00:00:00
it doesn't matter who you are or what
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you have life can be pretty damn hard
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and without a healthy mind it's even
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harder
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check out online therapy with
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betterhelp.com
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case file and be on your way to a little
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more ease
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44 year old jeanette castraon suffered
00:00:23
from a disability that made it very
00:00:25
difficult to walk and travel on her own
00:00:29
in june 2015 while waiting as her mother
00:00:33
took a brief stop at a park restroom
00:00:36
jeanette vanished
00:00:38
she would not be the last
00:00:42
joining investigative journalist otavia
00:00:44
mchenry as she uncovers the secrets
00:00:47
behind jeanette's sudden disappearance
00:00:50
with interviews from jeanette's family
00:00:52
law enforcement and criminal behavior
00:00:55
experts otavia uncovers much more in the
00:00:58
search for jeanette castraion than she
00:01:01
anticipated
00:01:02
a twisted labyrinth where the most
00:01:05
beautiful scenery hides sinister secrets
00:01:09
the labyrinth is a case file presents
00:01:11
podcast
00:01:12
available now for free only on spotify
00:01:17
stay tuned until the end of this episode
00:01:19
to hear the official trailer and be sure
00:01:22
to follow the labyrinth on spotify
00:01:37
[Music]
00:01:41
our episodes deal with serious and often
00:01:43
distressing incidents if you feel at any
00:01:46
time you need support please contact
00:01:47
your local crisis center for suggested
00:01:50
phone numbers for confidential support
00:01:52
please see the show notes for this
00:01:53
episode on your app or on our website
00:01:57
please note that the names of several
00:02:00
individuals mentioned in this episode
00:02:02
have been changed
00:02:08
fiona kennedy brought her car to a stop
00:02:10
before the red light
00:02:12
it was monday november 15 1971 and the
00:02:16
18 year old was enjoying a day off from
00:02:19
work
00:02:20
after spending the morning shopping
00:02:23
fiona was heading home along northern
00:02:25
lights boulevard a main thoroughfare in
00:02:27
the alaskan city of anchorage
00:02:31
as she waited at the traffic lights
00:02:33
fiona casually scanned her surroundings
00:02:36
and happened to lock eyes with the
00:02:37
driver of the car next to hers
00:02:41
he was an unremarkable white man aged in
00:02:43
his 30s with short hair hidden under a
00:02:46
fluorescent orange baseball cap
00:02:49
a large pair of thick rimmed eyeglasses
00:02:52
framed his cold stare
00:02:55
in an effort to break the awkward
00:02:57
exchange fiona smiled at the man then
00:03:00
focused her attention back on the road
00:03:02
ahead
00:03:04
the light turned green and fiona took
00:03:07
off thinking little of the meaningless
00:03:09
though somewhat uncomfortable
00:03:11
interaction
00:03:12
[Music]
00:03:14
around 10 minutes later fiona arrived at
00:03:17
her apartment complex on lois drive
00:03:21
after carrying her shopping up the two
00:03:23
flights of stairs to her place she
00:03:25
started to run a bath
00:03:28
all of a sudden there was a knock at her
00:03:31
front door
00:03:33
fiona wrapped her naked body in a towel
00:03:35
and went to answer it
00:03:38
standing before her was the man from the
00:03:41
stoplight
00:03:43
up close fiona could see his pockmarked
00:03:46
face permanently scarred from a bout of
00:03:49
severe acne
00:03:52
the man explained that he was looking
00:03:54
for someone who lived in the complex
00:03:58
noticing a phone book on a table just
00:04:00
inside fiona's apartment
00:04:03
he asked if he could come in and look at
00:04:05
it for a second
00:04:08
fiona agreed and the man absent-mindedly
00:04:11
flipped through the pages remarking that
00:04:14
the number he was looking for must have
00:04:17
been unlisted
00:04:19
then he started making small talk
00:04:23
he said he was new in anchorage didn't
00:04:26
know many people and asked if fiona
00:04:28
would like to go on a date with him
00:04:32
no thanks she replied
00:04:34
explaining that she was engaged
00:04:38
the man left soon after
00:04:43
one week later fiona woke early to drive
00:04:46
some friends to work
00:04:48
at 5 15 am she wandered down to her car
00:04:52
and took off
00:04:54
it was still dark when fiona returned
00:04:56
home a short while later
00:05:00
for a brief moment her car's headlights
00:05:03
illuminated a man in a fluorescent
00:05:05
orange cap as he darted behind a
00:05:07
neighboring property out of sight
00:05:11
fiona parked in the carport and upon
00:05:14
stepping out of her vehicle came face to
00:05:17
face with the barrel of a revolver
00:05:21
holding tightly onto its grip was the
00:05:24
man she had smiled at a week earlier at
00:05:26
the stoplight
00:05:29
he threatened to shoot fiona if she made
00:05:32
a sound
00:05:35
unable to contain her fear fiona let out
00:05:38
a scream
00:05:40
the man pushed his gun into her back and
00:05:43
again threatened her to stay quiet
00:05:47
we're going someplace we can be alone he
00:05:50
revealed as he led fiona towards the
00:05:52
street
00:05:56
suddenly he was stopped in his tracks by
00:05:58
the sound of a police siren
00:06:01
it had started in the distance but was
00:06:03
getting louder with each passing second
00:06:07
fiona's scream had woken her roommates
00:06:10
who ran to a window saw her being held
00:06:13
at gunpoint and called 9-1-1
00:06:17
as police sped to the scene the man
00:06:20
lowered his weapon and walked off into
00:06:23
the darkness
00:06:33
[Music]
00:06:43
[Music]
00:06:49
[Music]
00:06:52
lois drive became a hive of police
00:06:54
activity as officers scoured the area
00:06:57
for fiona's gun-wielding abductor
00:07:01
sometime after 7am a squad car pulled up
00:07:05
out the front of fiona's apartment
00:07:08
she approached the vehicle and peered
00:07:10
through a window into the backseat
00:07:14
that's him she confirmed
00:07:17
her abductor had been found walking the
00:07:20
streets close by and was charged with
00:07:22
assault with a deadly weapon
00:07:26
he maintained that he had no
00:07:28
recollection of the event
00:07:31
in a pre-trial bail hearing counsel for
00:07:34
the defense successfully depicted their
00:07:36
client as a hard-working and
00:07:38
well-respected church-going family man
00:07:42
he was released on two thousand dollars
00:07:45
bail pending a trial that was scheduled
00:07:47
to begin in january the following year
00:07:51
but by late december the man was
00:07:54
prowling the streets of anchorage once
00:07:56
again
00:07:57
looking for his next target
00:08:00
[Music]
00:08:02
in the early morning hours of sunday
00:08:04
december 19 gemma gibbs rushed across a
00:08:07
parking lot and into the warmth of a
00:08:09
nearby cafe
00:08:12
the 18 year old was in desperate need of
00:08:14
a hot drink to ward off anchorage's icy
00:08:17
winter
00:08:19
after ordering a tea gemma headed back
00:08:22
outside to start the heater in her car
00:08:24
so it would be toasty for the drive home
00:08:28
while doing so she saw a silver blue
00:08:31
pontiac pull into a neighboring parking
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spot
00:08:35
a man emerged from the vehicle
00:08:37
but she paid him little attention
00:08:41
once her car heater was blasting gemma
00:08:44
returned to the cafe to collect her
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order
00:08:49
the male driver of the pontiac was
00:08:51
standing by the cafe door as if waiting
00:08:54
for her
00:08:56
when gemma approached he blocked her
00:08:58
path and attempted to start a
00:09:00
conversation
00:09:02
it seemed like he was going to ask her
00:09:04
something but a stutter got the better
00:09:07
of him and he struggled to form the
00:09:09
words
00:09:11
gemma tried to push past him but froze
00:09:14
when he pulled out a gun from underneath
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his coat
00:09:18
don't scream he warned as he forced her
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into his pontiac
00:09:24
a passing car's headlights cut through
00:09:26
the early morning darkness and swept
00:09:29
over her abductor
00:09:31
illuminating his pockmarked face and
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large eyeglasses
00:09:37
he drove gemma south along the seward
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highway where the city streets gave way
00:09:43
to snowy fields forested hills and
