feat. 10-22-1996. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Reprinted from the Anchorage Daily News. Ice Cold Rage. Fatal Frontier-Evil in Alaska. E03. 11-21-2021.      

On September 6, 1992, two young hikers from Anchorage arrived at the old Fairbanks city bus #142, a makeshift shelter located on the Stampede Trail, twenty-five miles west of Healy. They immediately noted a stench emanating from the bus. A red leg warmer swung from an alder branch near the vehicle’s rear door. A note taped to the door terrified the hikers. It read: S.O.S. I NEED YOUR HELP. I AM INJURED, NEAR DEATH, AND TOO WEAK TO HIKE OUT OF HERE. I AM ALL ALONE, THIS IS NO JOKE. IN THE NAME OF GOD, PLEASE REMAIN TO SAVE ME. I AM OUT COLLECTING BERRIES CLOSE BY AND SHALL RETURN THIS EVENING. THANK YOU, CHRIS MCCANDLESS. AUGUST? Sources: Krakauer, Jon. 1996. Into the Wild. Anchor Books. New York, New York. Krakauer, Jon. 9-12-2013. How Chris McCandless Died. The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-chris-mccandless-died Saverin, Diana. 12-18-2013. The Chris McCandless Obsession Problem. Outside Magazine.https://www.outsideonline.com/1920626/chris-mccandless-obsession-pro

Erin Marie Gilbert As I’ve mentioned in other episodes, each year, an average of 2,250 people disappear in Alaska, twice the national average.  According to the Alaska State Troopers, approximately 1,520 people currently are listed as missing in Alaska. The cases date back to the 1950s. Some of these people vanished on purpose, and others suffered unfortunate accidents. We know a few met with foul play, though. They were alive, well, and happy one moment, and then they suddenly disappeared without a trace. The two stories I'm covering in this episode describe every parent's worst nightmare, and in both cases, I can't help but wonder why more wasn't done at the time to search for these young women. Since both cases technically remain open, though, the public cannot access Jonnie Renee White the police files, and perhaps authorities have done a great deal over the years to search for Erin and Jonnie. Maybe with new technology, detectives will solve these cases. Sources: Alaska Unsolved. Eva

In 1994, Kristopher Marcy and his friend, Bryan Perotti, managed the unthinkable when they escaped from Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, Alaska. When Marcy and Perotti first escaped, the police warned the public to be on the lookout for the pair. They considered both inmates dangerous, but they believed Bryan Perotti was the most violent of the two. Since Kristopher Marcy was in prison for stabbing a grandmother 26 times and then raping her as she lay dying, I couldn’t imagine a more violent predator and was curious to learn the details of Bryan Perotti’s young life and the crime that sent him to prison for 99 years. Sources: Stokes, Elisabeth Fairfield. 2017. Letters to Prison. Pacific Standard. https://psmag.com/social-justice/letters-to-prison Court of Appeals of Alaska.  2-8-1991. Perotti v. State. https://law.justia.com/cases/alaska/court-of-appeals/1991/a-3314-0.html Chief Judge Bryner. 12-24-1992. Perotti v. State. Court of Appeals of Alaska. https://www.casemine.com/judgement/u

Alaska is a dangerous place; many things can kill you here. Vicious predators, extreme temperatures, treacherous terrain, raging rivers, violent storms, and the churning ocean describe a few of the challenges facing humans in the 49th state. Wilderness dangers did not worry Shirley Koonz, though. She'd spent most of her adult life in the Alaska wilderness, and along with her husband, she’d raised her six kids on a one-hundred-and-sixty-acre homestead. Shirley knew how to survive in the Alaska wilderness, but when circumstances forced her to move to Fairbanks, Shirley lost her footing. She didn't fear wild animals, but she was wary of humans, and unfortunately, her instincts proved correct. Not long after moving into her double-wide trailer on the edge of Fairbanks, a monster entered her home and stabbed her 26 times. Sources Homicide probers seek clues in stabbing death. 6-14-1988. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Stabbing death stymies investigators. 6-24-1988. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Capps, Kris. 7

Many serial killers have called Alaska home, and if you apply the broadest definition to the term, then serial killers terrorized settlers here long before profilers coined the term “serial killer.” A near-total lack of law enforcement in Alaska in the early 1900s allowed human predators to prowl the territory and prey on settlers and gold miners. Imagine the nervous miners who had amassed a quantity of gold. How did they sleep? Terror must have gripped them during the long trek from their claim to the nearest town and bank where they could deposit their gold. Ed Krause was a vile predator who killed with no remorse and then took what he wanted. We will never know how many people Krause murdered or how much money, gold, fox furs, land, and other valuables he stole, but what we do know paints Krause as one of the darkest figures in Alaska’s history. Sources: Heaton, John W. 1915. Ed Krause. Outlaw Tales of Alaska. TwoDot. Guilford, CT. Hunt, William R. 1987. Hard to Convict. Distant Justice.

