Why This Man Hunted Humans: America’s Most Terrifying Serial Killer

The wilds of Alaska are a vast and untamed frontier.

“Alaska is beautiful and dangerous all at the same time and it can turn on you in an instant.”

Amid the rugged wilderness people vanish at an eerily high rate. People that come to Alaska are either escapists or escapes.

One by one a madman is preying on the women of Anchorage.

“There was rumblings about possibly serial killer praying on the streets of Anchorage. It was like a ghost story. He enjoys the complete helplessness of his victims. He wanted to hear the terror in her voice.”

Police are pulled into a deadly game to try and solve one of the most infamous cases in America.

25 miles northeast of Anchorage the Kick River Valley is a premier hunting ground.

On a brisk September afternoon in 1982 two police officers on their day off are hunting for wild game along the banks of the Winding Gorge.

“Alaska is definitely a hunter’s paradise. For a hunter from the lower 48 this is really the pinnacle of their hunting career.”

As darkness falls without a kill the men decide to head home.

But while hiking back to their campsite they make a chilling discovery.

“They knew enough not to disturb the scene of that crime and backed away and got the troopers up there.”

Alaska state troopers arrive in force. They cordon off the area and begin excavating the scene. The officers unearth the partial remains of a woman buried in a shallow grave. They also find bones scattered across the surrounding area.

“Well if you have some kind of animal or a bear that comes into your crime scene prior to you getting here they’re liable to drag off most if not all of your evidence of the crime you’re investigating.”

There is no ID on the woman. Was she a hiker who lost her way or did she unknowingly walk into the path of something more ominous?

“A lot can kill you in Alaska. The wildlife can kill you. The climate can kill you. Your own incompetence can kill you and your fellow man without a doubt.”

Investigators sift through the sand like archaeologists hoping to discover evidence that might shed some light on the case.

Hours later they find their first clue.

The shell casing of a single bullet a 223 caliber used in high-powered rifles. But this is no hunting accident. To police it looks like an execution. Handcuffs and ACE bandages found among the remains lead investigators to suspect the victim had been bound and blindfolded at the time of death.

At autopsy the coroner determines the woman died of three gunshot wounds. Using dental records she is identified as 24-year-old Sher Morrow. A dancer at the Wild Cherry Bar on the notoriously seedy side of Anchorage known as 4th Avenue.

“There’s assaults robberies burglaries all kinds of stuff. There’s drugs. It’s a big drug area. Probably our biggest high crime area of the town. There’s been several homicides since I’ve been on in the past 3 and 1/2 years. It was just one long series of bars and strip clubs seedy hotels that you could rent by the hour. There was cars all over the place stopping picking girls up.”

Sherry was drawn to the wilds of Alaska by the lucrative promise of the Trans Alaska pipeline.

“It was sort of a perfect storm and it was just wild and willy with the construction going on all kinds of people moving in. We had an awful lot of money flowing around because the oil was flowing.”

Lured by easy money Sherry wound up on 4th Avenue a part of town where men who worked the pipeline like to spend their cash and blow off steam.

“There was rough necks GIs prostitutes pimps and the smell of money and they had the triangle trade going and that was the pimps and the bar owners running the girls from the west coast to Alaska to Hawaii. So you had this constant turnover of young girls out there on the street. It made it easy to disappear in the crowd.”

Police pour through the stacks of missing person’s reports of other girls who worked Fourth Avenue and disappeared.

“It’s no big deal when they disappear. The police get a little nervous about it but they unless they have some evidence that a crime was committed they would tend at that time to assume that the person just left town.”

Before the discovery of Sher Morrow’s body none of the missing person’s reports seemed to be linked nor did they seem to suggest murder.

But Morrow’s death is enough to force investigators to take another look at the cold case files. Two years before Morrow’s body was found construction workers digging near a Clutner road along the Kik River make a startling discovery.

“Cluton is pretty remote area. Uh there was one road that went up toward the valley. But you could walk 200 yds off the road and you’re in wilderness. Real wilderness.”

“Hey Gary come over here.”

There the men discover the partial remains of a woman buried in a shallow grave.

The scene has been so decimated by animals that police can’t find enough evidence to make an ID.

“And if it’s an old scene it’s been there a while. There’s the elements the changing temperatures the thawing and freezing possible predation on a grave. With those things in mind you’re going to lose a lot of evidence. You just have to deal with it. You just have to expand your search and find the evidence that’s gone missing. Sometimes that’s possible sometimes that’s not.”

Looks like an Annie. The victim is dubbed a Clutna Annie by police.

“They didn’t know who she was. There was no way to tie her to anybody. There was no missing report that matched her. She was unknown.”

Desperate for answers police turn to a forensic artist for help. Using Annie’s skull as a guide the artist shapes a clay mold to reveal Annie’s facial features. Police then take photos and distribute the image throughout the area. A crime scene investigator scour the scene for clues and turns up a single piece of evidence identical to that found in the Marorrow case.

“After they pulled the body out he took a screen and was panning for bullets. Basically just like he panned for gold he was sifting through all the sand and mud in the river until he came up with a bullet fragment and a an empty cartridge from a 223 rifle.”

But no one ever comes forward with any information on the identity of a Clutna Annie.

“Nobody cared about her and that would be typical in the prostitution trade.”

But now with two bodies hidden in the wilderness murdered by a similar hunting rifle police are faced with a terrible possibility. Someone is hunting women in the wilds of Alaska.

When the decaying bodies of women begin appearing in the wilds of Alaska police fear they are dealing with a brutal killer who has set his sights on the women of Anchorage. The mysterious murder of Sher Marorrow an exotic dancer prompts police to take a closer look at who might have wanted the young woman dead.

“How long have you worked here?”

Sherry’s co-workers remember she was approached by a stranger that night.

A man who offered to pay her $300 to pose for photos. The dancers remember Sherry was brimming with excitement about her first modeling job. But they can’t provide police a name or any further information about the mystery man.

Sherry left to meet the man the following night as planned and was never seen alive again. Her roommate reported her missing and there was an investigation but there was no evidence that she had done anything. In fact she might have left town.

But Sherry’s co-workers fear the worst.

“There were a lot of girls that were disappearing and the police were very nervous about it but they didn’t have anything to go on. There were no witnesses. Nobody would say anything. Most of these women were very much living on the fringe.”

Over the past several years five other missing persons cases had been reported. All involved topless dancers or young prostitutes and each remained unsolved.

“I mean you you’re chasing ghosts and in 90% of the cases the girls were transient. And if somebody got reported missing it was like ‘Hey go look for them down in Portland or they’re over in Honolulu or they’re in Los Angeles dancing. You know that’s where they’re at. Go look for them. It’s not it’s not our problem.'”