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rugged mountain ranges
00:09:48
[Music]
00:09:49
bound by her wrists and ankles with the
00:09:51
leather shoelaces gemma endured a
00:09:54
hundred mile long drive during which she
00:09:58
was periodically assaulted and
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eventually raped
00:10:02
she was relieved when her captor started
00:10:05
the long journey back to anchorage
00:10:08
only for him to perform a u-turn and
00:10:11
continue heading south
00:10:15
why are we going this way and gemma
00:10:17
asked
00:10:19
her captor told her of a cabin he had
00:10:22
taken a woman to a week prior
00:10:25
that's where they were going now
00:10:29
he drove to the expansive cooper lake
00:10:32
region and turned down a secluded
00:10:34
ancillary road that curled up a mountain
00:10:39
they got a fair way up
00:10:41
only to discover that heavy snowfall
00:10:43
blanketed the road ahead making it
00:10:46
impossible to proceed any further
00:10:49
irritated the man turned the car around
00:10:53
[Music]
00:10:55
during the descent
00:10:57
gemma noticed her captor eyeing the
00:10:59
cliffside that boarded the road
00:11:03
she sensed he was toying with the idea
00:11:05
of shooting her then throwing her into
00:11:08
the ravine
00:11:10
as described in the book fair game by
00:11:13
bernard duclos
00:11:15
the man abruptly hit the brakes and
00:11:17
forced the gemma out of the car
00:11:20
cocking his gun
00:11:22
he ordered her to start running
00:11:30
gemma knew what the men would do the
00:11:32
moment she turned her back to flee and
00:11:35
told him she wasn't going to run no
00:11:38
matter what
00:11:40
instead she faced him and began begging
00:11:43
for her life saying everything she could
00:11:45
think of to make him reconsider
00:11:49
she complimented him suggesting that
00:11:51
they date and told him about her baby
00:11:54
son
00:11:56
promising she wouldn't go to the police
00:11:59
she offered him her name and address and
00:12:01
that of her parents has insurance that
00:12:04
she would keep her word
00:12:07
and just like that
00:12:09
her ordeal was over
00:12:13
gemma was led back to the pontiac
00:12:16
there were no more stops just threats to
00:12:19
ensure her compliance
00:12:22
by 2pm she was returned to anchorage
00:12:25
having been left a block from where her
00:12:27
car was parked
00:12:30
gemma kept her promise and didn't speak
00:12:32
a word of her ordeal to the police
00:12:38
days later on december 23 celia van
00:12:41
zanten known to friends and family as
00:12:44
beth was hit by a thirst that only a
00:12:47
soda could quench
00:12:49
it was 8 30 pm and the nearby
00:12:52
convenience store was due to close in
00:12:54
half an hour
00:12:57
beth pulled on her green down filled
00:12:59
parker and rubber sold hiking boots then
00:13:02
headed out into the winter chill
00:13:06
it was only a short walk from her
00:13:08
kinnick avenue home to the shops on
00:13:10
northern lights boulevard
00:13:13
yet
00:13:15
beth never returned
00:13:19
on christmas day a nature photographer
00:13:22
was attempting to take the perfect
00:13:23
picture of a waterfall in the mchugh
00:13:26
creek recreation area south of anchorage
00:13:30
as he edged closer to the water he
00:13:33
noticed what appeared to be a mannequin
00:13:35
halfway up the ravine
00:13:38
it was positioned at an odd angle and
00:13:41
partially covered with snow
00:13:44
except
00:13:45
it wasn't a mannequin
00:13:46
it was the body of a young woman
00:13:51
police identified her as 18 year old
00:13:54
beth van zanten who had vanished from
00:13:57
downtown anchorage two days earlier
00:14:02
beth's hands were tied behind her back
00:14:04
with speaker wire and a gag had been
00:14:07
placed over her mouth
00:14:09
naked from the waist down she had been
00:14:12
sexually assaulted and had sustained a
00:14:15
slash across her chest from a knife used
00:14:18
to cut open her bra
00:14:21
fifty or so feet above where beth was
00:14:24
found was a parking area
00:14:27
it was believed that she had either fled
00:14:29
from her attacker into the ravine or
00:14:33
that he threw her down it
00:14:36
stripped of her jacket and boots beth
00:14:39
had faced temperatures as low as -5
00:14:42
degrees fahrenheit in the days she was
00:14:44
missing
00:14:46
at that time of year anchorage was
00:14:48
plunged into a long darkness with less
00:14:51
than 6 hours of light expected per day
00:14:56
straining to trudge bound and barefoot
00:14:59
through three feet of snow back up the
00:15:01
darkened slope
00:15:03
beth eventually succumbed to the harsh
00:15:05
elements and froze to death
00:15:13
news of what happened to betha van
00:15:15
zanten rattled fellow anchorage teen
00:15:18
gemma gibbs
00:15:20
she was certain that the man who had
00:15:22
abducted and raped her at gunpoint was
00:15:25
also responsible for beth's death
00:15:29
in order to secure her freedom
00:15:32
gemma had promised to never to tell the
00:15:34
police what had happened to her
00:15:37
but now she realized that her silence
00:15:39
might have enabled her attacker to
00:15:41
assault and murder someone else
00:15:45
compelled by guilt gemma went to the
00:15:48
authorities and identified her assailant
00:15:52
it was the same man who had attempted to
00:15:54
abduct fiona kennedy from her lowest
00:15:57
drive apartment in november
00:16:00
now he faced felony charges for two
00:16:03
separate crimes the second he committed
00:16:06
while on bail for the first
00:16:10
yet
00:16:11
he managed to secure a deal
00:16:14
he pleaded no contest to the charge of
00:16:17
assault with a deadly weapon against
00:16:19
fiona
00:16:21
in exchange
00:16:22
charges relating to the abduction and
00:16:24
rape of gemma were dropped
00:16:28
from the prosecution's perspective there
00:16:31
just wasn't enough evidence in that case
00:16:33
to secure a conviction
00:16:37
in his sentencing remarks the judge told
00:16:40
the man
00:16:41
i believe you have a serious illness
00:16:44
that makes you extremely dangerous
00:16:48
but then he sentenced him to just five
00:16:50
years in prison and added
00:16:54
i recommend work release for you as soon
00:16:56
as possible so you can pursue your
00:16:59
employment and support your family
00:17:03
a model prisoner the man was released
00:17:06
after serving only three months behind
00:17:09
bars
00:17:13
when speaking of the outcome gemma gibbs
00:17:16
remarked
00:17:18
it was like you're not only raped by the
00:17:21
perpetrator but again by the courts
00:17:26
although there was reasonable suspicion
00:17:28
to believe that the same man was
00:17:30
involved in the abduction rape and death
00:17:33
of bethe van zanten
00:17:35
there was no evidence to support the
00:17:37
allegation
00:17:38
and that case went cold
00:17:40
[Music]
00:17:42
upon his release from prison the man
00:17:45
returned to anchorage a city big and
00:17:48
busy enough to forget his transgressions
00:17:52
he continued living a normal life
00:17:54
while those aware of his history took it
00:17:57
with a grain of salt as the crimes
00:18:00
didn't align with the man they knew
00:18:02
personally
00:18:04
he remained married had a second child
00:18:07
moved into a large house owned three
00:18:10
vehicles and started a successful
00:18:13
business
00:18:15
for him
00:18:16
it was as though nothing ever happened
00:18:19
but he never changed
00:18:26
in the year after making parole he lured
00:18:29
a 16 year old girl into his car and
00:18:32
drove her around for hours sexually
00:18:34
assaulting her at gunpoint
00:18:37
he warned her not to go to the police or
00:18:40
else he would quote
00:18:42
hunt her down
00:18:44
she complied with his threat
00:18:48
his appetite for dominance and control
00:18:51
continued to grow
00:18:54
his stalking grounds primarily encompass
00:18:56
the downtown anchorage specifically an
00:18:59
area known as the tenderloin district
00:19:03
over the years the construction of the
00:19:06
800-mile long trans-alaska oil pipeline
00:19:09
had led to transient laborers rushing to
00:19:12
the city
00:19:14
organized crime followed as drug dealers
00:19:17
and dodgy nightclub operators sought to
00:19:20
take advantage of the sudden influx of
00:19:22
young men with disposable incomes
00:19:26
they set up in the tenderloin district
00:19:28
and ran various bars adult stores and
00:19:32
strip clubs
00:19:34
police were frequently called out to the
00:19:37
area to deal with fights and robberies
00:19:40
the women who worked there were
00:19:42
particularly vulnerable
00:19:46
despite being married the men would
00:19:49
prowl the tenderloin district looking
00:19:51
for sex workers
00:19:54
one such occasion occurred in october
00:19:56
1975.