Recent events have reminded us that we cannot always trust the police to protect us. In the U.S., though, bad policemen and women represent only a small minority of law enforcement. I feel I can turn to the police if I need help, and if I report a crime, I believe they will respond and investigate my claim. The police in Nome, Alaska, however, often did not take reports of sexual harassment seriously, especially claims made by Alaska Native women. The Nome Police Department had a serious problem, and it took the murder of a beautiful, 19-year-old woman to expose the ugly truth. Sonya Ivanoff Sources: Troopers whittle down murder suspects list. 10-22-2003. Whitehorse Daily Star. Associate Press. Nome cop charged with murder. 10-27-2003. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Brant, Tataboline. 10-29-2003. Nome police must work to regain trust after officer charged with murder. Anchorage Daily News.https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2018/08/23/from-2003-nome-police-must-work-to-regain-trust-after-

Alaska is big; the state spans an area as wide as the distance from California to Florida, and much of the terrain is wild and inhospitable.  Alaska has 39 mountain ranges, 12,000 rivers, 100,000 glaciers, and 3 million lakes.  Much of the state is heavily forested, while boggy tundra covers other areas. In some regions, mudflats along the ocean act like quicksand, entrapping a hapless interloper so tightly, he can do nothing but watch the tide rise until he drowns. Avalanches and mudslides are common in the winter, and residents expect floods in the spring.  If you want to disappear, as this story will show, Alaska is the place to go. Sources: Tizon, Alex. 12-2-2017. In the land of missing persons: 2 families, 2 bodies, and a vast Alaska wilderness. Anchorage Daily News. https://www.adn.com/alaska-life/we-alaskans/2016/12/18/in-the-land-of-missing-persons-2-families-2-bodies-and-a-vast-alaska-wilderness/ Richard Hills. Track Missing. http://www.trackmissing.org/Cases/Details/561 ________________

Someone entered Buck Hofhines’s Fairbanks home on a bitterly cold January night and shot him seven times. His young bride, Verna, discovered his body, and she appeared shocked and confused. She told the Alaska State Troopers that she didn’t know why anyone would want to murder her husband. Authorities immediately suspected her of the crime, but she had a convincing alibi. Verna Hofhines was on stage performing as an exotic dancer when someone brutally murdered her husband, Buck. This crime and the resulting trial captivated the residents of Fairbanks. The trial included a “Perry Mason moment” and a violent offender who was not finished terrorizing the residents of Alaska. Sources: Brennan, Tom. 2005. A Fairbanks Divorce. Pgs. 7-87. Cold Crime. Epicenter Press. Two Persons held in Hofhines'’ death. 2-24-1972. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Harmonica Player, Dancer Charged With Murder, 2-25-1972. Fairbanks Pioneer All- Alaska Weekly. State Presents ‘Barebones’ Case in Brutal Hofhine

Alaska Hatcher Pass Friends and family describe Vladimir Petrovich Kostenko as a seeker, a man searching for the meaning of life and hoping to find his place and purpose in the universe. Alaska, with its raw, untamed wilderness, is a place popular for “seekers” trying to find themselves, calm their minds, and even attain spiritual enlightenment. Unfortunately, though, many of these dreamers have no idea how to survive in the harsh environment of the northern wilderness. Alaska is often breathtaking, beautiful, and peaceful, but it can also be a fierce monster waiting for you to make a fatal mistake. Chris McCandless either starved to death or ate something poisonous during his quest for enlightenment, and Timothy Treadwell felt he was “at one” with the bears until one killed him and ate him. The Alaska environment Alaska Hatcher Pass demands respect from those who travel there, and if you neglect to respect the wilderness, you will be lucky to survive. Was Vladimir Kostenko an ill-prepared

“You’re trying to fill my brain with things I didn’t do.” Rabinowitz Courthouse, Fairbanks At 2:45 am on October 11th, 1997, three friends in Fairbanks were heading home from a bar when they discovered the badly beaten body of 15-year-old John Hartman. Someone had kicked the boy’s head so many times that he was unrecognizable. He died the following evening when his parents agreed to take him off life support. Sources: O’Donoghue, Brian. 7-12-2014. Vent attorney alleges ‘prosecutorial misconduct. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Fairbanks Four when Charged O’Donoghue, Brian. 9-28-2014. The Fairbanks four: The elusive hunt for truth. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Boyce, Rod. 8-30-2015. Keeping the public informed – Inside the decision to publish in a divisive case. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Friedman, Sam. 10-6-2015. ‘Fairbanks Four’ trial begins. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Friedman, Sam 11-10-2015. Attorneys for ‘Fairbanks Four’ wrap up case. Fairbanks Daily News-M

