In June nineteen eighty-three, seventeen-year-old Cindy Paulson escaped from Robert Christian Hansen at Merrill Field in Anchorage, Alaska, and told police he had abducted, restrained, and sexually assaulted her before trying to take her to his aircraft. Hansen was a local baker, hunter, and pilot with an alibi and a respectable public image. Her report forced investigators to compare one survivor’s account with women who had disappeared or been found dead in remote parts of Southcentral Alaska.

This episode follows the documented investigation led in major part by Alaska State Trooper Glenn Flothe, with Anchorage police, Alaska State Troopers, and FBI behavioral-analysis assistance. A search of Hansen’s home, vehicles, and aircraft recovered firearms, victim property, and a marked aviation chart that helped connect him to multiple homicide sites.

Hansen pleaded guilty to murdering Sherry Morrow, Joanna Messina, Paula Goulding, and an unidentified young woman known as Eklutna Annie. He also pleaded guilty to crimes against Cindy Paulson. Under a cooperation agreement, he admitted killing seventeen women and helped investigators locate remains, but only four murders were resolved by conviction. Some attributed victims remain disputed, some women were never recovered, and Eklutna Annie remains unidentified. The central question is not whether Hansen was guilty, but how much of the map, and how many missing women, the surviving evidence can truly explain.

This podcast uses artificial intelligence in its research, writing, production, and narration. Episodes are editorially reviewed before publication.

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