00:19:59
he propositioned a dancer at the kitkat
00:20:02
club showing her a wad of cash and
00:20:05
asking to have some fun
00:20:08
she agreed
00:20:10
that night he drove her to the chugach
00:20:12
state park east of anchorage and raped
00:20:15
her at gunpoint
00:20:18
he ultimately released her and for
00:20:21
personal reasons she chose not to file
00:20:24
charges
00:20:26
she did however give his vehicle's
00:20:28
license plate number to a rape crisis
00:20:31
center which led to his identification
00:20:34
[Music]
00:20:37
the case was handed over to the alaska
00:20:39
state troopers
00:20:40
but without the survivor's assistance
00:20:43
their options were limited
00:20:46
a trooper did contact the man's parole
00:20:49
officer to inform him of the incident
00:20:52
when confronted the man admitted to
00:20:55
being with the woman but said her was
00:20:57
only ever a date
00:20:59
then she started demanding money that he
00:21:02
refused to pay which led her to quote
00:21:06
get mad and holler rape
00:21:10
the parole officer wasn't convinced by
00:21:13
his story
00:21:14
but there was nothing more he could do
00:21:18
that was until april the following year
00:21:26
that month the parole officer appeared
00:21:29
in court to testify against the man
00:21:31
after he was caught stealing a chainsaw
00:21:33
from a superstore
00:21:36
the officer spoke at length about the
00:21:38
abduction of the dancer from the kitkat
00:21:40
club while highlighting the defendant's
00:21:43
increasingly violent sexual behavior
00:21:47
he went so far as to doubt that the man
00:21:49
would cooperate and respond to therapy
00:21:52
now and was of the opinion that he be
00:21:55
locked up
00:21:58
the kitkat club incident hadn't been
00:22:00
verified by the legal process the
00:22:03
presiding judge decided not to take the
00:22:05
parole officer's testimony into
00:22:08
consideration
00:22:10
he did however listen intently when the
00:22:13
defendant politely read out a statement
00:22:16
to the court
00:22:18
he spoke of his wife and two children
00:22:21
saying they would be made to suffer if
00:22:23
he was imprisoned and he wanted to stay
00:22:26
out of jail to support them
00:22:29
he concluded
00:22:31
i want to live a life that's acceptable
00:22:34
to society and to myself
00:22:38
after praising the man for speaking so
00:22:40
eloquently
00:22:42
the judge sentenced him to five years
00:22:46
the man appealed this decision and in a
00:22:49
written opinion on the case submitted
00:22:51
august
00:22:52
1978 the supreme court of alaska said
00:22:56
that prior to the chainsaw theft the man
00:22:59
had conducted his life in a normal
00:23:02
manner
00:23:03
quote
00:23:05
he has maintained steady employment been
00:23:07
a good provider and has earned the
00:23:10
reputation of a hard worker and a
00:23:12
respectable member of the community
00:23:17
according to the book fair game the
00:23:20
defense sought the input of a
00:23:22
psychologist who concluded that their
00:23:24
client was markedly disturbed
00:23:27
anti-social paranoid by nature and had a
00:23:31
relatively weaker ego
00:23:34
in examining his past behaviors to the
00:23:37
present day it was noted that the man's
00:23:40
personality had disintegrated to a
00:23:42
highly psychotic level or high
00:23:45
schizophrenia scale harmonic scale and
00:23:48
high anti-social scale
00:23:51
with the psychologist adding quote
00:23:54
there's some narcissism and magical
00:23:57
thinking involved in this also
00:24:01
the defense scrapped this finding and
00:24:04
sourced a second more desirous opinion
00:24:09
this second doctor diagnosed their
00:24:12
client as suffering a variant of a manic
00:24:14
depressive disorder known as a bipolar
00:24:17
affective disorder
00:24:19
wherein he had poor control over his
00:24:21
impulses due to mood and energy upswings
00:24:25
his kleptomania was a result of this
00:24:28
disorder
00:24:30
the doctor maintained that the man was
00:24:32
responding well to therapy and
00:24:35
medication and felt there would be no
00:24:37
more issues if he continued this routine
00:24:42
the appellate judges agreed that the
00:24:45
defendant's anti-social behaviour was a
00:24:47
mental health issue that could be
00:24:49
treated
00:24:50
they ordered him to be released on
00:24:52
probation at the end of that month
00:24:56
even though the courts were absolutely
00:24:59
convinced that the man would commit
00:25:01
additional crimes without the
00:25:03
implementation of a medication and
00:25:05
therapy regime
00:25:07
administrative blunders meant that he
00:25:09
was returned to society without any
00:25:12
court-ordered guidelines
00:25:14
mandates or supervision
00:25:21
the following year on sunday october 14
00:25:25
1979 the man sat alone had a club called
00:25:29
embers in downtown anchorage with beer
00:25:32
in hand
00:25:33
watching a young woman dance on a nearby
00:25:36
tabletop
00:25:38
their eyes met and he asked if they
00:25:40
could meet later
00:25:42
a stutter fragmented his words but his
00:25:46
intentions were clear the moment he
00:25:48
pulled out a roll of money
00:25:50
the dancer judy russell accepted his
00:25:53
offer
00:25:55
she'd be off in 20 minutes
00:25:58
we'll meet outside he said
00:26:01
look for a gold camper
00:26:03
[Music]
00:26:05
upon leaving embers judy spotted a gold
00:26:09
colored pickup truck parked nearby
00:26:12
the vehicle which had a camper
00:26:14
attachment in its cargo bed had seen
00:26:17
better days
00:26:19
the man from the club was waiting for
00:26:21
her
00:26:23
she followed him into the camper where
00:26:26
he pulled out a 357 magnum revolver
00:26:30
judy was forced to strip naked as her
00:26:33
hands were bound with snare wire
00:26:36
she was threatened to keep quiet but
00:26:39
judy screamed constantly
00:26:43
dreading someone would hear her and
00:26:45
contact police the man leapt out of the
00:26:48
camper and rushed to the front of his
00:26:50
truck throwing himself behind to the
00:26:52
wheel
00:26:54
he sped towards the glen highway
00:26:57
hoping to reach the expansive wilderness
00:27:00
that framed the northern part of the
00:27:02
city before authorities caught up
00:27:06
little did he realize that behind him
00:27:09
judy had escaped her restraints
00:27:13
when he heard her pounding on the
00:27:14
camper's walls he started to panic
00:27:18
slamming the brakes he rushed around his
00:27:20
truck to confront her only to discover
00:27:24
that judy had locked the camper's doors
00:27:28
she quickly crawled into the cab of the
00:27:30
truck and locked the doors there too
00:27:33
just as the man appeared outside the
00:27:36
driver's side window
00:27:38
it was rolled part way down
00:27:42
the man reached in and grabbed
00:27:44
desperately at the door's lock
00:27:47
judy lent over and wound the window up
00:27:50
trapping his arm
00:27:52
her sheer terror was matched by his
00:27:55
unbridled fury
00:27:58
he smashed the window to free his arm
00:28:01
unlocked the door
00:28:03
