Hunting Humans: The Shocking Crimes of Robert Hansen

The young prostitute had never been so afraid. As she sat handcuffed in the back of the plane, shaking uncontrollably, she knew she had to act. Her attacker was not looking; he was busy loading the plane with heaven knows what. This was her only chance. She quickly climbed out of the plane and ran like the devil was chasing her. Her fear intensified when she heard the man yelling after her. Lucky for her, a truck was coming down the road.

It was June 13, 1983, and the trucker was passing through town when he noticed the frantic woman flagging him down on the side of the road. Her hair and clothes were disheveled and she had a pair of handcuffs hanging from one of her wrists. She was bordering hysterical as she told the driver that someone was chasing her and begged him to drop her off at the Big Timber Motel. After taking the woman to her requested destination, the driver headed to the local police department to report the incident.

Officer Greg Baker was sent to the motel where the woman told him a horrifying story: She was a prostitute and had been approached by a red-haired man in his 40s who offered her $200 for oral sex. She agreed to the arrangement, but grew anxious when the man pulled out a gun and handcuffed her. He took her to his house where he viciously raped and beat her. At one point, he even sexually assaulted her with a hammer. He told her that he was going to fly her to his cabin and that he would let her go if she did as he said. Her attacker shoved her into a private plane and she managed to escape when he was distracted. He chased her at first, but backed off when he saw her flag down the truck driver.

After taking her statement, the police took the woman to the airport where her attacker had taken her, in hopes that she would be able to identify his plane. She did and after checking with the flight tower, police learned that the aircraft belonged to a local named Robert Hansen. Officers headed to Hansen's address immediately and confronted him. He vehemently denied knowing or attacking the young woman. When asked about his activities on the day in question, he claimed to have been in the company of two male friends. His alibi that checked out and no charges were filed. Unbeknownst to the police officers, a very dangerous man had just escaped their grasp: a man who had brutally killed 17 women.

According to Bernard DuClos in his book Fair Game, Hansen had a rough childhood. Robert Christian Hansen was born in Idaho on February 15, 1939. His parents were very strict and he was forced to work long hours in the family bakery. He was very anxious as a child and teen. He spoke with a stammer and was extremely timid. He had a disfiguring case of acne and felt rejected and disregarded by the opposite sex.

Hansen briefly served in the Army Reserves after graduating high school. He married in 1961 and was divorced that same year after he was arrested for burning down a school bus garage. He served 20 months in prison for the arson conviction before he was paroled.

Over the subsequent few years, Hansen was arrested several times for petty thefts. He married for a second time in 1967 and the couple moved to Anchorage, Alaska. Hansen flourished after the move: he opened his own bakery, earned his pilot's license, and purchased a plane. He was an avid hunter and enjoyed killing various animals for sport in his leisure time.

He was arrested two times in 1972: once for abduction/attempted rape and again for rape. He was released after serving only six months on a reduced charge. In 1976, he was convicted of larceny after shoplifting a chainsaw. He was sentenced to five years in prison for his crime, but the sentence was overturned on appeal. During his stay in prison, he was diagnosed with bipolar-effective disorder, but did not follow through with his psychiatrist's recommendation of lithium treatment. He was released after only one year.

Unfortunately, all of his aforementioned transgressions were only the tip of a deeply disturbed iceberg. Between 1973 and 1983, Hansen killed 17 women and raped an additional 30. He targeted prostitutes and exotic dancers. His MO consisted of transporting the women to his wilderness retreat via airplane where he brutally raped them. Those who did not charge him for sex were released with no further harm, but those who demanded payment met a horrible fate. After raping and torturing the latter women for days, Hansen released them into the wilderness. The women were stripped of their clothes and given a small head start. He then stalked them like animals with his hunting knife and rifle.

On September 12, 1982, off-duty police officers John Daily and Audi Holloway were hunting near Knik River when they noticed a boot and partially decomposed bone sticking out of the sand. According to Walter Gilmour and Leland Hale, authors of Butcher, Baker, Sgt. Rollie Port was assigned to the case. Port was one of the best detectives on the force and was known for being meticulous. His scrupulous ways soon paid off. After hours of sifting through the sand surrounding the remains, a shell casing from a .223-caliber bullet was found: the type of bullet used in high-powered rifles.

The autopsy revealed that the victim was a young female. She had been dead for approximately six months. The cause of death was three gunshot wounds from .223-caliber bullets. Two weeks later, the young woman was identified as 24-year-old Sherry Morrow. She was an exotic dancer from Anchorage and had last been seen on November 17, 1981. Her friends mentioned that the last time they saw her, she was going to meet a man who had offered to pay her to pose for some photographs.

Realizing that there had been an increase in missing persons cases over the previous two years, the police inferred that Sherry's murder was not an isolated incident. Many of the people reported missing were topless dancers and prostitutes, which supported their theory. Authorities kept their suspicions to themselves so as to not tip off the killer.

