Alaska's "Butcher Baker"

 

 Robert Hansen, dubbed the “Butcher Baker,” was an active serial killer in Anchorage, Alaska, in the 1970s and 1980s. He is known to have abducted, raped, and murdered at least 17 women whom he hunted in the wilderness armed with rifles and a Hunting Knife.

He was born in Estherville, Iowa, on February 15th, 1939, to his American mother, Edna, and his Danish father, Christian. He was their eldest child. His father worked as a baker, and Robert worked at the bakery. The family left Iowa in 1942 for Richmond, California, but returned to Iowa in 1949, settling in Pocahontas.

Robert was described as a shy boy who suffered stuttering and extreme acne. His acne was so bad that it scarred his face forever. He was said to be a quiet loner with a disturbing relationship with his controlling father. He found refuge from all his problems in hunting and archery.

In 1957, Robert enlisted in the United States Army Reserve, serving for one year before he was discharged. After that, he worked as an assistant Drill Instructor at a police academy in Pocahontas. He soon met a younger woman, dated her, and married her in the summer of 1960. However, that’s when the crimes began.

 His Early Crimes

 Robert burned down a school bus garage in Pocahontas. He did it as revenge for his being unpopular in school. He was arrested for that crime on December 7th, 1960. Robert was charged with the crime and served twenty months of a three-year sentence at Anamosa State Penitentiary. It was there that they discovered that Robert suffered from Manic Depression with periodic schizophrenic episodes. While there, it was noted that his infantile personality made anyone who ever wronged him a target in his eyes. Before Robert was released, his wife filed for divorce.

Yet, that wasn’t his only crime. Over several years, Robert would find himself in and out of jail over petty thefts. But, the worst was yet to come.

Robert moved to Anchorage, Alaska, in 1967. His second wife and two children joined him. All seemed normal for the family. Robert was well-liked among his neighbours and had set several hunting records. However, in December of 1971, Robert found himself in more trouble. This time, serious.

He was accused of abducting and attempting to rape an unnamed woman on one account and for the rape of a prostitute on a second account. Robert had pleaded no contest, and the rape charge was dropped in the plea bargain. He received a sentence of five years in prison. He only served six months before being released early on a work release program.

However, in 1976, he pleaded guilty when he was caught stealing a chainsaw from a Fred Meyer store. He was given another five-year sentence and was ordered to have treatment for his Bipolar. Once again, Robert got off lucky because the Alaska Supreme Court reduced the sentence, and Robert was released on time served.

 The Murders

 Beginning around 1971, Robert killed women. He would stalk them, learning their routines, which led to him picking them up in his car and forcing them to his home at gunpoint. While there, he would rape and sometimes torture them before taking them to a secluded area for hunting purposes.

While Hansen continued to Deny it, only a few of his victims were exotic dancers and prostitutes, while many of them were teenagers. He is known to have raped over thirty women, but it is only confirmed that he killed 17 of them. Though it is highly suspected that Robert killed at least twenty-one.

18-year-old Celia van Zanten was at home with two of her brothers on the evening of December 22nd, 1971, when she left to run to the supermarket around 8:30pm. The supermarket closed at 9pm. She was spotted on her way between 8:45 and 9pm, and she was also spotted on Northern Lights Boulevard. However, Celia never made it to the supermarket or home. She was reported missing two days later, and on December 25th, 1971, her body was found at Chugach State Park, which was close to Anchorage. They say that Celia was still alive when she was dumped in a deep ravine and tried to climb out but failed because of her bindings. She was cut and sexually assaulted but died due to exposure. She is believed to be Robert’s first victim, even though he denies it.

17-year-old Megan Emerick was last seen in a dorm laundry room at the Seward Skill Centre when she vanished out of thin air on July 7th, 1973, in Seward, Alaska. Megan had left behind all personal items, including all of her ID. She wasn’t reported missing for three days because her roommate attempted to locate her. Robert again denied involvement, even though he was in Seward the day she vanished.