grabbed to duty and pulled her bound and
00:28:06
naked onto the ground
00:28:10
judy refused to give in
00:28:12
scrambling to her feet she broke out in
00:28:15
a sprint
00:28:17
her captor chased her for several blocks
00:28:20
before he gave up and returned to his
00:28:23
pickup
00:28:25
lucky for him
00:28:26
judy wasn't able to identify him to the
00:28:28
police so he got away with it
00:28:33
but that didn't stop him from trying
00:28:36
again
00:28:38
later that same month he managed to
00:28:40
reach the wilderness outside the city as
00:28:43
planned
00:28:45
this time his captive was a 16 year old
00:28:48
girl he had picked up outside a movie
00:28:50
theater
00:28:51
he intended to rape her
00:28:54
but when she revealed that she was
00:28:56
homeless and hadn't eaten for two days
00:28:59
he let her go
00:29:02
this would be a rare and final moment of
00:29:05
humanity
00:29:07
later that fall
00:29:08
he wouldn't be so kind
00:29:12
[Music]
00:29:17
annie wandered downtown anchorage in
00:29:19
blue jeans a sweater a fur trimmed brown
00:29:23
leather jacket and a pair of high-heeled
00:29:25
red ankle boots
00:29:27
it was the fall of 1979 and although her
00:29:31
ensemble helped to ward off the crisp
00:29:34
weather that befell alaska that time of
00:29:36
year it also acted as a work uniform of
00:29:39
sorts
00:29:41
many of the young women employed in
00:29:43
anchorage's infamously rough tenderloin
00:29:46
district wore similar attire
00:29:49
that let male passersby know that they
00:29:52
were sex workers
00:29:55
annie climbed into the gold pickup truck
00:29:58
that was waiting nearby and settled into
00:30:00
the passenger seat
00:30:03
its driver was a white man of average
00:30:05
height and build with short brown hair
00:30:08
and a pock marked face
00:30:11
he said he was going to take annie to
00:30:13
his home and she agreed to this plan
00:30:16
until she realized they were heading
00:30:18
away from the city towards the
00:30:20
wilderness beyond
00:30:24
nervously annie asked him to drive her
00:30:27
back to anchorage
00:30:29
he assured her that they were going to
00:30:32
another safe location
00:30:34
but she didn't believe him
00:30:37
the atmosphere in the truck grew
00:30:39
increasingly tense
00:30:42
as detailed in the book fair game the
00:30:45
man reassured annie that he was only
00:30:47
going to drive a little further
00:30:51
well i'm not she snapped
00:30:54
the man suddenly pulled out a gun
00:30:58
you do exactly as i say he won't and you
00:31:02
won't get hurt
00:31:05
he turned off the glenn highway and onto
00:31:07
a clutner lake road a long scenic
00:31:10
stretch named after the large body of
00:31:13
water at frames
00:31:15
then he drove down one of the many
00:31:18
secondary tracks that branched off the
00:31:20
main road heading deeper into the
00:31:22
isolated surrounds
00:31:25
seasonal rain coupled with melted
00:31:28
glacial runoff had turned this alternate
00:31:30
route into a muddy swamp
00:31:33
the wheels of his truck sunk into the
00:31:36
sludge until they couldn't move any
00:31:38
further
00:31:41
there was a winch on the back of his
00:31:43
vehicle that could haul them out
00:31:45
but he would need the help of his
00:31:47
captive
00:31:50
the man convinced dany to unravel the
00:31:52
cable and sort things outside while he
00:31:55
remained behind the wheel
00:31:58
with great effort the winch successfully
00:32:01
pulled the pickup out of the mud trap
00:32:04
the man pressed his foot to the
00:32:06
accelerator and the vehicle lurched
00:32:08
forward
00:32:10
stay put he yelled at annie as he drove
00:32:13
further down the road to look for a spot
00:32:16
to turn around so he could collect her
00:32:18
on the return
00:32:21
realising this was her one chance at
00:32:23
escape annie edged towards the
00:32:26
surrounding woods before breaking out
00:32:28
into a sprint
00:32:31
the man slammed the brakes cut the
00:32:33
engine leapt from the truck and took off
00:32:36
after her
00:32:38
and his high heels slid into the mud
00:32:41
allowing him to close in quickly and
00:32:43
grab her by the hair
00:32:46
in the ensuing scuffle she managed to
00:32:48
reach into her purse and pull out a
00:32:51
large black-handled buck knife
00:32:53
[Music]
00:32:54
she swung it in his direction
00:32:57
but he prided from her grasp before she
00:32:59
was able to cause him any injury
00:33:04
forcing annie to the ground the man
00:33:06
overpowered and restrained her
00:33:09
she begged
00:33:10
don't kill me
00:33:12
don't kill me
00:33:13
[Music]
00:33:14
he responded calmly that he wasn't going
00:33:18
to kill her
00:33:20
[Music]
00:33:31
case file will be back shortly thank you
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[Music]
00:40:17
in the following year of 1980 two power
00:40:20
plant employees were carrying out works
00:40:23
along laker klutner road
00:40:26
while concentrating on a power line the
00:40:29
pair noticed some disturbed earth nearby
00:40:32
a shallow grave
00:40:35
it contained a severely decomposed
00:40:38
female body
00:40:40
marks on her bones revealed that she had
00:40:43
been viciously stabbed in the back
00:40:46
she was dressed in jeans a brown leather
00:40:49
fur trimmed coat and red high-heeled
00:40:51
boots
00:40:52
an outfit that indicated to local police
00:40:55
officers that the woman had likely been
00:40:57
a sex worker from the nearby city of
00:41:00
anchorage
00:41:02
identifying her through physical
00:41:04
features alone was impossible
00:41:06
due to the state of her remains
00:41:09
an autopsy revealed that the victim was
00:41:12
killed the previous year
00:41:15
she was 16 to 25 years old and between 4
00:41:18
foot 11 to 5 foot 3 inches tall
00:41:22
she was likely white but possibly had
00:41:25
native american heritage as suggested by
00:41:29
some pieces of native american style
00:41:31
jury scattered near her remains
00:41:35
it was unclear how exactly she'd ended
00:41:37
up in the vicinity of laker clutner
00:41:41
the area where she was found was so
00:41:43
remote that it was only frequented by
00:41:45
the power plant employees or the
00:41:48
occasional hunter
00:41:51
anchorage police created a facial
00:41:53
reconstruction profile of the murdered
00:41:55
woman and printed it on posters that
00:41:58
they plastered throughout the city
00:42:01
yet no one came forward to identify her
00:42:06
they dubbed their unknown victim after
00:42:08
the place where she was discovered
00:42:11
aklutnarani
00:42:18
in may that same year joanna messina was
00:42:22
standing on the docks that overlooked
00:42:24
the picturesque seward boat harbour
00:42:27
stretched out before her were the icy
00:42:30
and clear glacial waters of resurrection
00:42:32
bay
00:42:33
framed by the snow-capped mountains that
00:42:36
defined the southern coast of alaska
00:42:40
joanna was not alone
00:42:43
keeping her company as always was her
00:42:46
loyal and protective german shepherd dog
00:42:49
who had traveled with her all the way
00:42:51