Before Santa Fe, before Marjory Stoneman Douglas, before Sandy Hook, and even before Columbine, there was Bethel Regional High School in Bethel, Alaska. On February 19, 1997, Evan Ramsey loaded a Mossberg 500 12-gauge shotgun, hid the gun in his pants, and rode the school bus to the Bethel Regional High School, where he attended classes. What happened next would tear apart the small town of Bethel, Alaska, and as with all the school shootings to follow, students and parents would be left asking, “Why?” Sources: Evan Ramsey Evan E. Ramsey. Murderpedia. https://murderpedia.org/male.R/r/ramsey-evan.htm 10-10-2007. Four Wounded in Cleveland School Shooting Rampage. Anderson Cooper 360. CNN. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0710/10/acd.01.html McBride, Rhonda. 2-22-2017. Twenty years after the Bethel School shooting. Alaska PublicMedia. Bethel Alaska https://www.alaskapublic.org/2017/02/22/20-years-after-the-bethel-school-shooting/ Ron Edwards and Josh Palacios      

We can never know another person’s thoughts and motivations. Most killers have a reason to commit murder; whether for revenge, jealously, or money, they understand why they killed their victim. Kyung Yoon, though, said he did not know why he killed Amy Sue Patrick. He claimed he murdered her on the spur of the moment, but some evidence suggests Yoon premeditated the crime. Events in this case took a bizarre twist when the troopers arrested Yoon and hauled him to prison. Sources Mathiesen, Peter B. 2015. The Story of Amy Sue Patrick. Tales of the Alaska State Troopers. Skyhorse Publishing. New York, NY. Doto, Pamela. 9-27-1991. House sitter, 18, disappears. Anchorage Daily News. Wohlforth, Charles. 10-7-1991. Wasilla woman apparent murder victim. Anchorage Daily News. 10-8-1991. Suspect apparently took his life after confessing. Anchorage Daily News. 10-8-1991. Man held in murder falls sick in jail, dies. Sitka Sentinel. Enge, Marilee. 10-9-1991. Troopers say Yoon took arsenic. Anchorage

August 28, 1993 was a beautiful autumn day for a bicycle ride along the Parks Highway to Grey’s Creek at mile 81.5 on the highway. The burnished leaves of fireweed painted the hillsides a deep red, and a carpet of golden leaves covered the ground. In the distance, Mt. Denali stood watch over the region, wearing a coat of white from the first snows of the season. Judy Burgin When the cyclists noticed a swath of material peeking through a pile of leaves, they stopped to investigate. What they found, sent them scurrying back to the highway to flag down a truck and ask the occupants to call the Alaska State Troopers. Sources: Brown v. State. 11/03/2004. Alaska Court of Appeals. https://casetext.com/case/brown-v-state-5235 Carl Brown Brown v. State 4/4/2001. Find A Case.  http://ak.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20010404_0000093.AK.htm/qx Grice, Gordon. 9-27-2002. Crime Seen. Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2002-09/crime-seen/ Skip Palenik  

Ben Eielson Russ Merrill Airplanes first disappeared in Alaska as soon as they glided over the mountains, glaciers, oceans, tundra, and forests here. The rugged ocean and landscape of Alaska offer an abundance of places for a plane to vanish. Over the years, many planes have gone missing in Alaska, but not all the outcomes were bad, especially in the early years of aviation in the territory. Often, days or even weeks after a plane disappeared in a remote region and the pilot was assumed dead, he would wander out of the brush and into a village. Sources: Leon Crane Mondor, Colleen. 2012. The Map of My Dead Pilots. Lyons Press. Gilford, CT. Coppock, Mike. Flying on the Edge: Alaska’s Legendary Bush Pilots. History.net. https://www.historynet.com/flying-on-the-edge-alaskas-legendary-bush-pilots.htm Wien, Noel. Pioneer/Entrepreneur. Aviation Hall of Fame. https://www.nationalaviation.org/our-enshrinees/wien-noel/ A WWII Survival story from the Charley River. National Park Service. https://ww

What would you do for love? What if someone stands between you and your heart's desire, and the person in the middle is your true love's estranged spouse? What if the woman you love and her spouse try to rekindle the flames of their damaged marriage, and you must think of them together? Would you accept defeat and quietly walk away, or would you take a more proactive approach? Jim Wheeler decided the best path to his true love's heart was to blow up her husband's truck with her husband in it. Sources: Neighbor jailed in bombing of guardsman. 11/10/1993. Anchorage Daily News.https://adn.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F78EA61D7B5E22?search_terms Love may be bomb motive friends say suspect had crush on wife of slain man. 11/11/1993. Anchorage Daily News.https://adn.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F78EA16B5AAD13A?search_terms Indicted for murder grand jury cites alleged love-sick bomber. 11/20/1993. Anchorage Daily News. https://adn.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F78EA41ED13BA65?search_terms 2nd man arrested in truck bomb