As Anchorage police begin to compare notes they suspect Sher Marorrow and Alutna Annie’s deaths may not be isolated incidents. Officers reopen records on the missing women. They report the disappearances to police departments in the lower 48 and take a closer look at the names of more than 30 suspects including boyfriends bartenders and aggressive John’s.

“They were in it for the money. And they were victims from the very beginning. Everybody prayed upon those girls. The pimps the bar owners everybody prayed on those girls.”

All police have to go on is a single common thread. Each of the victims had last been seen after a late night shift. Police request the missing women’s co-workers and gain their first solid lead. Tammy Peterson. Several dancers recall seeing the same strange man. Each describes him as a red-haired man in his 40s who had been frequenting the clubs along Fourth Avenue.

“It was fertile ground and it was just a perfect setup for somebody that was a psychopathic killer that could prey on innocent helpless girls that had no options.”

Police increased their efforts to question anyone who came in contact with the missing girls. Surprisingly all of the men in the girl’s lives check out and none fit the description of the red-haired man. There are also no reported sightings of the women anywhere outside of Alaska. Police fear they’re one step behind a cunning and sadistic killer and they may not catch him before he sets his sights on his next victim.

Police also learn of a third body recovered in a gravel pit in the same area where Annie’s body was found.

“What do you got down there? You got a sleeping bag down here? Got a bone. I think we might be able to ID her.”

The victim is identified as Joanne Msina a canery worker who was last seen leaving the dock with her dog and a red-haired man her co-workers couldn’t identify. But something about the case doesn’t add up. Investigators determined Msina had been shot and killed with a 22 not a 223 hunting rifle. But her body had been badly ravaged by bears and yielded no further clues.

“You know we’re not the top of the food chain here. Wildlife can get you and wildlife will get rid of the evidence.”

In addition three other dancers had vanished under similar circumstances. Sue Luna told her roommate she was meeting a man at a cafe who had offered her some money. Her sister reported her missing 4 days later.

“I can’t believe you want to see my picture.”

Tammy Patterson packed her dance costumes and headed off to meet a photographer who had promised her $300 for a photo session. Her roommate called the police after she failed to return home.

And there was Andrea Alieri who hugged her roommate before she left their apartment saying she was meeting an older man who promised her a shopping spree at the mall.

None were ever seen again and their bodies were never found.

“There was rumblings in the police community about possibly serial killer roaming and praying on the streets of Anchorage. And there was nothing concrete. It was more like a ghost story. They’ve got bodies and evidence and a dead end. They have nowhere to go. They’re stumped.”

And if a serial killer is on the prowl he could be hiding anywhere in the wilds of Alaska.

Roy Hazelwood is an expert at reading the criminal mind by examining the evidence they leave behind. The blindfolds found at the scenes tell him a lot about their killer.

“He enjoys the complete helplessness of his victims. They’re totally under his control. He didn’t gag the victim because he wanted to hear the terror in her voice. He wanted to hear her pleading.”

The killer was a sexual sadist a hunter who derived pleasure from his victim’s pain and relied on the remote Alaskan wilderness to conceal his deadly act.

“Within a very short driving time and even shorter flying time a killer could take a victim uh and just carry out whatever fantasies he had with a victim without being concerned about being interrupted or observed. When he disposed of the body it’s in again isolated territory and that makes it very difficult for a homicide investigator.”

But the killer left a trail.

“The location suggested very strongly that an outdoorsman would have been involved in a crime because he felt comfortable within that type of environment.”

9 months after the discovery of Sher Morrow’s body a truck driver is on his way to work when out of nowhere he’s suddenly startled by the sight of a frantic woman in the middle of the road.

“Stop.”

The driver screeches to a stop. He notices a shadowy figure with a gun duck out of sight as the woman rushes the cab and pleads with him for help.

“He was a citizen on his way to work and he saw her running out into the street with handcuffs on. Obviously not something you see very often at 5:00 in the morning on your way to work and uh he picked her up.”

Visibly shaken and trembling from fear as much as the frigid night air the young woman tells the trucker a tale almost too bizarre to believe.

“And she got in way over her head and uh she was one lucky young lady. She was just an engine start away from losing her life.”

A trucker on his way to work stops to help a frightened young woman after she darts into the middle of the road frantically is summoning help. The trucker takes her to a nearby motel where she’ll be safe and calls police. Anchorage police race to the motel. There they find a 17-year-old woman still in handcuffs and very much in shock. Police question her and she recounts the same wild story she told the trucker. She tells the officers she’s a topless dancer down on 4th Avenue and claims she’d been propositioned the night before by a red-haired man in his 40s.

“Hey how are you? Hey good evening.”

“She’s like 17 beautiful young woman. Uh got into the trades probably for the same reason everybody else does. It was easy money.”

She further confesses that she accepted the stranger’s offer.

“All right then I I’m not sure what he wanted to do whether it was a photographic session or if he wanted to to have sex with her. But in any case they left together.”

Once inside the man’s car she claims he pulled a gun on her. And she said at that point he kidnapped her. He handcuffed her and told her that if she cooperated and did what he wanted her to do that she wouldn’t be hurt. Her abductor then takes her to a house in the middleass neighborhood of Mulun. He holds her hostage in a basement filled with the mounted heads of animals and brutalizes her for hours.

“How do you like the decor?”

“She said he chained her in the basement to a beam and she was there for quite a while while he repeatedly assaulted her.”

She tells the police the man then decided to fly her to his cabin in the woods. To his cabin promising to release her if she cooperates. Once they arrive at the airirstrip the kidnapper shoves her inside a small plane and begins loading supplies. The second he turns his back she makes her escape.

“He chose the wrong victim. And once that handcuff was put on her it was like ‘Okay this is this is bad.’ And she she made the move. She took her moment.”

Hoping to corroborate her account Investigators take her to Merrill Field the air strip from which she claimed she’d escaped.

“We were looking around. There are lots of airplanes there. And she finally pointed out the Super Cub that she said that the guy was trying to put her into.”

Authorities run the plane’s registration and find it belongs to Robert Hansen a 40-year-old award-winning hunter and local businessman.

“He owned a bakery well-established business person with friends and he was a church-going man. Uh an awful lot of people believed in him.”

When questioned by police Hansen is outraged. He says he never met the woman and insists she’s making up the story to extort money from him. And he questions the woman’s credibility asking police if it’s even possible to rape a prostitute.

“He was being taken advantage of by this prostitute who is in the business of taking advantage of people right? She’s transient. He’s a member of the community. He’s He’s got his business here in town.”

And he has an alibi. He tells police that his wife and children were on vacation in Europe but that he spent the evening with two friends. When questioned the men substantiate his story. They swore Hansen was with them playing poker that night.