from new york
00:42:54
joanna was a nurse who had abruptly left
00:42:57
her old life behind hitching rides
00:42:59
across the country until she wound up
00:43:01
over the canada united states border and
00:43:04
in the port city of seward
00:43:08
though only she knew the reasons behind
00:43:10
her sudden move it was suspected that
00:43:13
joanna sought to take up work in one of
00:43:15
the state's many factories canning food
00:43:19
this plan didn't work out and joanna
00:43:22
took up sex work to make ends meet
00:43:27
as she watched the water lapping the
00:43:29
docks the petite 24 year old with thick
00:43:32
auburn-coloured hair caught the eye of a
00:43:35
nearby man
00:43:37
joanna noticed his attention and flashed
00:43:40
him a smile
00:43:42
the man approached her and initiated
00:43:44
some friendly chit chat before asking if
00:43:47
she would join him for dinner
00:43:51
ever since she had arrived in seward
00:43:53
joanna had been doing it tough
00:43:56
she'd recently been kicked out of the
00:43:58
boarding house where she had initially
00:44:00
settled
00:44:02
causing her to pitch a tent at the state
00:44:04
campgrounds
00:44:06
homeless broke and unemployed she took
00:44:09
the man up on his offer
00:44:14
the pair headed to a nearby restaurant
00:44:16
where they continued their conversation
00:44:19
everything was going well until joanna
00:44:22
seemingly misreading her male
00:44:24
companion's intentions
00:44:26
propositioned him
00:44:28
saying
00:44:30
we could have a real nice time if you
00:44:32
have any money
00:44:35
in an instant the man's mood soured
00:44:39
he didn't realize joanna was a sex
00:44:41
worker and was irritated to think that
00:44:43
their connection was strictly business
00:44:47
he masked his feelings and coaxed to
00:44:50
joanna and her german shepherd into his
00:44:53
gold camper pickup
00:44:55
the man drove north along the seward
00:44:58
highway which eventually reached the
00:45:00
city of anchorage 127 miles away
00:45:05
he only got 13 miles out of seward
00:45:08
before pulling over by the snow river
00:45:13
it was there in the quiet shadows of
00:45:15
spruce trees and jagged mountains that
00:45:18
an argument broke out between the pair
00:45:22
joanna believed the man had taken her to
00:45:24
a discreet location beyond the city
00:45:27
lights to engage her services
00:45:30
now he was seemingly backing out of the
00:45:33
idea and joanna realising she'd traveled
00:45:37
all this way for nothing ordered him to
00:45:39
take her back to seward
00:45:43
his temper rising the man ordered joanna
00:45:46
out of the cab and into the camper
00:45:48
compartment of his pickup
00:45:51
as detailed in fair game the man barked
00:45:54
at joanna
00:45:56
here's all your worth
00:45:58
before tossing five dollars at her
00:46:01
he then launched himself at joanna who
00:46:04
managed to fight him off and escape out
00:46:06
into the cold dark
00:46:09
she ran but he quickly caught up and hit
00:46:12
her hard with a 22 magnum revolver
00:46:16
joanna fell to the ground
00:46:20
tears streamed down her face as her
00:46:23
hands curled around her wounded head
00:46:26
with fierce strength she threw herself
00:46:29
at her attacker clawing and screaming at
00:46:32
him
00:46:34
the man shot joanna twice
00:46:37
killing her
00:46:39
he then rummaged through her belongings
00:46:42
mostly camping gear and wrapped her in a
00:46:45
sleeping bag
00:46:47
dragging the body to a nearby gravel pit
00:46:50
he let it roll into the crevice before
00:46:53
pushing in some sand and rocks to
00:46:55
conceal it
00:46:57
as he returned to his truck
00:46:59
the man realised joanna's german
00:47:02
shepherd was still inside
00:47:05
he shot the dog to ensure it wouldn't
00:47:07
lead anyone to its owner's remains
00:47:11
then he dumped its body and joanna's
00:47:14
belongings in the woodland adjacent to
00:47:17
where joanna lay covered in the pit
00:47:21
before returning to anchorage he threw
00:47:23
his revolver into the snow river
00:47:29
joanna messina's body was found two
00:47:31
months later by unsuspecting highway
00:47:34
maintenance workers
00:47:36
she was still wrapped in her sleeping
00:47:38
bag which had since become mouldy
00:47:42
two 22-caliber bullets were retrieved
00:47:45
from her remains
00:47:51
more than a year later on monday
00:47:52
november 16 1981 sherry morrow was
00:47:57
bidding her boyfriend farewell
00:48:00
it was 11 30 p.m and he had just dropped
00:48:03
sherry off at work
00:48:05
for the past three years the 23 year old
00:48:08
had been working as a topless dancer at
00:48:10
various clubs throughout anchorage's
00:48:13
tenderloin district
00:48:15
that night she had a shift at the wild
00:48:18
cherry on east fourth avenue
00:48:22
at some point during the night the five
00:48:24
foot six blonde-haired and blue-eyed
00:48:27
sherry caught the eye of a male patron
00:48:31
after work sherry went to her friend
00:48:34
lisa's house
00:48:36
she spoke of having met a male
00:48:38
photographer at the wild cherry who had
00:48:40
offered to pay her three hundred dollars
00:48:43
to pose nude for a photo shoot
00:48:46
as sherry was quiet and shy it didn't
00:48:49
seem like the kind of thing she would
00:48:51
want to do
00:48:53
but lisa knew her friend was also lonely
00:48:56
and somewhat gullible
00:48:59
lisa warned that only jerks visited the
00:49:02
clubs
00:49:03
but this didn't dissuade sherry from
00:49:06
agreeing to do the photo shoot
00:49:10
the next morning sherry pulled on her
00:49:13
baby blue coloured ski jacket over her
00:49:15
sweater and a pair of dark blue moon
00:49:18
boots over her jeans
00:49:20
then she headed to a cafe several blocks
00:49:23
from her workplace where she had planned
00:49:25
to meet the photographer
00:49:28
not long after she had arrived there a
00:49:31
frightened sherry was blindfolded and
00:49:34
handcuffed in the photographer's car
00:49:37
he drove north along the glen highway
00:49:41
towards the sprawling alaskan wilderness
00:49:46
later that day
00:49:48
sherry failed to show up to a doctor's
00:49:50
appointment
00:49:52
concerned her boyfriend dale retraced
00:49:55
her last known
00:49:56
movements all of sherry's belongings
00:49:59
were still at her apartment
00:50:01
the only thing missing was a golden
00:50:04
necklace with an arrow-haired pendant
00:50:06
that she always wore
00:50:09
dale's search led to lisa's house where
00:50:12
he was told about sherry's plans to meet
00:50:14
with a photographer
00:50:17
after failing to find sherry dale
00:50:20
informed anchorage police of her
00:50:22
disappearance
00:50:24
but his worries fell on deaf ears
00:50:28
police were aware that young women who
00:50:30
worked in the tenderloin district never
00:50:32
really settled in the city and were
00:50:35
known to move elsewhere without notice
00:50:39
sherry had been looking forward to
00:50:41
getting married and building her life in
00:50:44
anchorage
00:50:45
there was no discernible reason why she
00:50:47