As soon as detectives saw her body, they knew someone had violently abused and murdered her. Forty-one years later, investigators believe they finally know who killed Shelley Connolly. Sources: DNA links Oregon man to 1978 cold case murder of Shelley Connolly https://www.ktva.com/story/40997206/troopers-arrest-man-accused-of-1978-cold-case-murder-of-shelley-connolly Oregon man arrested, charged with teen’s murder in 41-year-old Anchorage cold case https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2019/09/03/oregon-man-arrested-for-teens-murder-in-41-year-old-anchorage-cold-case/ Details about Gresham suspect emerge from 1978 Alaska cold case https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2019/09/details-about-gresham-suspect-emerge-from-1978-alaska-cold-case.html Alaska’s DNA detectives make an arrest 41 years after teen’s murder https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Alaskas-DNA-detectives-make-an-arrest-41-years-after-a-teens-murder--559314791.html Bail reduced for suspect in 1978 cold case murder of Shelle

Money often leads to greed and sometimes even to murder, so we should not be surprised to learn about a miner killing other miners for their gold, the rawest form of currency. This story sounds believable from our jaded twenty-first-century perspective. In 1939, though, to the miners in Cache Creek country, the residents of Talkeetna, and people in Anchorage, the murders at Cache Creek represented the worst type of betrayal of the code of trust and respect followed by the independent men and women who labored in the mud to eke out a living and extract a valuable mineral from the earth. When the FBI did not quickly apprehend the killer, miners began to lock their cabins and fear their neighbors.   Sources: I based this story almost entirely on the book The Mystery of the Cache Creek Murders by Roberta Sheldon, published in 2001. I have only outlined the basics of the murders in this newsletter, so if you want more details, not only about the murders but also about the life of a gold miner in Alaska i

When a small Alaska town loses one of its children, the entire community grieves, and when a monster brutally rapes, murders, and discards that child, the residents cry out for answers and justice. In the case of Jessica Baggen, the folks in the community of Sitka, Alaska, would not have those answers for twenty-four years. Sources Boots, Michelle T. 8-11-2020. Suspect in 1996 cold-case murder of Sitka girl killed himself last week in Arkansas, troopers say. Anchorage Daily News. Available at https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2020/08/11/troopers-announce-theyve-identified-killer-in-1996-sitka-cold-case-murder-of-teenage-girl-arkansas-suspect-kills-himself/#:~:text=When%20cold%20case%20investigators%20traveled,the%20Alaska%20State%20Troopers%20Tuesday. Boots, Michelle T. 9-9-2020. 23 years ago, Alaska tried the wrong man for the murder of a Sitka teenager. Now police say they’ve found the real killer. Why wasn’t he a suspect all along? Available at https://www.ktoo.org/2020/09/09/23-yea

Miranda Barbour In December 2013, after police arrested Miranda Barbour, 19, for the murder of Troy LaFerrara in Pennsylvania, Miranda told a news reporter she had murdered between 22 and 100 people. She said she killed a few in North Carolina, Texas, and California, but she claimed most of the murders occurred in her home state of Alaska. Her statement startled law enforcement officials across the country, but they soon began to question her declarations. Was her claim of serial murders real, a cry for attention, or was she attempting to lay the foundation for an insanity defense? After the brutal killing of LaFerrara, though, few investigators doubted Miranda could have killed before, and most believed if she hadn’t been stopped, she would have killed again. What should we think, then? Is Miranda Barbour a serial murderer, a pathological liar, or both? Elytte Barbour Sources: BBC Miranda Barbour, Serial Killer or Liar https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6w80lb Miranda Barbour. Murderpedia h

The deadliest marine disaster on the west coast of North America occurred in Lynn Canal on October 24, 1918, but few people have ever heard of it. Approximately 345 people died when the SS Princess Sophia slid off Vanderbilt Reef and sank. Did the captain’s recklessness cause the disaster, and did his poor decision-making doom the passengers and crew of the Princess Sophia? Sources: SS Princess Sophia Expedition. Available at: http://www.princesssophia.org/history Sullivan, Toby.  12/12/2018. The Sinking of the Princess Sophia. Kodiak Daily Mirror Princess Sophia. Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Princess_Sophia                             _________________________________________________________________________________________ If you would like to support Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier? Become a patron and join The Last Frontier Club. Each month I will provide one or more of the fol