“I’m going to call you ahead. Let me see what’s up.”

“Uh he was with me. We were hanging out at my house. If we need anything else we’ll be in contact. Thank you sir.”

Hansen even allows police to search his home. Authorities find no evidence to corroborate the woman’s allegations.

“The things that she said were there weren’t there. I don’t see anything. The trophies the the animal trophies weren’t there. The basement was as she described it but none of the trophies were there and there was no scratch marks I guess on the beams or nothing. So her story didn’t make sense.”

The young girl refuses to take a polygraph and investigators are left to wonder if she may have fabricated the bizarre tale.

“It was a he said she said. There was no sexual assault protocol where every victim went to the sexual assault unit and and was examined. There’s no DNA. There’s no hairs and fibers.”

“I hate what he did to me.”

“There was nothing there that you could put your finger on that was really solid proof.”

Citing a lack of evidence the prosecutor drops the case.

Three months later Alaska state troopers discover the partially decomposed remains of another woman in a shallow grave along the bank of the Kick River. She is identified as another missing dancer who was last seen alive earlier that month. Even more disturbing police find a makeshift blindfold buried among the remains. An autopsy reveals something more sinister. Like the other victims Paula Golding had also been shot by a 223 caliber bullet.

“In many cases the victims were not even known to be missing because they were never reported to the police. In many instances the victims were never found. So how do you link a case with a victim who’s never found? The killer in this case killed in a variety of ways. So where is the where is the ability to link the cases until he started killing consistently with the 223 caliber?”

Police are now faced with a terrifying and unthinkable thought. Might these women have been stalked and hunted like animals by a lone madman and might the woman who got away be the sole survivor the one who miraculously escaped the clutches of a killer?

Alaska state troopers are now completely convinced a serial killer is on the loose but they have no idea how many victims lay dead in the vast and rugged wilderness.

“There’s plenty of ways to get rid of people and evidence in this country. Right behind me is the mountains and over the top of that mountain is 800 miles to the Bearing Sea and there’s nothing out there. There’s nothing out there. Hard to fathom.”

Troopers contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation for assistance. In response the FBI turns the case over to its behavioral science unit. Agents begin to create a profile of the potential killer. They are able to glean valuable insight into the killer’s mind by studying the clues he repeatedly left behind like the 223 caliber shell casings.

“Was it careless on his part? If so it would not have been a trait that we would expect in an organized serial killer. I think it happened because he had a sense of narcissistic invincibility and consequently I think he began to believe that he was in fact invincible.”

Invincible perhaps because he chose the perfect victims the transient girls of 4th Avenue who he thought no one would miss.

“He’s a loner. He has no accomplices. He’s not talking to anybody. It’s deadend case. Just one dead end case right after dead end case.”

Or so it seems. But there is something about the abduction of the woman who escaped that sticks with an Anchorage police officer. He wouldn’t let it drop. He couldn’t bring it in himself to let the case go away. He forwards the closed case file to Alaska State Troopers.

“It was against policy to remove documents from the Anchorage Police Department to take them anywhere. And uh he decided that it was worth the gamble. We knew that the troopers had a case an open case going about those homicides and he was just 100% convinced that this was something worth pursuing. I mean that was the first thing that came to mind is this could be the guy that’s been doing these girls.”

At the insistence of local authorities the profilers take a closer look at Robert Hansen. They find he was raised by very strict parents and had a rather difficult childhood.

“Do not write with your left hand.”

“He was naturally left-handed. They forced him to use his right hand.”

“Right with your right hand. That’s what God’s will is for you. Do you understand me?”

Hansen had very low self-esteem. Anytime he had free time from school he was expected to be working in the father’s bakery.

“His will is the right.”

Adding to such strain Hansen was always considered small for his age and had few friends. He was known as a loner. He also had a very bad case of acne which resulted in a pockmarked face.

“Do you understand?”

“He stuttered badly. All those things contributed to his being ridiculed by his classmates.”

After graduating high school he enlisted in the Army Reserve and underwent basic training at Fort Dicks. He later received advanced training as a military police officer at Fort Knox.

“And so here’s the money.”

While enlisted he was known to frequent prostitutes but he reportedly found the girls disinterested. The quick romps unsatisfying and told fellow soldiers that he yearned to take control of the situation.

“Bye.”

Despite his strict upbringing and disciplined military structure the profilers learned Hansen had a number of run-ins with the law.

“When he came back from the army he went back to work in the bakery. There was a younger boy working at the bakery. He convinced him to help burn down the school bus barn. And of course while this thing is burning there’s Hansen out holding a hose as a volunteer fireman to put the thing out. But his partner got terrified and and reported it.”

He served time for arson and theft but appeared to have long since left that life behind. In 1967 he married and moved to Alaska. Now a father of two Hansen was considered an upstanding member of the community.

“Back in the day in 1983 84 we didn’t know as much about serial killers. So if we came across somebody like Hansen we might put him aside and continue to look for the serial killer. Why? Because he’s a functioning member of society.”

But the profilers take note of Hansen’s small stature heavily pockmarked skin and severe speech impediment. They believe his low self-esteem would likely drive him to live in an isolated area like Alaska. The profilers are also intrigued by Hansen’s reputation as a proficient hunter. Everyone in town knew he’d taken out a doll sheep with a crossbow including Hansen’s former neighbor Larry Bivvens who often hunted with him.

“I think he liked the thrill of the hunt and he liked the the sneaking up on him to get as close as he could where he could make that shot which is what all bow hunters enjoy because that’s the challenge. That’s the challenge of of bow hunting is getting close.”

Hansen even had four animals entered into a renowned world record trophy hunting book.

“Bob was always looking for the challenge a tougher hunt you know a tougher animal a bigger animal because he always wanted to do better than the last one you know and most big trophy hunters are like that.”

When questioned by police Hansen’s hunting buddy reveals a disturbing exchange with his neighbor.

“I remember one time we started talking about women and things and I started getting a little coarse and risque with him about it and he seemed to take offense and he got a little upset with me and stuttered and spit a little bit and saliva come down the corner of his mouth and that’s but that was just Bob. You know sometimes he was okay sometimes he was just a little bit strange.”

“Every psychopath has a weak point. And Hansen’s weak point would have been women. Why because number one he was unsuccessful with him. Number two they ridiculed him. Number three they they presented something that he was afraid of. Literally afraid of fearful of.”

Bivvens also tells police Hansen liked to hunt the island sandbars of the Kick River the very place where most of the victims had been found.

“When I told them I had been on those islands with him and they got real excited. Now you can get away with whatever you want to do on those islands and nobody’s going to know it cuz there’s nobody there.”