would abruptly and secretly relocate
00:50:51
essentially giving up on her dreams and
00:50:53
relationship
00:50:55
despite the police believing sherry
00:50:58
would reappear eventually dale remained
00:51:01
worried
00:51:02
he visited the anchorage police
00:51:04
department almost weekly begging
00:51:07
officers to look for her
00:51:14
gripping their firearms john daly and
00:51:17
dowdy holloway eyed their surroundings
00:51:19
as the chilled waters of the kinnick
00:51:21
river flowed alongside them
00:51:24
the pair cut lonely figures against the
00:51:27
glacial outcrops snow-capped mountains
00:51:30
and the dense forests of spruce and
00:51:32
aspen
00:51:34
the lush green trees were in the process
00:51:36
of changing to a vibrant shade of gold
00:51:39
and yellow reflecting the onset of fall
00:51:42
it was sunday september 12 1982 and the
00:51:46
john and diary were on the hunt
00:51:50
escaping to the great outdoors was a
00:51:52
welcome respite for jon and diary
00:51:55
both men were police officers stationed
00:51:58
in the nearby city of anchorage
00:52:01
exploring the kaneka river valley about
00:52:03
an hour's drive northeast was a much
00:52:06
needed change of scenery from their busy
00:52:08
day-to-day lives
00:52:11
john and dowdy were avid trophy hunters
00:52:14
and knew the valley well
00:52:17
that weekend they were hunting moose in
00:52:19
a location so remote it was only
00:52:22
accessible by off-road vehicles boats or
00:52:25
planes
00:52:26
trekking deep into the landscape was not
00:52:29
easy and its vastness meant it was rare
00:52:32
to encounter any other people
00:52:36
john and dowdy weren't having much luck
00:52:38
and as the sun began to set over the
00:52:40
horizon the pair called it a day
00:52:45
they headed back towards their camp by
00:52:47
cutting across a wide and long
00:52:49
grey-pebbled sandbar that rose from the
00:52:52
kinnick river
00:52:54
it was there that both men caught side
00:52:56
of a dark blue moon boot sticking out of
00:52:59
the ground
00:53:01
not far from the boot was a partially
00:53:04
buried baby blue nylon ski jacket
00:53:08
the off-duty officers moved in for a
00:53:10
closer look
00:53:13
in between the two items of clothing was
00:53:16
a bone joint
00:53:21
the officers were conscious that they
00:53:23
might have stumbled across a crime scene
00:53:26
and backed away to avoid disturbing it
00:53:29
night had almost fallen and it was too
00:53:32
dark to head back to anchorage for help
00:53:35
instead they noted their location two
00:53:38
miles down river from the new glen
00:53:40
highway bridge and returned to their
00:53:42
campsite with the intention to seek
00:53:45
assistance at first light
00:53:48
as soon as dawn broke john and audi made
00:53:51
their way to a cabin and called the
00:53:53
alaska state troopers who had
00:53:55
jurisdiction over the kinnick river
00:53:57
valley region
00:54:00
officers from the criminal
00:54:01
investigations bureau met the two men by
00:54:04
the skeletal remains
00:54:06
in the light of day it was clear that
00:54:09
the pair had stumbled across the badly
00:54:11
decomposed body of a young woman
00:54:15
although she lay close to the ground's
00:54:17
surface it was obvious that she had been
00:54:19
buried in a shallow grave
00:54:23
dental records revealed the victim was
00:54:26
sherry morrow who had gone missing from
00:54:28
anchorage nine months earlier
00:54:31
an elastic bandage was wrapped around
00:54:33
her head and over her eyes pinned in
00:54:36
place with metal clips
00:54:39
she had been shot three times in the
00:54:41
back
00:54:42
but there were no bullet holes in her
00:54:43
clothes
00:54:45
the troopers suspected her killer or
00:54:48
killers had shot her while she was naked
00:54:51
then redressed her body
00:54:55
found among sherry's remains was a
00:54:57
single shell casing from a 223 caliber
00:55:00
bullet a type of ammunition for
00:55:02
high-powered semi-automatic rifles often
00:55:05
used to kill large game
00:55:10
in the preceding months and years the
00:55:13
tenderloin district became a black hole
00:55:15
for many women who worked there
00:55:18
dances and sex workers alike were
00:55:20
disappearing from the area without
00:55:22
explanation
00:55:24
while the police brushed aside the
00:55:26
concerns of their family and friends
00:55:28
with the excuse that the women lived
00:55:30
transient lifestyles
00:55:32
those who knew the women best suspected
00:55:35
something was seriously amiss
00:55:39
some of the missing worked at the same
00:55:41
clubs
00:55:42
others were mothers who had left their
00:55:44
young children behind
00:55:47
nothing in any of their lives explained
00:55:49
why the women would up and leave without
00:55:52
getting in touch
00:55:54
[Music]
00:55:56
24 year old roxanne eastland's roommate
00:55:59
reported her missing in the first week
00:56:01
of july 1980
00:56:04
roxanne who also went by the name karen
00:56:07
had gone on a date with a man days
00:56:09
earlier
00:56:10
the pair had arranged to meet on
00:56:12
northern lights boulevard in downtown
00:56:14
anchorage
00:56:16
roxanne never returned home
00:56:21
41 year old dancer lisa fertrell went to
00:56:24
work at the great alaskan bush company
00:56:26
bar on the night of saturday september 6
00:56:29
1980
00:56:31
lisa who carried a pistol in her purse
00:56:34
for protection
00:56:36
vanished after her shift
00:56:39
her roommate searched the tenderloin
00:56:41
district for her but their questions
00:56:43
rattled the local crime gangs who warned
00:56:46
that they might disappear too if their
00:56:49
efforts brought police attention to the
00:56:51
area
00:56:53
undeterred they reported lisa as a
00:56:56
missing person
00:56:59
twenty-eight-year-old thai national
00:57:01
malay larsen was dancing to earn enough
00:57:04
money to return home to thailand
00:57:07
she disappeared from anchorage in june
00:57:09
1981.
00:57:13
23 year old andrea altiri was incredibly
00:57:17
close to her roommate and dancing
00:57:19
colleague royale
00:57:21
the pair spent almost every day of their
00:57:24
two-year-long friendship together
00:57:28
so when andrea disappeared on december 2
00:57:31
1981 royale knew her friend
00:57:34
affectionately known as fish wouldn't
00:57:37
just abandon her without a proper
00:57:39
goodbye
00:57:41
royale was aware that andrea had gone to
00:57:44
meet an older man that day who had
00:57:46
offered to take her on a shopping spree
00:57:49
at the local mall
00:57:54
the disappearances continued into 1982.
00:57:58
sue luna's older sister bobby had been
00:58:01
highly protective of her ever since they
00:58:03
were kids
00:58:05
she warned 22 year old sue of the
00:58:07
growing danger to dances in the
00:58:09
tenderloin district and wanted her to
00:58:12
arm herself with a small firearm
00:58:15
but the gentle and soft-hearted sioux
00:58:18
declined as she was deathly afraid of
00:58:20
guns
00:58:23
sue was rusted on to work at the good
00:58:25
times bar the night of monday may 24.