22-year-old Mary Trill had vanished from Seward, Alaska, on July 5th, 1975, after being driven into town by a friend between 1:30 and 2:00pm. Mary was later seen by another friend by a waterfall on Lowell Point Road. That was the last time anyone saw her. Despite him being in Seward again that day, Robert denied involvement.

An unidentified woman known as Eklutna Annie was discovered buried in a shallow grave near a power line in a wooded area on July 21st, 1980. He admitted to killing her and claimed that she was an exotic dancer or prostitute.

24-year-old Joanna Messina was a topless dancer. She went out to dinner with Robert on May 19th, 1980. Things were going quite well until the woman offered sex in exchange for money. That was apparently a deal breaker for Robert. He refused and abducted her and her dog. He killed them both and dumped her body in a gravel pit. He threw the dog and her belongings into the woods and threw the gun he used to shoot them into the river.

24-year-old Roxanne Easland vanished without a trace on June 26th, 1980. Roxanne lived with her boyfriend for the past few weeks at the Budget Motel in Anchorage, Alaska. The day she vanished, Roxanne was to meet a man downtown. Robert Hansen admitted to killing Roxanne, but sadly, her body was never recovered.

41-year-old Lisa Furtell worked in a nightclub in Anchorage, Alaska. She was meeting with Hansen on September 6th,1980. She never returned home after her shift on September 7th, 1980, and her roommates called the police.

23-year-old Sherry Morrow was another topless dancer. Sherry had told her friends that she was offered three hundred dollars by a photographer to take nude photos. She agreed and went to meet with him on November 17th, 1981. No one has seen Sherry since. She was discovered in a shallow grave by hunters around the Knik River, which borders Anchorage. She had been shot in the back with a Ruger Mini 14 rifle. Her clothing had no holes, which suggested she was hunted naked and redressed later.

24-year-old Andrea Altiery boarded a taxi and headed for the Boniface Mall in Anchorage, Alaska, at about 11pm on December 2nd, 1981. Like Sherry, she was meeting with a photographer for a nude photo shoot and to perform exotic dances. Andrea was never seen again. When Robert’s house was searched, they found several of Andrea’s possessions, including a fish necklace. Robert admitted to killing Andrea after sexually assaulting her. He claimed that she fought back, and he shot her. Then threw her over the bridge after tying her to a bag filled with gravel. She was never found.

23-year-old Sue Luna was another exotic dancer who agreed to three hundred dollars for a photo shoot. On May 26th, 1982, she met with Robert in a diner parking lot in Anchorage. She was reported missing the next day. Robert admitted that he abducted Sue. He released her into the forest and hunted her like an animal while she was naked. Her body was found on April 24th, 1984. He had buried her in the Knik River.

19-year-old Robin Pelkey’s partial skeletal remains were found in Palmer, Alaska, on April 25th, 1984. Close to Horseshoe Lake. Until she was identified in 2021 using forensic genealogy, she was known as Horseshoe Harriet. It is unknown if Robin was a sex worker, but Robert killed her. All that is known of this woman is that she resided in Anchorage, Alaska, and vanished without a trace on July 19th, 1983.

22-year-old DeLynne Frey was a former resident of Anchorage, Alaska. She was not immediately reported missing, but it is believed that she went missing sometime in March of 1983. Robert had abducted and killed her. However, when she was found on August 25th, 1985, no one knew who she was. She was buried as a Jane Doe in an Anchorage cemetery. It wasn’t until 1989 that an Alaska State Trooper recognized her, and she was finally identified.

30-year-old Paula Goulding was another exotic dancer in Anchorage, Alaska. She was offered money by Robert, who abducted her by aircraft. Once they reached a remote area, she fought to get away, but Robert shot her in the back with a .223 rifle and killed her. On September 2nd, 1983, she was found in a shallow grave on the Knik River. Again, her clothing was undamaged. She was hunted naked and redressed.

17-year-old Cindy Paulson was kidnapped by Robert on June 13th, 1983, in Anchorage, Alaska. Robert agreed to pay for sex and then pointed a .357 Magnum at her. He took her to his home, where he sexually assaulted her. He planned to take her to a remote location to hunt her, but as he loaded his airplane, Cindy managed to escape. She was the only victim to survive.