When someone brutally murdered the postmistress of Ruby, Alaska, a small village on the Yukon River, the Alaska State Troopers believed they had a ‘locked-room” mystery on their hands. They suspected one of the villagers of killing Agnes Wright. After all, there are only two ways into and out of Ruby: either by boat on the Yukon River or by air travel on a small bush plane. Neither method of transportation is inconspicuous to or from a village where everyone knows everyone else, and a stranger’s presence warrants stares and whispers. Since the troopers heard no credible accounts of a stranger in town on the day of the murder, they began with the premise that one of the villagers committed the crime. But who in this small village hated Agnes Wright enough to beat her savagely and then shoot her? Sources: Historic Ruby  1996 Postmaster. Behind the Badge. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Smithsonian U.S. Postal Museum. https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/behind-the-badge-case-histories-assa

Was the wreck of the Clara Nevada a terrible accident or the greatest mass-murder in Alaska history? Superstitions swirl around boats, and some captains believe bizarre myths. Renaming a vessel remains foremost among the maritime harbingers of bad luck, and if you dare change the name of your boat, you must follow a strict protocol to avoid certain doom. The Clara Nevada did not even complete her maiden voyage under her new name. Is this boat the case study to prove the truth of the old mariner’s superstition, or did her captain plot her demise? On February 5, 1898, the SS Clara Nevada departed Skagway, Alaska, headed for Juneau and then Seattle. Hurricane-force winds of 90 knots (100 mph 161 km/h) pummeled the vessel with following seas of twelve to fifteen feet (4-5 m) as the helmsman attempted to navigate the infamous Lynn Canal of Alaska’s Inside Passage. When the decrepit old ship reportedly struck a rock and sank, the news surprised no one. Searchers found the body of only one man, the ship’

Would you recognize a serial killer if you rubbed elbows with him in a bar or if he struck up a conversation with you on a hiking trail? Maybe something about the person would set off alarm bells, especially if you found yourself alone with him. A sociopath or a psychopath can often present a charming demeanor, though, so most of us would never notice the predator in our midst. We might not realize the friendly stranger is a brutal murderer until we read the news the next day. I learned about the killing spree of John Fautenberry in a Facebook message from a reader named Brian Akre. Brian was an Associated Press correspondent in Juneau, Alaska, in 1991, when he encountered Fautenberry at a bar on the night Fautenberry murdered his last victim. Brian said he talked to Fautenberry at the bar and saw him with the man he would murder a few hours later. Brian said, "It was a weird experience. When I saw the news story in the Juneau Empire and realized it was the same guy I had seen at the bar, it sent a shiver

When a son disappears, his parents suffer a blow from which they will never recover, but how do parents cope when two of their sons vanish? Imagine if those two brothers disappeared a decade apart. I’ve mentioned before the alarming statistics about the number of people who disappear in Alaska. People walk into the woods and never return. They go out to sea on a boat, and the vessel vanishes. Far too many have climbed into the cockpit of an airplane and evaporated into thin air. In this episode, though, I’ll tell you the tragic, unbelievable account of the disappearance of two brothers. Alaska State Troopers Department of Public Safety: (907) 269-5511 Sources: Michael Palmer Michael Timothy Palmer. The Charley Project. https://charleyproject.org/case/michael-timothy-palmer Michael Palmer Age Progression to 28   Charles Edwin Palmer V. The Charley Project. https://charleyproject.org/case/charles-edwin-palmer-v Aho, Karen. 7-17-1991. Police Press Hunt for Missing Teen. AK Fatal. h

You might not associate The Birdman of Alcatraz with Alaska, but Robert Stroud, often called the Birdman, once lived in Alaska, and after murdering a man in a Juneau bar, he spent the rest of his life, 54 years. He was in solitary confinement for 42 of those years. Stroud is one of Alaska’s most famous criminals, and if you are like me, you will find his story is fascinating.   Sources: Robert Stroud Biography (1890-1963). Biography. https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/robert-stroud-birdman-of-alcatraz Robert Franklin Stroud. Murderpedia. https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/stroud-robert.htm Brennan, Tom. 2001. Birdman of Alcatraz. Murder at 40 Below. Epicenter Press Bovsun, Mara. 2019. Justice Story: How the “Birdman of Alcatraz” soared to fame. New York Daily News. https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ny-birdman-of-alcatraz-20191110-o4bduk3cjzg43e5h2pxrojec4i-story.html   __________________________________________________________________________ If you would l