00:58:30
during her shift a man approached sue
00:58:32
and introduced himself as a photographer
00:58:36
he asked her to participate in a shoot
00:58:39
for the following day offering her 300
00:58:42
dollars
00:58:44
sue accepted the job and was never seen
00:58:47
again
00:58:51
twenty-year-old tammy peterson didn't
00:58:53
enjoy dancing in anchorage
00:58:56
for tammy dancing was an art form and
00:58:59
she preferred crafting choreographed
00:59:01
routines and designing her own costumes
00:59:05
anchorage's dancing scene was a lot
00:59:07
sleazier than tammy anticipated
00:59:11
despite this she persisted in making the
00:59:13
city her home
00:59:16
on august 7 tammy called her parents to
00:59:19
talk about her relationship woes
00:59:23
the following week she vanished without
00:59:25
a trace
00:59:28
her family flew to anchorage and
00:59:30
underwent a desperate though futile
00:59:33
search
00:59:35
22 year old teresa watson known by
00:59:38
friends as nicole arrived in the city in
00:59:41
january 1983.
00:59:45
on saturday march 26 nicole's roommate
00:59:48
visited the police station and pushed to
00:59:50
file a missing person's report
00:59:54
nicole had been dropped off at a local
00:59:56
restaurant the afternoon prior where she
00:59:58
had planned to meet a man
01:00:01
she had described him as real nice and
01:00:04
said he had promised to pay her 300
01:00:07
if she'd have lunch and spend an hour
01:00:10
with him
01:00:12
24 year old angela fedden was reported
01:00:15
missing by the owner operator of a bar
01:00:18
called murphy's law
01:00:21
he hadn't seen angela for three months
01:00:23
when he contacted authorities on
01:00:25
wednesday may 25.
01:00:28
the pair last spoke in late february
01:00:31
when angela mentioned having met a
01:00:33
doctor
01:00:35
she described him as very ugly but noted
01:00:38
that he carried a big roll of money
01:00:41
angela who also engaged in sex work
01:00:45
mentioned the doctor had offered her 300
01:00:48
for her services
01:00:51
paula goulding's last dance took place
01:00:54
on sunday april 24 1983 at the great
01:00:58
alaskan bush company
01:01:01
although she was new to this line of
01:01:03
work the 30 year old was very
01:01:05
enthusiastic about it
01:01:08
after descending from the stage she was
01:01:10
approached by a man carrying a large
01:01:13
roll of bills
01:01:15
the next morning paula waited for him at
01:01:18
a local shopping mall where he had
01:01:20
promised to spend several hundred
01:01:22
dollars on her
01:01:25
according to the book fair game he
01:01:27
pulled up in his car shortly after noon
01:01:30
and called paula over
01:01:33
she climbed into the passenger seat and
01:01:35
after a short drive the man pulled into
01:01:38
a deserted parking lot
01:01:41
within seconds paula was being held at
01:01:44
gunpoint as the man warned her
01:01:48
now you'll do just what i say i'm good
01:01:52
at this
01:01:53
done it lots of times before
01:02:00
later that day the pilot of a
01:02:02
lightweight aircraft was soaring low
01:02:05
over the kanek river when he caught
01:02:07
sight of something below
01:02:10
it was a blue and white two-seater super
01:02:12
cub airplane parked on a gravel sandbar
01:02:16
making big sweeping turns the pilot
01:02:19
circled above the supercar three times
01:02:22
looking out for any sign of life
01:02:26
it was not unusual to spotlight aircraft
01:02:29
within the valley
01:02:31
off-road ground vehicles tended to get
01:02:33
stuck in the bush so it was quicker and
01:02:36
easier to fly in
01:02:39
on his third flyover the pilot spotted a
01:02:42
lone man standing by the super cub
01:02:46
the man looked up at the pilot and waved
01:02:48
at him in a friendly manner
01:02:51
in return the pilot performed a wing dip
01:02:54
the flight equivalent of waving a hand
01:02:58
thinking nothing more of the encounter
01:03:00
the pilot steered down river and out of
01:03:03
sight
01:03:07
as the sound of the plane's engine faded
01:03:09
into the distance
01:03:11
the man on the ground breathed a sigh of
01:03:13
relief
01:03:15
grateful and lucky that it hadn't landed
01:03:19
once the coast was clear he reached into
01:03:22
his super cub and pulled out his 223
01:03:25
caliber ruger mini 14 rifle
01:03:29
then he headed back into a nearby patch
01:03:31
of woodland where an old meat shack was
01:03:34
tucked away
01:03:36
the abandoned building had once been
01:03:38
used by hunters to store and hang game
01:03:42
but on this occasion it contained paula
01:03:45
goulding restrained to an iron pipe
01:03:50
the man had taken to flying into the
01:03:53
valley in his own personal airplane as
01:03:56
it posed fewer risks
01:03:59
cars left tire tracks that led to his
01:04:02
remote hunting ground and the graves of
01:04:04
his victims
01:04:06
his plane took him directly to its
01:04:08
center getting him in and out without a
01:04:11
trace
01:04:13
on each occasion he'd take off from
01:04:16
merrill field in anchorage a public use
01:04:19
general aviation airport one mile east
01:04:22
of downtown
01:04:24
he'd saw high above where any local air
01:04:27
traffic control tower could identify him
01:04:32
nestled in a small space behind his seat
01:04:35
would be his handcuffed captive unable
01:04:38
to move
01:04:41
he'd fly northward into the depths of
01:04:43
the kenick river valley and bring the
01:04:46
supercar down on the wide flat sandbar
01:04:49
that acted as a runway
01:04:52
once it came to a stop he'd retrieve his
01:04:55
frightened captive
01:04:57
she was confronted with the vast foreign
01:05:00
landscape around her
01:05:02
the expansive gravel sandbar the
01:05:04
meandering river the distant mountains
01:05:07
and the patches of dense woodland
01:05:11
hidden among the trees
01:05:13
was the old meat shack
01:05:19
friday september 2 1983 marked the
01:05:22
beginning of the labor day weekend and
01:05:25
two teenagers were spending the holiday
01:05:28
moose hunting in the kinnick river
01:05:30
valley
01:05:31
it was approaching 1pm when the pair
01:05:34
passed the derelict meat shack in the
01:05:36
woods before emerging along the river
01:05:40
as they made their way across a large
01:05:42
sandbar
01:05:44
they spotted human bones nestled in the
01:05:46
earth
01:05:48
authorities descended on the area
01:05:52
the bones were found along the same
01:05:54
sandbar where sherry morrow's remains
01:05:56
were discovered almost a year earlier
01:06:01
dental records confirmed that this newly
01:06:04
recovered body was 30 year old paula
01:06:07
goulding
01:06:08
a dancer based in anchorage paula had
01:06:11
vanished four months earlier following a
01:06:13
shift at the great alaskan bush company
01:06:17
she was still wearing the outfit she was
01:06:19
last seen in though it was in a state of
01:06:22
disarray
01:06:24
her jeans were unzipped and her sweater
01:06:26
was torn in half down its front
01:06:29
as was her bra
01:06:33
paula had been shot in the back just as
01:06:36
sherry morrow had been
01:06:38
the fatal bullet passing through her
01:06:40
heart
01:06:41
her clothes like sherry's featured no
01:06:44
bullet holes
01:06:46
lying near her body was a spent two to
01:06:49
three caliber shell casing
01:06:52
ballistics confirmed that it had come
01:06:55
from the same firearm as the bullet used
01:06:58
to murder sherry morrow
01:07:02
both sherry and paula had worked in
01:07:04