After joining forces with a nearby jurisdiction, Sgt. Lyle Haugsven discovered a possible link between Sherry's murder and two unsolved cases from 1980. During that year, a woman's remains were found in a shallow grave near Eklutna Road. The woman was never identified. She was nicknamed "Eklutna Annie" by the detectives assigned to her case. Later that same year, the remains of Joanne Messina, a topless dancer, was found.

Hope of catching the killer seemed bleak until the incident in1983 when the young prostitute escaped from her abductor's airplane. Even then, the suspect had an alibi and no charges were filed.

On September 2, 1983 (three months after the prostitute/Hansen encounter and 10 days before the one-year anniversary of the discovery of Sherry's remains), another body was found near Knik River. The partially decomposed remains were buried in a shallow grave. The victim was identified as 17-year-old Paula Golding. She was an exotic dancer/prostitute from Anchorage who had been reported missing five months earlier. Examination of the body revealed that she had been shot with a .223-caliber bullet.

At this point, detectives realized that they were probably dealing with a serial killer and they called in the FBI for help. The FBI sent Special Agent John Douglas (renowned law enforcement figure and criminal profiler) to profile the killer.

In his book Mind Hunter, Douglas describes his initial thoughts on the killer: he believed that the perpetrator chose topless dancers and prostitutes as his victims because they are usually transients and their disappearances are likely to go unnoticed. Local authorities were still suspicious of Hansen and urged Douglas to look into his background. Douglas took notice of Hansen's small build, his shyness, his self-esteem deficiency and the fact that he was teased at school and rejected by females because of his lack of physical appeal. Douglas then determined that if Hansen were the killer, he may be killing prostitutes and topless dancers to assert his control over women and get revenge on the women who had rejected him over the years. Douglas also suggested that if Hansen were the killer, he probably would have kept souvenirs from each of his victims.

Still suspicious of Hansen, investigators decided to take a closer look at his alibi. Douglas believed that Hansen's friends were covering for him and he advised the investigators to threaten to press charges against them in the event that they were found to be lying. The tactic worked and both of the men confessed that they had not been with Hansen on the day/night that the young prostitute was kidnapped and taken to the airport. They also volunteered that their friend was committing insurance fraud. Hansen had reported that several items had been stolen from his home by a robber. In actuality, there was no burglary and Hansen was hiding the items in his basement. Sgt. Glenn Flothe obtained eight search warrants for Hansen, his home and his airplane.

According to Hunting Humans by Michael Newton, the search of Hansen's home yielded important evidence: several guns and rifles, including a .223-caliber Mini-14; an aviation map with marked locations; jewelry; newspaper clipping; and identification cards, many of which belonged to the victims.

Hansen was arrested and charged with assault, kidnapping, weapons offenses, theft and insurance fraud. The ballistic test results were not in yet, so murder charges were not filed at the time. On November 3, 1983, a grand jury returned four indictments against Hansen: five counts of misconduct in possession of a handgun; second-degree theft; first-degree assault and kidnapping; and theft by deception in insurance fraud. Hansen pleaded not guilty to all charges and his bail was set at $500,000.

On November 20, 1983, the ballistic results showed that the shell casings from the gravesites had all been fired from Hansen's rifle. Realizing that the evidence against him was overwhelming, Hansen had his lawyer make a deal with the District Attorney. D.A. Victor Krumm agreed that in exchange for a full confession, Hansen would only be charged with the four murders that the authorities were aware of at the time and that he would be able to serve his sentence in a federal facility as opposed to a maximum-security prison.

Hansen accepted the deal and gave a full confession of his crimes. The details of the murders bore striking resemblance to The Most Dangerous Game, a short work of fiction written by Richard Connell. The story tells of three victims of a shipwreck who find themselves on an unfamiliar island. There they meet General Zaroff, a Russian Count. At first the trio was thrilled to find another person on the island, but their relief quickly turns to terror when they discover that the shipwreck was no accident and General Zaroff had lured them to the island so he could hunt them.

After confessing, Hansen led the authorities to the grave sites of 12 additional victims. On February 18, 1984, he pleaded guilty to the first-degree murders of Paula Golding, Joanna Messina, Sherry Morrow and "Eklutna Annie." He was sentenced to 461 years plus life in prison without possibility of parole. He remains at Spring Creek Correctional Center as of the time of this writing.

Seven of the additional 12 victims were later identified as: Sue Luna, Malai Larsen, DeLynn Frey, Teresa Watson, Angela Feddern, Tamara Pederson and Lisa Futrell.

Officers have still not been able to identify "Eklutna Annie." She was a white brunette and in her 20s. She was found in knee-high, red/brown boots, jeans, a sleeveless shirt and a brown leather jacket. If anyone has any information, please contact William Hughes at 907-296-5058 or william_hughes@dps.state.ak

Sources:

Serial Killer Files by Harold Schechter.

The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers by Michael Newton.

Hunting Humans: An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers by Michael Newton.

Fair Game by Bernard DuClos

The Savage Sex Slayer Who Bloodied The Alaskan Landscape by Walter Gilmour and Leland E. Hale.