Retirees Robert and Dagmar Linton eagerly embarked on a long-planned camping trip in the Pacific Northwest, and they promised their children they would be careful. The Lintons did not express concerns about their journey, but Dagmar made sure their wills and affairs were in order before they left home. Was she just cautious, or did she have a premonition something terrible would befall them? Her son and daughter would always wonder if their mother had concerns, and they would never know what exactly happened to their parents. Kenny Lake Sources Charles T. Sinclair. Murderpedia. Available at: https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/sinclair-charles.htm Charles T. Sinclair. Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_T._Sinclair Smith, Pete. 1-18-2016. 2015 Coin Shop Murders Add to a Long List of Tragic Ends for the Hobby. Coinweek.com. Available at: https://coinweek.com/people-in-the-news/crime-and-fraud/2015-coin-shop-murders/ McMillan, Penelope. 11/23/1990. Suspect in Murder Spr

Who brutally raped and murdered James and Anne Benolken in their Juneau apartment in 1982? Nearly four decades later, many questions remain unanswered. Emanuel Teller and Newton Lambert                 Sources Sources Starr, Douglas. 12-1-2013. Do police interrogation techniques produce false confessions?https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/09/the-interview-7 Episode 4: The Benolken Murders, the police investigation and Special Agent Malone Leo Helmar. Murder Alaska https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7LCJWKcgiQ Episode 2: Introduction to the Benolken Case. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/alaska/comments/5vnlq5/murder_alaska_podcast_episode_2_introduction_to/ Episode 3: About the brutal murders of James and Anne Benolken in Juneau, Alaska in 1982 Who Really Murdered the Benolkens? KTOO Public Media https://www.ktoo.org/2012/07/19/who-really-murdered-the-benolkens/ Juneau man wants DNA tested, seeks review of nearly 30-year old homicide con

On Valentine’s Day 1983, two new, beautiful sister ships, the Americus and the Altair sank in the Bering Sea in calm water while on their way to the king crab grounds near the Pribilof Islands. Fourteen men lost their lives in the worst disaster in the history of U.S. commercial fishing. A massive investigation ensued to determine what happened to the boats and what could be done to make commercial fishing safer.                     Those lost: The Americus: George Nations Brent Boles Larry Littlefield Rich Awes Victor Bass Jeff Nations Paul Northcutt The Altair: Ronald Beirnes Jeff Martin Lark Breckenridge Troy Gudbranson Randy Harvey Brad Melvin Tony Vienhage Sources: Much of my newsletter is based on the book Lost At Sea by Patrick Dillon. I’ve read this book three times, and I highly recommend it. Dillon extensively researched the losses of the Americus and Altair. He talked to fishermen, families of those lost, investig

The endless supply of larger-than-life characters in Alaska makes the state fertile ground for reality television shows and movies based on true stories. If you made a list of the strong, fascinating individuals in the history of this vast state, though, Joe Vogler would rank near the top. Picture a sharply dressed man, wearing a fedora, a bolo tie, and a plaid flannel shirt while he stands in front of a group of rowdy people and proclaims his controversial opinions in a booming voice. Joe Vogler developed a large following of folks who agreed with his politics, but he also made many enemies. When he disappeared from his remote home, people wondered if an enemy had killed him, or if the murderer was someone who claimed to be his friend and colleague?           Sources Brenan, Tom. Cold Crime. 2005. Epicenter Press. Death of a Maverick. On Joe Vogler, an independent Alaska. Michael Coppock. Know Alaska? Juneau Empire. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20081008072441

When doing a podcast about murder and mystery in Alaska, it is difficult to avoid the subject of "The Alaska Triangle." First named in 1972, the Alaska Triangle stretches from Anchorage in southcentral Alaska to Juneau in the southeast panhandle to Utkiagaviq (formerly Barrow) on Alaska's northern coast. Since 1988, more than 16,000 people have vanished from this area, and every year, approximately four people go missing per every 1000 Alaska residents. This rate is twice the national average. I was surprised when I first learned how many people disappear in Alaska, but I don't need an underground pyramid or mysterious magnetic vortices to explain the statistics. I also don't understand the need for a triangle since people disappear throughout the state, not just in the area outlined by a geometric figure's hypothetical lines. I guess a triangle conjures up the aura of the Bermuda Triangle, though, and suggests the possibility of mysterious forces at play. Honestly, I've always found the idea of an omin

Sitka, Alaska We all know married couples who seem to thrive on discord. These are the people we avoid joining for dinner and the ones in whose presence we squirm as they argue, yell, and threaten. We wonder why they got married, and if they divorce, we’re certain no one else would want either one of them. Still, I’ve met couples who not only manage to survive their contentious relationships but enjoy sparring with their partners. Marriage is hard, but most of us try, at least for a while, to make a relationship work, and if it doesn’t work, we leave and go our separate ways. Jane and Scott Coville constantly fought, even before they moved to Alaska and married, but Jane did not divorce Scott; there was no need to sever ties with him because Scott conveniently disappeared. Did he grow disillusioned with Jane, marriage, and life in Alaska? Did Scott take off on his own for an adventure somewhere else, a place far away from his current responsibilities, or did something much more sinister happen to Sco