28-year-old Malai Larsen was another exotic dancer who was reported missing on July 10th, 1981, in Anchorage, Alaska. On April 24th, 1984, her body was discovered in a parking lot close to the Knik Arm Bridge.

22-year-old Teresa Watson was yet another exotic dancer who went missing on March 25th, 1983, from Anchorage, Alaska. Teresa had told her roommate that she was meeting a man who had offered her three hundred dollars in exchange for a few hours of her company. Teresa never returned. Robert had abducted and killed her. He could not bury her as the

ground was still frozen, so he left her where she died. She was found on May 17th, 1984.

24-year-old Angela Feddern disappeared from Fourth Avenue in Anchorage sometime in February of 1983. She was not reported missing until May. Her boss called in the report, stating that one of his dancers was missing. Robert had abducted and murdered her. Her body was found near a small lake on April 26th, 1984.

20-year-old Tamera Perderson was another exotic dancer at a nightclub in Anchorage, Alaska. On August 7th, 1982, Tamera called her family and told them that she had been offered money to pose for photographs. She was abducted and murdered by Robert. She was not found until Robert pointed out the location of her body on a map. Sure enough, on April 24th, 1984, her body was found in a shallow grave 1.5 miles from Old Knik Bridge.

 Downfall and Capture

 On June 13th, 1983, Robert abducted 17-year-old Cindy Paulson. He took her to his home, sexually assaulted her, and then chained her around the neck to a post in the basement and took a nap. When he woke up, he took her, bound to the airport in his car. However, when he was distracted loading the plane, she managed to escape from the driver’s side door and run towards Sixth Avenue. Robert panicked and chased her, but she managed to flag down a truck on Sixth Avenue, which picked her up. She conventionally left her blue shoes on his passenger side floor as proof that he was the one who took her. The driver, Robert Yount, took her to the Mush Inn, where she frantically asked the clerk to call her boyfriend, who was staying at the Big Timber Motel.
When he got to work, Robert Yount called and reported it himself. When the Anchorage Police Department arrived at Mush Inn, Cindy had left and took a taxi to the Big Timber Motel. They found her alone in room 110, and she was still handcuffed. She told them her story. They knew him and his reputation. They did not believe her that Robert Hansen had abducted her.

However, at the same time, Detective Glenn Florthe of the Alaska State Troopers was in the middle of an investigation. Several bodies had been discovered between Anchorage, Seward, and Matanuska-Sustina Valley Area. The very first they found was Eklutna Annie. Joanna Messina was also discovered in a gravel pit near Seward in 1982. And Sherry Morrow was found in a shallow grave near the Knik River. It was apparent all three were murdered by the same person.
He contacted the FBI, and Special Agent John Douglas helped profile the killer. According to Douglas, the murderer was an experienced hunter with low self-esteem and likely a history of rejection. The killer was also likely to stutter and feel the need to keep trophies of his kills, like jewellery that belonged to the victims.

After speaking to Cindy, it was apparent that Robert fit the profile, and Robert had a plane. He got a warrant to check Robert’s house, plane, and cars. On October 27th, 1983, the authorities uncovered possessions. Mainly jewellery that belonged to the victims. They also found a hidey-hole in the attic that was filled with multiple firearms, including a Ruger Mini 14 rifle. They also found what they dubbed a “Murder Map” with thirty-seven little ‘X’ marks in various locations. Many of the bodies they had found matched places on this map. Others they found after were found at these locations, including Celia and Megan. Robert later admitted to killing both of these girls to inmates.

Robert Hansen, a.k.a. the Butcher Baker, was sentenced to 461 years in prison without the chance of parole. He served several years in the United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, before he was transferred back to Alaska. Where he spent some time in the Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau. He was later transferred to the Anchorage Correctional Complex for health reasons. Robert Hansen died at age 75 at the Alaska Regional Hospital in Anchorage on August 21, 2014, of natural causes.

Media

 here have been a couple of movies based on Robert Hansen. Naked Fear(2007) was based on the murders. As well as The Frozen Ground (2013), John Cusack played a convincing John Hansen.
There are also various documentaries and TV Shows dedicated to this depiction.