(suspenseful music)
- [Narrator] It was a typical day on June 13th, 1983
in Anchorage, Alaska,
when a young woman was seen running barefoot and handcuffed
down a main street, fleeing for her life.
Though confused onlookers that know it at the time,
this shocking incident would prove to be a catalyst
in exposing a string of deplorable and barbaric crimes
and shedding light on a hidden serial killer.
What is up, EWU Crew?
Today we are exploring the case
of a prolific serial killer
who operated in the 1970s and 80s in Alaska.
No one suspected the double life he led
or that he could commit such elaborate and deprived crimes,
allowing him to go uncaught for over a decade.
Today we are talking about The Butcher Baker.
Now let's get into it.
Robert Hansen was born in 1939 in Estherville, Iowa.
Robert had a rather difficult adolescence
as he was known to be incredibly shy
and suffered from both a difficult stutter and severe acne
which left permanent scars on his skin as an adult.
As he was short, quiet, and awkward,
Robert was a loner all throughout his school years,
something which he later sought revenge for.
To cope with his lack of friends and constant rejection
from the girls around him,
Robert turned to hunting and archery as a form of escape.
Part of the refuge Robert found in hunting was fantasizing
about hurting the cruel girls at his school
who he grew up to fiercely hate
for their constant dismissal of him.
In 1960 on December 7th,
Robert took his much desired revenge
on his loathsome high school
by burning down a Pocahontas County school bus garage.
He was arrested for arson
and served 20 months of his three year sentence.
He had only just gotten married in the summer of 1960,
but while he was locked up, the woman filed for divorce.
It was while he was in prison
that Robert was diagnosed with manic depressive disorder,
what we know today to be bipolar.
He also suffered from occasional schizophrenic episodes.
The psychiatrist who diagnosed him
also said that he believed
Robert had an infantile personality,
a disorder which is often characterized
by a desire for control and domination
through making those he targeted suffer.
Robert was obsessed with getting vengeance
on the people he believed had wronged him,
a twisted preoccupation that would later lead him
down a dark and disturbed path.
In 1963, Robert married Darla Hansen
who was a devout Christian woman and teacher.
For a while, this relationship appeared to be
a turning point in his life
though he was still arrested a few times for petty theft.
The couple eventually moved to Anchorage, Alaska,
where Robert opened and operated his own bakery,
following the same career as his domineering father
who had also worked as a baker.
Robert and Darla expanded their family
and welcomed two children
while they settled into the Anchorage community.
Reportedly, Robert was popular among his neighbors
as he was seen as unassuming and shy,
if a bit awkward around women,
he became especially well liked because he thrived
among the hunting community there
and even set several local records
for his hunting achievements.
Robert appeared in a hunting magazine for his prowess,
and in 1971, he even achieved a world record
for killing the biggest doll sheep ever with a bow.
Robert's family weren't the only ones drawn to Alaska
in the 1970s,
the 800 mile Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline
was at the height of its construction during this time,
and it's building drew a variety of people to the area,
prostitutes, exotic dancers, pimps, and drug dealers
were among those who also went to Alaska
seeking quick riches among the construction workers.
One such person who moved to Alaska
was 17 year old, Cindy Paulson.
Cindy had come to Anchorage with her boyfriend,
and to make money working as a prostitute and dancer.
It was in this occupation that Cindy came across
a seemingly tongue tied small man named Robert Hansen.
On June 13th, 1983, Robert pulled up his car
along the side of the road where Cindy stood.
He offered her $200 to get into the vehicle with him.
And though she hesitated
knowing better than to trust a strange man
wanting to take her somewhere,
Cindy eventually got in.
But in an instant, Cindy realized her gut feeling
had been right.
Robert immediately pulled out a gun
and forced her into handcuffs.
Under a threat of being shot, Cindy cooperated
as Robert drove her to his home in Muldoon.
Once at the house, Robert chained Cindy up by her neck
in his basement and proceeded to torture and assault her.
To Cindy's further shock, Robert appeared be so at ease
with her kidnapping and assault
that he eventually took a nap on a couch beside her.
When he woke, as if unable to help his need to brag,
Robert started to show Cindy
some of the many trophies he owned
from his hunting exploits.
Cindy quickly realized that if he was allowing her
to see his real name, he planned to kill her.
She knew she had to escape,
it was only a matter of getting the chance.
Eventually, Robert forced Cindy back into his vehicle
and he took them to the local Merrill Field Airport
where he had his own plane waiting to take them
to his remote cabin on the Knik River.
As he loaded the plane, Robert told Cindy not to move
from where he left her in handcuffs
and sitting in the front seat or he would shoot her.
But when he turned his back,
Cindy realized this was likely her only chance
to escape alive, and so she took off running,
but not before she cleverly hid her blue sneakers
in the car's backseat
to prove that she had been taken in the vehicle.
Barefoot and handcuffed, Cindy ran for the nearest street.
Robert chased after,
screaming at her and brandishing his gun,
but she flagged down a nearby truck before he caught her.
The driver was shocked to see the disheveled young woman
running for her life and welcomed her into his car.
Seeing that Cindy was gone, Robert ran back to his vehicle,
abandoning his planned flight, and took off.
The security guard at the airfield
hadn't seen the ordeal with Cindy
but did watch Robert speeding away
and thought it was rather odd
and so he wrote down his license plate.