On November 12th, 2015, Peter, the Island Air, mail-plane pilot, landed at Port William Wilderness Lodge on Shuyak Island. The lodge occupies an old cannery, and Peter found this stop memorable because instead of both of the lodge’s caretakers greeting him, as usual, only one caretaker, 44-year-old Steven Ridenour, met the plane. Peter wondered why the other caretaker, Steven McCaulley, 56, also did not arrive to help unload the freight. Since the tide was high, the plane could not pull up to the beach, and Ridenour had to ferry the mail to shore by boat. Without McCaulley there to assist, the job proved difficult and time-consuming. Peter also found it curious that Ridenour simply stacked the freight above the high-tide mark, grabbed his gear, and jumped on the plane for a ride back to Kodiak. Ridenour then flew to Anchorage where he lived. On November 15th, Steven Ridenour called the manager of Port William Wilderness Lodge, told him he’d quit his job, and asked for his past four paychecks. On Novemb

Tazlina, Alaska, an unincorporated village located 187 miles (301 km) northeast of Anchorage, is nestled along the banks of the Copper River. In 1991, 241 people lived in Tazlina. Eleven-year-old Mandy Lemaire, her parents, and brothers had just moved to Tazlina from Anchorage a year earlier. Mandy’s parents felt Tazlina would be a safer place to raise their children and a place where their kids could learn to hunt and fish and enjoy the Alaska outdoors. Soon after moving to Tazlina, Mandy made friends with Erin, a girl who lived three-quarters of a mile down the road. On August 22, 1991, with only a few days left before the beginning of the school year, the girls asked their parents if they could get together to play. Mandy invited Erin to her house, and with their parents’ permission, Mandy planned to walk halfway to Erin’s where the two girls would meet and then return to Mandy’s house. Mandy’s mother was reluctant to let her daughter walk by herself, not because she was worried about humans,

It took a horrible murder for Alaska to revise its statutes for the criminally insane from some of the most lenient sentencing laws in the country to the strictest laws in the U.S. for the insanity defense. On the night of May 3, 1982, one veteran Anchorage police officer was quoted as saying, “This has got to be one of the grisliest nights I’ve ever seen.” Within an hour, seven people lost their lives. Three died in the Black Bull bar in the Muldoon section of Anchorage, and the other four were shot in Russian Jack Springs Park in East Anchorage. At first, investigators wondered if the two crime scenes were connected, but they soon learned nothing linked the two horrific events. Russian Jack Springs Park   Russsian Jack Sources Ice Cold Killers Season Two, Episode One: Blood Red Sun. Brennan, Tom. 2001. By Reason of Insanity. Murder at 40 Below. Epicenter Press. Murderpedia, Charles L. Meach III. Available at https://murderpedia.org/male.M/m/meach-charles.htm New York Times

Bonnie Craig I can’t imagine the agony of losing a child for any reason, but how does a mother cope when she learns someone murdered her daughter, and she knows terror and pain must have marked the last moments of her child’s life? The book Justice for Bonnie deals with this issue. The well-written book profiles a mother’s fight to learn the truth about what happened to her daughter. Kenneth Dion Anchorage Daily News Sources: To read more about Bonnie Craig and her mother’s fight for justice, I highly recommend Justice for Bonnie. Holland, Magan. 5/2/2007. DNA links prison inmate to 1994 Bonnie Craig murder. Anchorage Daily News. http://www.sitnews.us/0507news/050207/050207_shns_dna_arrest.html Mann, Camille. 5/18/2011. Kenneth Dion, ex-soldier on trial for 1994 murder of Alaska coed Bonnie Craig. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kenneth-dion-ex-soldier-on-trial-for-1994-murder-of-alaska-coed-bonnie-craig/ http://www.sitnews.us/0507news/050207/050207_shns_dna_arrest.html 6/15/201

John Patrick Addis Most of us like to believe we can trust the police, but not everyone goes into law enforcement for the greater good. Some enter the police academy because they crave power over others and what better job than policing offers this power? I believe most police officers are good, and a few are bullies. John Patrick Addis, though, was the worst kind of police officer. He was a monster with a badge. Sources If you would like to read more about John Patrick Addis and his downward spiral from a respected Alaska State Trooper to a murderous felon, I suggest you read Ghost: The True Story of One Man’s Descent into Madness and Murder by Glenn Puit. Zekan, Karen. 10/19/1998. Remains identified as those of LV woman. Las Vegas Sun. https://lasvegassun.com/news/1998/oct/19/remains-identified-as-those-of-lv-woman/ Tataboline, Brant. 8/2/2003. Ex-trooper linked to second disappearance MURDER SUSPECTED: One more girlfriend missing; first was found dead in Southwest. Anchorage Daily News. htt