Perhaps Hansen tired of wild game and turned his attention to more interesting prey. Humans.

“They would have presented a greater challenge because an animal reacts instinctively to danger Whereas humans have the capacity to employ reason logic and intelligence. Humans are very individualistic and they’ll engage in a variety of ways to evade danger. So they present a much greater challenge to the hunter.”

If Hansen is the killer the FBI concludes he may be hoarding the evidence needed for a conviction small souvenirs or trophies from his victims and they’ll need those to put him away. Police begin to fear that maybe the woman who escaped was telling the truth. Investigators believe their killer is a hunter like Hansen who knows Alaska’s wild country. But without evidence linking him to the murders they are powerless to stop him.

“A sexual sadist is the great white shark among sexual offenders. They’re the least common type of serial killer. They’re the most proficient and they’re the most successful over a period of time.”

Authorities in Anchorage Alaska are desperate to identify a serial killer before another murder occurs. Robert Hansen a local baker is the prime suspect. Hoping to crack the case police come up with a daring strategy. Authorities threatened to press charges against the two men who claimed they’d been playing poker with Hansen the night the dancer was abducted. Both quickly break down.

“I’m going to ask you one more time.”

“They said ‘Look it’s not. We were trying to cover for the guy. We thought he was a legitimate guy. We figured you know that these women were exploiting him and uh we were just trying to help a friend at any point in the day.’ And that isn’t all.”

Hansen’s friends further admit that Hansen had reported a burglary in his home in the early 1980s. A false claim they said netted Hansen $13,000 from the insurance company. Armed with the new information investigators follow Hansen to work. They ask him to come to the police station for questioning. He willingly agrees never asking investigators a single question. At the same time investigators serve a search warrant on Hansen’s house. Despite an exhaustive search they come up empty. Then just as authorities are about to call it a day an officer searching the attic rafters stumbles upon something shocking.

“He covered hundreds of square feet until he finally hit it. His fingers fell this little hollowed out cash and he opened it up and there was bag of jewelry from the cruise.”

Nestled along Hansen’s stash of trophies. Investigators make another chilling discovery. They uncover identification cards belonging to the victims and newspaper clippings.

“Hansen derived the same amount of pleasure from viewing that jewelry or looking at those driver’s license or identification cards as he did from looking at the animals he had mounted in his den. They represented accomplishment in his life.”

Authorities also find a map with specific locations marked off.

“It’s what I call a trophy map a treasure map if you will. He didn’t take trophies from every single victim but he did had this map where he could mark his kills if you will.”

“It also allowed him to refresh his memory as to where he had disposed of the bodies in case I think in case he wanted to go back to see if they’d been found or to relive the experience by looking at or touching what was remaining of the body.”

But the most critical find.

“Take a look at this is a 223 caliber Mini-14 rifle. Yeah we need to get this thing processed.”

The rifle is sent to the crime lab for further analysis. There forensic technicians examine the gun and study the strike marks on the shell casings found at the crime scene.

“The 223 they took out of there matched perfectly with round they recovered up in auton.”

Robert Hansen is charged with murder assault and kidnapping.

“All right listen Bob.”

Despite his pleas of innocence the evidence mounts against him. In exchange for a full confession the district attorney agrees to charge Hansen with only four murders Sher Morrow Alutna Annie Joanne Msina and Paula Golding. Hansen accepts a plea deal.

“And I’ve read he chose those women because he himself had low self-esteem. I’ve heard other people say prostitutes are chosen because they symbolize the evil that the killer sees in all women. My personal opinion is that Hansen chose prostitutes for a very simple reason. A prostitute will go anywhere at any time any place for anything. And when they disappear no one cares.”

“So nobody can see her.”

Hansen ultimately admits he hunted humans offering profilers one of the first glimpses into the sick and twisted mind of a sexual predator. He controlled the game from the point of abduction.

“What are you talking?”

“He certainly had the rules. He He controlled everything. There was no fear factor on his part. He was definitely the predator. They were the prey.”

“You’re out.”

Hansen admits he picked up a Clutna Annie for sex then drove her to a remote area where he hunted bears. He killed her after she got scared and tried to make a break for it. Even Hansen couldn’t tell police the victim’s real name.

He further confesses that Joanne Msina met the same fate after the two shared dinner. He claims she propositioned him and that he drove her to a remote area to have sex when she grew fearful and demanded he take her home. He took her life.

“Out of your mind.”

And then there was Sher Morrow who agreed to meet Hansen under the guise of a modeling gig.

“And now you go. Oh okay. Great. Thank you.”

Once in his car he handcuffed and blindfolded her then headed to the Kick River. When he tried to remove the cuffs Sherry began kicking and screaming. Hansen took a rifle out of the trunk and waited for her to cool off. When Sherry charged him he pointed the gun and pulled the trigger.

Profilers believe Hansen became more brazen with each kill ultimately choosing to take his victims by plane to his remote cabin. There he would continue his brutal assault.

“Some of his victims uh were with him for many hours. He kept them virtually overnight.”

Afterward he would often strip them naked blindfold them.

“I promise you.”

And release them into the woods.

“Wrong. No.”

He turned them loose to hunt them down in some sick form of trophy hunting. And that’s what the man was. He was a trophy hunter and he collected things off the girls after he killed them. Now he wasn’t able to view them every single day like he was his animal heads. So he overcame that obstacle by giving some of the jewelry to his wife and some to his daughter.

According to Hansen he always allowed his victim a brief head start then stalked her like a wild animal.

“But what has to be understood and at the core of Hansen’s crimes is sexual sadism. That’s a sense of arousal through the suffering of another person. By blindfolding the victims he created terror in them. By restraining them he could engage in sexual bondage their complete and total helplessness. He was aroused by that. He was aroused by their fear. He was aroused by their suffering and then he was aroused by their terror when he began to hunt them.”

Hansen further confessed he equated his human hunts to going after a trophy doll sheep or a grizzly bear. The killing itself became antilimatic. As even Hansen said it was the torture it was the hunt it was the stalk that was exciting to Hansen. Each hunt ended in the same manner.

“When Robert Hansen hopped his Piper Cub back to the Merrillfield Air Strip he traveled alone. The victims were never going to win that game against him. I mean they were innocent unarmed unclothed unfamiliar with where they were. That was an unservivable unwinable game.”

In the vastness of Alaska Robert Hansen’s killing spree continued for 12 years.

“Alaska presents an ideal environment for the type of killer that Robert Hansen was. What he liked to do was hunt for those poor women you know they didn’t have the social network to really survive uh in Alaska and you know they wanted perhaps they were escaping something from their lives or you know had rough upbringings but um they really had no chance against a guy like this.”