anchorage's tenderloin district
01:07:07
as had a clute narani the unidentified
01:07:10
woman whose remains were found in 1980
01:07:13
near a clutner lake
01:07:16
the lake was reached via the glen
01:07:18
highway which led to the kinnick river a
01:07:21
little further north
01:07:23
then there was joanna messina whose
01:07:26
bullet-riddled body was found south of
01:07:28
anchorage near the harbour city of
01:07:30
seward
01:07:32
she too engaged in sex work
01:07:36
although annie had been stabbed to death
01:07:38
and joanna wasn't from anchorage the
01:07:41
four crime scenes and victim profiles
01:07:44
were far too similar for their murders
01:07:46
to be mere coincidences
01:07:53
[Music]
01:07:54
it was now abundantly clear that a
01:07:56
serial killer was active in anchorage
01:07:59
targeting vulnerable and sometimes
01:08:01
destitute women
01:08:04
he appeared to choose this kind of
01:08:06
victim as he knew the police would be
01:08:08
less inclined to search for them
01:08:11
pouring over missing persons reports
01:08:14
from the tenderloin district exposed the
01:08:16
killer's pattern
01:08:18
[Music]
01:08:19
he'd meet his victim in a bar or on the
01:08:21
street luring her in with offers of work
01:08:25
money or gifts
01:08:27
judging by the amount of women who had
01:08:29
vanished under these circumstances in
01:08:31
recent years his kill count could
01:08:34
already be in the double digits
01:08:39
in an effort to generate a suspect
01:08:41
profile sergeant glenn flothy of the
01:08:44
alaska state troopers reached out to one
01:08:46
of the foremost authorities on serial
01:08:49
murderers
01:08:50
the
01:08:51
behavioural science unit also known as
01:08:55
bsu
01:08:57
established in the early 1970s following
01:09:00
a sharp increase in sexual assaults and
01:09:03
homicides the bsu worked to understand
01:09:06
the minds and behaviors of serial
01:09:09
offenders
01:09:11
by doing so they hoped they would be
01:09:14
better equipped to apprehend criminals
01:09:16
and prevent future crimes
01:09:19
as detailed in the book butcher baker by
01:09:23
authors walter gilmore and leland hale
01:09:26
flothy spoke with bsu agent roy
01:09:29
hazelwood
01:09:31
hazelwood who had been at the center of
01:09:34
the unit since its inception listened
01:09:36
attentively as he was told about each
01:09:39
crime scene the victims and how they had
01:09:42
been killed
01:09:43
[Music]
01:09:44
after pausing for a moment to reflect
01:09:47
agent hazelwood said the killer was most
01:09:50
likely between the ages of 33 and 44.
01:09:55
there was a chance he had a history of
01:09:57
arson or shoplifting maybe even both
01:10:01
he would be of above average
01:10:03
intelligence
01:10:05
probably a well-known and respected
01:10:07
member of the community who might have
01:10:10
ties to a local business
01:10:13
someone you wouldn't look at twice
01:10:16
but beneath his apparent success would
01:10:19
be a darker history
01:10:22
he'd experienced social rejection during
01:10:25
his adolescence
01:10:26
low self-esteem
01:10:28
insecure with women
01:10:30
most likely spoke with a speech
01:10:32
impediment
01:10:34
an avid outdoorsman his use of isolated
01:10:37
locations and high-powered weaponry
01:10:40
indicated he was a hunter
01:10:44
this hobby appeared to play a major part
01:10:47
in his crimes
01:10:49
with each new victim his kills had
01:10:52
become a less abrupt and more methodical
01:10:56
he went from carrying out quick and
01:10:58
disorganized murders just outside of the
01:11:00
city so taking his captives deep into
01:11:03
the untamed wilderness where he stripped
01:11:06
them naked had them run and then gunned
01:11:09
them down as if they were his prey
01:11:13
[Music]
01:11:15
within the large amount of paperwork
01:11:18
that had accumulated in the case was a
01:11:20
sealed manila envelope
01:11:23
tearing it open sergeant glenn flothy
01:11:26
found a report inside
01:11:29
it had been put together by an officer
01:11:31
greg baker of anchorage pd's sexual
01:11:34
assault unit
01:11:36
and detailed a harrowing incident that
01:11:38
occurred earlier that year
01:11:43
robert yount had an early start on the
01:11:45
morning of monday june 13 1983.
01:11:49
by 5 am the 36 year old truck driver was
01:11:53
on the road in anchorage heading west
01:11:55
along east 5th avenue between the seward
01:11:58
and glen highways
01:12:01
he was passing merrell field when all of
01:12:04
a sudden a barefooted young woman raced
01:12:06
out from the airport grounds and into
01:12:09
the path of robert's truck
01:12:12
he hit the brakes as the woman spun to
01:12:14
face his oncoming vehicle
01:12:17
she held her arms up in the air
01:12:20
her wrists were handcuffed
01:12:23
[Music]
01:12:24
help me she screamed
01:12:26
[Music]
01:12:29
to be continued
01:12:31
next week
01:12:38
[Music]
01:12:57
in june of 2015 a woman disappeared
01:13:00
while camping with her family in the
01:13:01
cherokawa mountains of arizona she
01:13:04
vanished without leaving a trace in the
01:13:06
course of one to two minutes this is the
01:13:09
strangest search i've ever been on she
01:13:11
just disappeared right off the face of
01:13:13
the earth i said you're telling me you
01:13:14
got sign right here i said well then
01:13:16
we're right on the road here basically
01:13:18
so she got another car
01:13:20
somebody abducted her
01:13:22
we were desperate we didn't know what
01:13:24
else to do you already start to know you
01:13:26
know the canine hasn't found her
01:13:28
something really bad is going on were we
01:13:30
at target of something what if
01:13:32
somebody's got a vendetta against us the
01:13:34
two-year quest for answers in this case
01:13:37
led me to find out more than i had
01:13:38
originally anticipated i'll challenge
01:13:41
you to something do a homework on
01:13:43
missing persons from national parks it's
01:13:46
gonna astound you what you're gonna find
01:13:48
out
01:13:49
there's no way my brother would have
01:13:51
thought of suicide he also had just
01:13:53
purchased furniture he was very excited
01:13:56
about fixing up his living room so
01:13:59
you don't buy furniture and start fixing
01:14:01
up your living room if you're planning
01:14:03
on dying
01:14:04
this case has more twists and turns than
01:14:06
the blue ridge parkway and i have to say
01:14:09
occam's razor is normally the principle
01:14:11
i operate from the simplest explanation
01:14:13
is normally the most likely certainly
01:14:15
what i do know is that in fear and under
01:14:17
pressure people make some very bad
01:14:19
choices i'm otavia mchenry and this is
01:14:21
the labyrinth a true crime podcast
01:14:24
brought to you by case file presents i
01:14:26
think there's something there that we're
01:14:28
just not seeing and that others aren't
01:14:29
seeing neither because everybody now to
01:14:32
this point in this case is just grasping
01:14:34
so
01:14:36
welcome to our world with this case and
01:14:38
if you can give us any help i can't even
01:14:40
we can't even begin to tell you how much
01:14:42
we'd appreciate that
01:14:43
how is it that these people disappear
01:14:45
like that without a trace i'm a firm
01:14:48
believer those things are real and
01:14:49
there's something out there that we
01:14:50
don't understand we don't the labyrinth
01:14:53
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