Talkeetna, Alaska, is considered the gateway to Mt. Denali (McKinley), the highest mountain in North America. In the summer, tourists, including mountain climbers, hikers, flight-seers, and those who just want to view the majestic mountain, flock to Talkeetna. In the winter, though, the tourists leave, and the 800 residents who remain settle down to quiet lives, watching magnificent displays of the northern lights, playing in the deep snow, raising their children, and gathering for social events to help them forget the cold, dark winter. Talkeetna is a small town where nearly everyone knows everyone else, and when Bethany Correira disappeared, residents immediately responded to search for one of their own. Billy and Linda Correira moved to Talkeetna in the 1970s. They built a log cabin near a pond and raised two sons and two daughters. Linda home-schooled her kids, taught them to be independent, and told them they could accomplish anything they wanted in life. Bethany, the second oldest child, was sweet an

Most people understand they face the risk of encountering wild animals when they enter the woods in Alaska. What people do not expect is to be shot and killed while hiking on a remote trail, so when a series of murders occurred in parks and on trails near Anchorage in the summer of 2016, residents demanded more information from the police. Were the murders related to each other, was a serial killer stalking the city, was it safe to go hiking after dark, and what were the police doing to solve these murders? Police remained tight-lipped, and tensions rose. Colt Python   Jame Dale Ritchie           Sources: Hopkins, Kyle. Dec. 30, 2016. TIMELINE: The life of accused killer James Dale Ritchie. KTUU News. https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/TIMELINE-The-life-of-accused-killer-James-Dale-Ritchie-408889305.html Hopkins, Kyle. April 26, 2017. Serial killer: Police say James Dale Ritchie committed 5 murders in 2016. KTUU News https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Serial-killer-Police-say

As troopers investigated the death of Kent Leppink, they uncovered a complex web of lies, seduction, and betrayal, with Mechele Hughes at the center of it all. Mechele was only 23 years old when someone murdered Kent Leppink on a remote trail, but the beautiful young woman already had accumulated three fiancés who lavished her with furs, jewels, and money. Mechele Hughes Linehan Kent Leppink             John Carlin III Great Alaskan Bush Co.           Sources: Brennan, Tom. 2015. Dead Man’s Dancer. Epicenter Press. https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Mans-Dancer-Mechele-Linehan/dp/1935347160/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Dead+Man%27s+Dancer%2C+Tom+Brennan&qid=1591316098&s=books&sr=1-1 Death of Kent Leppink. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kent_Leppink Mechele K. Linehan. Murderpedia. https://murderpedia.org/female.L/l/linehan-mechele.htm Former Olympia mom wins appeal in Alaska murder case. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-

Alaska’s slogan is “The Last Frontier,” and to some people, this means Alaska is the wild west, a place with less law and order, and someplace they can live as they choose. The man who called himself Papa Pilgrim believed moving his family to the wilderness of Alaska offered him the opportunity to do anything he wanted. Papa Pilgrim was the worst kind of a hypocrite because he hid his crimes behind his religious zeal. Like a charismatic cult leader, Pilgrim could appear charming and persuasive in public, but there was another side of Papa Pilgrim, and this was the side his family saw all too often. No one knew of the horrors the Pilgrim family endured at the hands of their father, high on the mountain above McCarthy Alaska. Robert Hale aka Papa Pilgrim                       Sources Pilgrim's Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier. Kizzia, Tom. 6-16-2013. Crown Publisher https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Kizzia-Pi

Muriel Pfeil Neil Mackay was ruthless in both his personal and business dealings, and associates learned not to cross him. When a car bomb instantly killed his ex-wife, Muriel Pfeil, police knew Mackay had planned her murder, but they could not find enough evidence to charge him with the crime. Muriel's brother, Bob, believed Mackay murdered his sister, and he fought Mackay for custody over Neil and Muriel's son. Mackay became enraged and obsessed with Bob Pfeil and plotted how to destroy his nemesis. Bob Pfeil   ___________________________________________________________________ I have a special treat for you this week. My friend and fellow author and podcaster, Mary Ann Poll, and I are doing cross-over podcasts. Mary Ann hosts the popular podcast, Real Ghost Chatter, and I am a guest on her podcast this week. In this episode of Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, I tell you the story about the brutal murder of a woman in downtown Anchorage. Then, on Real Ghost Chatter, Mary Ann and I