There were never any witnesses to the murders. He even admitted shooting Joanne Msina’s dog. He was afraid that the dog would be able to lead searchers to the woman’s grave.

In all Hansen confessed to 17 killings but it’s believed he had many more victims. He eventually identified 15 grave sites 12 of which were unknown to investigators. Unfortunately authorities recovered only seven bodies likely due to the voracious animal activity in the Alaskan wilderness.

Robert Hansen was sentenced to 461 years plus life with no chance of parole. His name has since been removed from the renowned trophy hunting record books.

The wilds of Alaska are a vast and untamed frontier. People come here to escape from society escape from their lives elsewhere and escape into the wild. Amid the rugged wilderness people vanish at an eerily high rate. But often times the wild takes over. In a remote mining village deep in the icy interior seven people go missing in 24 hours.

“People just kept going to the landing and somebody else go check on him and then they wouldn’t come back either.”

And no one is prepared for what lies in weight.

“This could be the most terrible thing that ever happened in the little town of Manley.”

Manly Hot Springs Alaska is as much a state of mind as it is a place on the map.

“It’s the middle of nowhere. It’s the end of the road. Not many folks went there. Very quiet little community. I think there were 50 people living in Manley at the time.”

The gold mining community sits along the Tanana River just 150 m from Fairbanks. But the trek to get there takes 5 hours down a treacherous gravel road.

“It had to be a destination. It’s a place that you really had to want to go to. You just didn’t go by it.”

The 50 residents who call Manley home can easily fall victim to the mercy of cabin fever from maddeningly long winters where temperatures can plunge to 70 below. They’re equally wary of so-called end of the rotors who are all too common in these parts.

“An end of the rotor is a person who comes to Alaska wants to escape and be away from society and they drive their car to the end of the road. And generally there’s a town at the end of most roads in Alaska and it’s a great place to find solitude and a great place to escape.”

“Jack London wrote a lot of books and we call it the Jack London syndrome. You want to go out live in the woods be your own boss do your own thing. Nobody can tell you what what you have to do or what you can and cannot do and you’re you’re just going to be like a utopia or something but it it doesn’t work that way.”

In the spring of 1984 the residents of Manley are anxiously awaiting the time of year known as breakup when the frozen tundra thaws the river flows freely again and life begins a new.

“Oh it’s awesome. Big chunks of ice. Huge chunks of ice. And it sounds like thunder. When the ice goes out it is the last harrah of winter and spring and summer are on the way. And that means that transportation on the river is now available.”

On May 17th Vietnam vet Joe McVey and his good friend Dale Madiski head to the boat landing about a quarter mile outside of town.

“Kirsten and I were going to make lunch and the guys were going to go check the river to see if the ice had broken up yet. I don’t know what it was but it just came in really clear and the feeling slammed into me and I know I stood up and turned around and looked at the window and I told Kirsten ‘We’ll never forget today. This day will always be with us.’ I don’t know I just feel like we’re never going to forget it. In a good way. Sure.”

Later that afternoon when the men failed to return their wives begin to wonder what could be keeping them. The women drive to the landing. They find Joe’s boat still on the trailer.

“Something’s wrong. They wouldn’t have left their beer in the car.”

“Kirsten looked in the truck and I remember her distinctly saying ‘Something’s wrong. They left the beer.'”

Alice also recognizes another local’s vehicle parked at the landing Albert Hagen was visiting his parents in Manley and had gone to the river that morning to throw out some brush he had cleared from their land.

“The guys were nowhere to be seen and neither was anybody else. And that you know it was very it was confusing.”

Given the unusually warm weather the women think that Joe and Dale may have gotten sidetracked. Perhaps they ran into Albert and invited him along.

“The thought that occurred to a lot of the folks there just uh well they probably just went over to fish camp or maybe they just went for a hike. Nothing really out of the norm.”

But by noon the next day there is still no sign of the three men. That afternoon friends and family of the missing gathered together.

“The people we haven’t seen. They’re terrified something horrible has happened to their loved ones. We’re missing Dale Joe Albert.”

They suddenly realize others in Manley have also vanished. No one has seen any of them.

“You haven’t? Right? People just kept going to the landing and everybody’s wondering ‘I wonder why they didn’t come back from the landing?’ And somebody else go check on him and then they wouldn’t come back either. People were dismissing with no explanation.”

“What about the clients? I know I talked to Joyce about 2 days ago but she didn’t mention she was leaving. Okay.”

Lyman Klene his pregnant wife and their son had last been seen the day before riding to the riverbank on their four-wheeler.

“A friend of ours called us and wanted to know where they were. Um their four-wheeler was parked down at the landing and they weren’t there. And we said ‘Oh you know they probably went up to their property that they had up river. We’ll go check on the clients. Go check on them now.'”

The family was known to leave town on occasion but not without asking someone to take care of their dog. Frantic several neighbors head to the Klein’s home. Strangely they find the dog unattended.

“Joe.”

“I don’t see anybody.”

“I don’t see anybody either.”

Meanwhile others head to the boat launch in the hopes the missing may have returned. They notice another unattended vehicle that of a young stranger who had driven into Manley only days earlier.

“He had been around town for I think he was here for a total of about 7 to 10 days and so people got used to him. He was camped down at the landing which is the riverbank and it wasn’t unusual to see him down there or to see him in town.”

But the newcomer is also among the missing in Manley. Residents scour the dock for any sign of their family and friends but are left with more questions than answers. Nearly onetenth of the town is unaccounted for.

“Once you have that many people missing that many people in question alarm bells start going off. Something’s a miss here. Something’s wrong.”

“What’s going on? We’ve called everybody. We’re missing Dale Joe Albert.”

People in the tiny town of Manley Hot Springs Alaska are disappearing at an alarming rate. Six people nearly onetenth of the town are missing.

“All of a sudden people were wondering well where did they go? People weren’t looking for them. They saw their car their three-wheeler but there was no sign of these folks.”

But some residents think there’s a simple explanation that the spring-like weather may be to blame.

“The ice had gone out. You were able to boat. People were putting their boats in and going and doing things. And so it wasn’t unusual for people to go to the landing or get in their boat or do whatever and not show up for 2 or 3 or 4 hours or even you know all day.”

Meanwhile folks in Manley are unaware of what’s unfolded weeks earlier some 150 mi down river in the tiny rental cabin community of Hopkinsville.

“It was very rustic. No phones no power Uh just a place to cheap place to park live.”

Roger Calulp had called the place home for years. He came during the pipeline days and he just kind of stayed.

“He definitely you know drank a little bit too much and but he was kind of a happy guy and just was real mellow as a neighbor. He would love to come over when I was baking bread. He could smell it baking and he would just come over and knock on the door and and come in and visit for a while.”

But no one has seen or heard from Roger in more than a week. And he’s not alone. Neighbors notice other things are also disappearing. Hopkinsville resident Wendy Hooker is missing a moosehide a valuable commodity during the winter months.

“I was planning on tanning it. And there was no time to tan it before winter. So I cut it in four big sections and I dried it. And I put it on the line near my cabin. The next morning when we woke up all of the moose hide was gone.”

She’s immediately suspicious that another neighbor Michael Sila may have taken it.

“He was a real quiet guy. Uh didn’t really look anybody in the eye was just kind of kept to himself.”

She goes to Silka’s cabin to confront him and notices something peculiar.

“There was a funny mound of snow near his cabin to the left as I walked up to it. I got to the door and I knocked several times and no one answered. And so then I walked around the backside of his cabin and there was another mound of fresh snow and I thought ‘That’s weird. I wonder what he has in that mound.’ So I walked back around the cabin. I knocked on the door again. No one answered.”

Wendy searches the property for Silka but can’t find him anywhere. She decides to question neighbors about his whereabouts.

“Hi Janelle have you seen Michael?”

“No.”

“Something really I went back into our neighborhood and I asked other people ‘Has anybody seen him?’ And nobody had. Take care.”

Hours later she returns to Silka’s cabin and notices something even more disturbing.

“I noticed that my footprints that were in that fresh snow on the walkway some of them had filled with blood. The blood was seeping up from underneath into my footprints.”

Wendy races back to her cabin and tells her husband about what she’s witnessed.

“Babe Dave you got to you got to come. There’s trouble over here. I’m There is blood on.”

“Truly a lot of us hunted and fished. We trapped small animals. We did do things like that. So I think my first thought was that he had killed an animal. I think something strange. My husband thought that maybe he had tried to get a moose or something but it it just didn’t seem right to be hiding it.”

“Just go get the landlord. I was just uneasy that something had gone on and I wasn’t sure what.”

The couple share their concerns with their landlord. They decide to take another look at Silka’s cabin.

“Hey Michael.”

This time he answers the door.

“Michael came out of the cabin and he said that he had taken it and that he would bring it back. He had thought he could have it all. Like I said she told me I could have it. I thought I could take the whole thing. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.”

Fearing there may be more to Silka’s story than he’s willing to admit the landlord calls police. But as the information is passed from person to person it somehow becomes garbled. Troopers wrongly surmise that neighbors believe Michael Sila has met with foul play.

Later that day authorities check out Silka’s cabin. They knock on his door but there is no response. They search the area and find drops of blood but no evidence of the pools of blood Wendy reported. However the fresh mounds of snow are clearly visible. They dig up the mounds and discover nothing more than a buried moose hide. Troopers didn’t detect anything more suspicious. Before leaving troopers pound on the cabin door once more.

“Who is this?”

This time they’re met by surprise when Sila answers. Strangely he has been there all along.

“He came out and talked to them briefly. Said he had shot this moose and he just had the hide hanging there and dripping down on the ground because it’s an awful lot of blood and this explanation why the blood’s there which is fairly reasonable explanation. Um they they sort of felt well I guess case was closed. Thank you for your time sir. All right have a go.”

Searched the area searched the cabin found nothing else. Officers leave without even looking for Roger Kulp. With Silka unharmed and now off their radar they decide there is no reason to pursue his missing neighbor.

“It’s not uncommon for people to go missing in Alaska. It is such a vast and rugged place that often times there the circumstances are completely unknown and nobody knows why.”

Three weeks pass and no one in Hopkinsville sees any sign of Roger Culp. Meanwhile in nearby Manley Hot Springs six other people have seemingly disappeared. While searching the Riverlanding for clues residents find an unattended vehicle. That of a young stranger who had only recently made his way to Manley.

“He was what we would call an end of the rotor. And all of those people are somewhat odd but you didn’t really think a whole lot about it. You know you just accepted them for what they were. Mostly it’s guys Uh they come to Alaska with this big idea that they’re going to come to the end of the road here like Manley and go out and live in the woods and build a cabin and and uh live off of the land.”

The newcomer slept in his car on the riverbank. He claims to be waiting for the ice to thaw so he can head up river to stake some land.

“The draw to Alaska can be just searching for that mountain man lifestyle or the hope of gold or riches in the oil fields and and all sorts of things that are kind of dangled from afar. I mean people come this way hoping for something better.”

But this guy seems out of sorts telling people of his plans to fish for bass and pike those are just two fish species that don’t exist in that part of the interior. And so people thought that was a little odd. He didn’t seem right. And he kind of withdrawn and out there in his ideas. He seemed skilled but not knowledgeable to the Alaskan environment.

“You meet people that are extremely clear with Alaskan knowledge about where they’re going what they’re doing and how to And he didn’t appear to be that way.”

Still there have been oddballs in Manley before like the fundamentalists who came one winter planning to walk to Siberia to convert the Russians.

“I mean we’re all odd too. Whole town of Manley is odd. Alaska gets its share of strange people because you know it’s the last frontier and people oh you want to walk from here to there and it’s just somewhere to test your feats I guess.”

Now fearing the stranger in town may also be among the missing residents jot down his vehicle’s license plate and notify police.

“I called the troopers and I gave them the first three letters off the car tag and they gave me the next three numbers. I didn’t have to finish it. They already knew they were looking for him. They just didn’t know where he was is what it seemed like.”

Authorities trace the vehicle and find it belongs to 25-year-old Michael Silka. They’ve heard the name before. He’s the same outsider who raised eyebrows in nearby Hopkinsville.

“We didn’t know to connect the dots but we had in fact been afraid enough that we were sleeping with a pistol in our bed.”

Fear quickly mounts in the small Alaskan village of Manley Hot Springs as residents begin disappearing one by one. Meanwhile 150 m away in the rental cabin community of Hopkinsville there’s something equally sinister going on.

“I was listening to the radio flipping radio stations. I got a little blip that they were looking for someone somewhere that was not good. And I remember thinking well we live way out here It doesn’t really pertain to us.”

Longtime Hopkinsville resident Roger Culp has vanished without a trace. Police had searched the community once already after residents reported seeing pools of blood in the snow but found nothing more than a moosehide.

Now more than a week later another Hopkinsville resident comes forward with a chilling story. She tells police she and Roger had been chopping wood behind his cabin when another resident Michael Silka walked by with a rifle and confronted them.

“Who’s this?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hey what are you doing? That’s how you do it.”

“The neighbor said that she was very scared that she had been out talking with Roger that day and doing something in her yard and that Roger and Michael had had words.”

“Really? I don’t know who he is.”

“No don’t go after him. Don’t go after him. He’s got a gun.”

“Where you going?”

The woman claims Roger was so angry he followed Silka to his cabin despite her pleas to let him be. Minutes later she is startled by the sound of gunshots. Because Hopkinsville does not have telephone service the woman is unable to call police and she is too terrified to walk 200 yard for help.

“She had just locked herself in the cabin and was afraid to come out.”

Armed with the new information police are anxious to talk to Michael Silka again.

“I went back out there uh to do another investigation. And at this time he’s gone. His vehicle’s gone. He’s gone. The place is empty.”

Investigators spend two days combing the grounds around Silka’s shack. They brush away patches of Pete and uncover a disturbing find. Spots of dried blood. Soil samples are sent to the state crime laboratory. On May 16th the lab confirms that the blood isn’t from any animal. It’s the blood of a human.

“We didn’t have a body. We didn’t have a confession. We didn’t know what whose blood that was. It could have been his blood at that point. We didn’t have any comparisons but we certainly wanted to talk to him in a worse way.”

2 days later residents in nearby Manley Hot Springs call state troopers and offer up the license plate of the newcomer in town Michael Silka. Police are now aware that the man they’ve been wanting to talk to about Roger Culp’s disappearance has made his way to Manley.

“Once I heard that I suspected that nothing good’s happened there. It’s a sinking feeling that this is not some ordinary case. This is not people that have gone out on trips or what have you and and just not come home for whatever reason.”

To make matters worse the river is just breaking up. People in Manley are seemingly trapped with nowhere to run.

“What did you see? What did you find?”

“I didn’t see anything. I didn’t see anything.”

They now suspect the stranger among them has evil intentions. And they know it will take hours before troopers are able to get there.

“Being out of touch with society can be incredibly dangerous. There’s no help that far from the world.”

“I had a a loaded rifle here because nobody knew where Silka was at whether he was going to come to your place or I mean hiding out in the woods or we didn’t really know at the time.”

“Everything’s going to be okay.”

“I don’t think anybody had any idea where Silka really was.”

In the early morning darkness of May 19th Alaska state troopers converge on the remote Alaskan village. A helicopter lands in the only accessible area the boat dock stirring up a massive amount of river silt burying any potential evidence. Troopers set up a roadblock along the lone road into town. At first light they stage an aerial and ground search for the six missing residents.

“slight misty rain began to fall in that landing and u as it washed the the dust away Pools of blood and old footprints and stuff popped up. The dust washed off some bright 44 caliber shells that were laying around the landing in the blood. Then it was obvious of course this was the crime scene.”

Near the riverbank troopers spot the Klein’s four-wheeler hidden in the brush. They also find Joe McVeyy’s bill cap. And there are massive drag marks near the water’s edge.

“I could finally make out depressions. There was something smoothed out and there were striations that were indicative of clothing belts things worn by people causing those striations and bodies going into a deep hole in the river.”

But authorities have no way to know if all those missing in Manley are dead or if Sila might be holding them hostage. Desperate for answers authorities take to the skies to find the dangerous suspect.

“thick as all the trees and brush was he could very easily slip away from the troopers. And we put troopers on the ground in search of him. He could he could lay an ambush and and kill more than just one.”

Troopers had barely begun their hunt before they suddenly stumble upon an unexpected sight.

“Over here we have a young lady down on the left side.”

And there was a woman on the riverbank waving her down and she said her husband had gone to town as the river had broken up in his river boat and she wondered where he might be. She’d last seen her husband Fred Burke two days ago.

“We thought we had them all accounted for in Manley and then then we got word that we have another missing person. It just didn’t seem like it was going to end.”

Over a dozen Alaska state troopers including a special emergency response team outfitted with automatic weapons and combat gear converge on manly hot springs. But they have no idea that the suspected killer they seek is a former military man. Michael Silka joined the Army after graduating high school in Illinois and did a tour of duty at Fort Wayne outside Fairbanks before making his way to Manley. He spent a few months holed up in a remote Canadian town.

“He was very much to himself uh lived in a hotel room didn’t get out very much. When he did uh paid everything in cash. Everything was paid in cash. No one knew where he worked though so they didn’t know where he was getting his money.”

People there noticed he carried a number of rifles and shotguns in the back of his beat up Dodge sedan.

“Silka was a guy from the lower 48 fancies himself as a mountain man. You know he had a minor criminal history where he was from criminal offenses for firearms loved to carry firearms but came from a place where really that was frowned upon.”

Silka came to Manly Hot Springs dreaming of living off the land. People there accepted him with open arms. Joe McVey and his wife even took the newcomer home and fed him a dinner of bear meat.

“The people of Manley Hot Springs took this guy under their wings gave him opportunities in a short period of time but did what all Alaska communities do They took him in. And these people had no idea that evil was in their midst.”

Now police fear the wild man may have splashed his name in blood across the tiny town.

“You think bad things long enough you’ll end up doing them. Been having trouble with law enforcement all the way from Illinois all the way up through Canada and now here in Alaska. There is no no place else to go. He’s at the end of the road now.”

“Some people escape to Manly Hot Springs to escape themselves really you know and what they end up confronting as themselves because it’s such an intensely powerful place. A man alone with his thoughts at the end of the road can be a very dangerous thing without a shadow of a doubt.”

As troopers set out to find him they are keenly aware they’re up against a risky set of circumstances. A dangerous suspect in a cover of secluded brush.

“He knew what was up. He knew exactly what was up. Yeah. And he was prepared to die. That’s a formidable foe.”

Using two helicopters and a single engine plane troopers scour the area. Suddenly the pilot spots a man in a flat bottom boat towing a loaded canoe. The pilot recognizes Michael Silka at the wheel and sees an arsenal of weapons in the boat.

“Be advised he has a large catch of weapons inside his boat. He is heavily armed.”

Armed with M16s troopers orchestrate a plan.

“The two helicopters initially wanted to come in together on either side of the suspect so that they could get him in a crossfire or they could divert his attention back and forth. That was the principle.”

The chopper continues in route towards Silka’s location. From inside trooper Troy Duncan and his best friend Trooper Jeff Hall spot the canoe tethered behind the riverboat. As the helicopter begins an awkward descent into the wind Trooper Hall spots Sila behind the dense brush along the riverbank.

“We came right directly at him. He was out of the boat standing on the edge of the bank which is fairly steep. And when he saw us he made us dive for the boat to get his weapon. At that point we knew he wasn’t going to give up which we had hoped he would.”

“Hey get us out of here! Get us out of here!”

Realizing Silka has the upper hand we take a bomb.

“Take a bomb. Look what’s up.”

Paul yells for the pilot to pull back.

“We had doors off the front and rear left side of the helicopter. They came in sideways and they came in low and this fellow had taken position and fired one round into the rear seat of the helicopter and went by the trooper and into the top of the helicopter. And then Captain Lawrence started holling ‘We’re hit’ and I’m checking my gauges on the helicopter.”

“You’re contained. You’re moving. The noise. And we’re not committed to killing him until he acts upon us. He’s committed right from the get-go.”

Alaska state troopers descend on suspected multiple murderer Michael Silka from the air unaware he has positioned himself for a gun battle.

“Wasn’t war. At least we didn’t know it was war. We have to go at it like we’re the state police. Drop your gun. Uh come out and let us see where you’re at uh we have to contact them and do what we do. But uh he was very well prepared to kill us and to to be killed himself.”

They had a certain plan. That plan went ary. They were hoping to kind of come up behind him on the river and surprise him that way. But Silka has strategically positioned himself taking cover in the thick brush.

“There he is right down there.”

The second troopers spot him it’s too late.

“So they were hovering not very high over him. He let loose with a with a gunshot.”

They call for the pilot to pull up but there isn’t enough time.

“Captain Lawrence started hauling where hit and I’m checking my gauges on the helicopter but I thought he was referring to the aircraft. They finally said Troy is hit. Troy Duncan took uh at 306 hit him in the face and and took his head off.”

“Okay I got him. I got him.”

Seconds later Trooper Hall empties a 20 round clip and cuts Silka down.

“Bills is on fully automatic. He just walked the bullets right into him. When he did fire he couldn’t compete with an M16 machine gun.”

“Okay he’s down. He’s down.”

“Copy he’s down.”

Silka is hit at least five times. He dies instantly. Troopers then turned their attention to their fallen comrade.

“I saw an open field with tundra. Nothing but tundra there. A small field. And I landed so they could check Troy out. Jeff got out the helicopter and checked Troy and came back and said there was nothing they could do for him. He was already dead.”

Troy Duncan is only the third state trooper to fall in the line of duty in the 25 years since Alaska became a state.

“We all realize this as troopers certainly as search team members is that we’re going against a foe that is willing to die. Maybe it’s his wish even. Silka was committed to his cause and he didn’t have any rules. He was ready. He was he felt he was trapped and he was willing to die. And so he did.”

In the days after the melee folks in town refused to give up hope.

“The guys were all searching and stuff. And I remember myself going out in the woods and stuff because I always thought that a lot of these serial killers and stuff a lot of times don’t kill women and little kids. So I thought maybe he had them tied up possibly in the woods somewhere.”

At the same time divers search the Tanana River for the missing but the silty river bottom sucks them down to their ankles and they have to be pulled out. It’s a huge and dangerous river that doesn’t give up bodies very very easily. Meanwhile investigators and survivors are desperate to understand the mad man’s motive.

“He was a time bomb waiting to go off and unfortunately he went off in Manley and did great damage to the community there. I think it was a case of the wrong place wrong time and this individual was ready to snap. And he snapped right there.”

Investigators contend that Silka likely got into an argument with Joe McVey or his best friend Dale down at the boat dock.

“What are you guys doing here? What are you doing here? This is my fishing spot.”

“Your spot?”

“You a local? What are you fishing for? Bass and musky.”

“You hear from around here there’s no bass up here.”

“What do you got in here? From living out of What are you doing? You got some shorts on.”

“Back off.”

“Right. Where’s this? Who’s this guy? Who the hell you think you are bro? Hey man come on man. Back off.”

“Dude let it let it go man. Go. Don’t have to do that. Excuse me.”

“You stay back. Back off Dale. Just shut your mouth.”

“Who is this? He’s going to leave.”

“Okay. It’s not.”

“What’s this guy think he’s doing?”

“Put that down man. What are you doing? Hey.”

He then lost his temper and shot them.

“Stop. Think about this thing.”

The other residents showed up while Silka was dragging his victims to the river.

“People just happened to just show up at the wrong time to the the river and he had evidence there that he had to get rid of. So he just kept killing people in in order to get rid of the evidence.”

“And the poor people at the at the landing uh came down there unarmed unsuspecting not not thinking they’re going into a gun battle. And he shot them all.”

“Buddy what are you doing? Put the gun down.”

“We shot him in the head so he was very determined and very purposeful.”

Trapper Fred Burke had the misfortune of encountering Silka while traveling down the river to fix his car.

“Hey man what’s going on? I heard gunshots. What’s with all the blood? Oh no no no no no no.”

“When Freddy Burke showed up with his boat that was his his way of escaping. It was pretty devastating. Particularly if you think about it there was 10% of the population was killed in one day.”

By the end of the summer the river had given up the bodies of Joe McVey Dale Madiski Lyman Klene and Fred Burke. All had been shot in the head.

Lyman’s pregnant wife and their son have never been found. Neither has Albert Hagen Jr. The body of Roger Kulp the man who went missing in Hopkinsville never surfaces either.

“I truly believe he was probably in that mound behind the cabin when I was there the first day. Michael probably took Roger through the woods. It was a very short distance to the river and put him into the river because there was never a trace and he was never found. He never asked us for anything or any help other than that piece of moose hide. But I think that he wanted the Mooseide to cover up the murder.”

The total number of Silka’s victims may never be known. 2 days before Silka made his way to Manley Fred Burke and his ex-roin-law saw the Drifter’s vehicle parked some 30 m outside of town. They noticed three people in the front seat. One they later identified as Sila.

“My ex-husband said ‘Hey let’s stop and see if they need help.’ And my brother says ‘No people get killed like that. Let’s go.'”

He just had a bad feeling so they kept going. And he noticed that the people were looking scared. They were just like petrified looking. Michael Silka arrived in Manley alone. To this day no one really knows what happened to those two people.

“They very well could be dead and and and buried someplace in the tundra out there. Nobody knew who the two people were. We don’t have no other reported missing people. They could have been hitchhikers.”

Those who survived the massacre in Manley equated to a game of Russian roulette. They say it could have been any one of them at the dock that day.

“It was timing. It was just a miracle of timing. We just weren’t on time to be to be a victim. In those days I used to go down there almost every day but I just some reason I didn’t go that particular day. And I was lucky.”

At the request of his father Michael Silka was buried in the National Cemetery in Sitka Alaska. He was an honorably discharged soldier and he has that right. What’s more ironic about that is that State Trooper Training Academy is right next door to the cemetery. They’ve had to unmark the grave for whatever reason. The rifle he used to take out trooper Troy Duncan remains on display at the academy. It’s a reminder reminder of what can happen that you’re going to walk into the the jaws of danger often amongst this beauty are these people that have come here for evil reasons. And it’s their last stronghold.