The truck driver tried to convince Cindy
to go to the police,
but after being in Robert's clutches for five hours,
she was too traumatized.
She asked to be dropped off at the Mush Inn
where she begged the clerk at the desk to call her boyfriend
where he was staying at the Big Timber Motel.
Meanwhile, disturbed by the barefoot
and handcuffed girl he'd stumbled across,
the truck driver called the police
shortly after dropping Cindy off
to tell them what he had seen.
The Anchorage police tracked Cindy to the Big Timber Motel
where they found her alone, distressed and still handcuffed.
Cindy described what had happened to her,
told the police that Robert Hansen had taken her,
described his car, house, and gun,
and even showed them the plane
that Robert had planned to take.
Despite all of these specific details,
the police were skeptical of her story.
They knew Robert, as the local police frequented his bakery
where the small man would offer them
free desserts and coffee any time that they came in.
The officers liked Robert.
And so even with the abundance of evidence,
they gave him the benefit of doubt.
They had contacted Robert when Cindy identified him
but he claimed that she was lying
about the extent of what had happened between them
because he had refused to pay her for her services.
With his unassuming shy demeanor, small stature,
and reputation as a family man and friendly hunter,
Robert convinced the police of his innocence.
With no empathy for Cindy at all,
likely because of her occupation, her case went cold.
Crimes like the ones Cindy suffered
weren't uncommon in the area.
In fact, during this period,
disappearances and murders seemed to be rampant.
Detective Glenn Flothe, an Alaskan state trooper
was part of an investigating team
looking into a string of murders
surrounding the Anchorage area.
The first body had been found on the side
of the Eklutna Road by construction workers
and was later dubbed the Eklutna Annie
because her identity was never uncovered.
Following this, Joanne Messina's body was found
in a gravel pit,
and then a partially buried foot was found
near the Knik River,
which led police to the hidden body
of 23 year old Sherry Morrow.
With three bodies, all with similar injuries from rifles,
Flothe believed that there was a serial killer
living in the area, targeting the most vulnerable women
as all of the victims were prostitutes or dancers.
Requiring help to catch the killer,
Flothe enlisted the help of the FBI
who created a criminal psychological profile
to help him narrow down his suspects.
FBI agent John Douglas,
the real man behind the popular show "Mindhunter"
wrote a profile which said that the murderer
had to be an experienced killer,
someone with low self-esteem, a hatred for women,
and could have a speech disorder such as stuttering.
The profile also assumed
that the killer would keep trophies from his victims.
Flothe created a list of suspects
who match the FBI profile
and worked through it until he came to Robert
and Cindy's testimony against him.
Unlike the other police, Flothe had no problem
investigating Robert.
And when the man's house was finally searched,
jewelry belonging to some of the victims was discovered.
Furthermore, behind his bed's headboard,
the police found an aeronautical chart
covered in multiple X marks
in more than 20 different places.
When the investigators looked closer,
they found that some of the Xs match the spots
where the three bodies were found.
Investigators went out into the wilderness
and searched the other spots on the chart.
With each place they checked, they uncovered more bodies.
Four months after he had attacked Cindy,
Robert was finally arrested.
It was only then that the details
of Robert's extensive crimes came to light.
In December, 1971,
Robert had been arrested on two separate occasions.
The first was for abducting
and attempting to assault a housewife,
and the second for the assault
of a woman working as a prostitute.
He had been sentenced to five years,
but only served six months.
Following these incidents,
Robert began his killing spree in 1972.
At first, Robert targeted any woman
who caught his attention,
but soon he realized he was living in the perfect place
for his dark deeds.
Anchorage attracted many runaways
most of whom were young women seeking a place to make money.
His targets became young exotic dancers and prostitutes,
usually between 16 and 19 years old.
Robert looked for the women who were hard to track
and often weren't noticed when they went missing.
Because Robert worked long and irregular hours
in the bakery as well as being an avid hunter,
his wife, Darla, was never alarmed by the odd times
that he would leave their house.
She never once suspected any of the deplorable deeds
her husband got up to while he was out.
Robert had long thought of himself as a hunter.
It had been the part of his identity
that brought him the most pride.
Because of this,
he viewed his victims as the ultimate prey to hunt.
He abducted his victims
and would force them to remote places.
Sometimes Robert would assault them
before bringing them back to Anchorage and letting them go,
but only after threatening to kill them
if they ever went to the police.
But on other occasions,
Robert would fulfill the sick fantasy
he had been nurturing since he was young.
Sometimes Robert would release the women he abducted
into the isolated wilderness
such as the Knik River,
before he would hunt them down with a rifle
while they tried to escape before he shot them dead.
Robert gained a deranged sense of satisfaction
and domination through the twisted hunting games
he would play with his victims.
In his mind, he was hunting these women
just like animals in the wild.
For over a decade, Robert went uncaught and unpunished
for his horrific crimes.
During the investigation,
he gained the nickname The Butcher Baker.
Under intense interrogation,
Robert slowly admitted to each murder,
totaling two 17 women,
though only 12 bodies were ever found.
He refused to admit to a few of the Xs on his chart
and denied being the one that killed some of the women
whose bodies were recovered from the Xs on the chart.
Robert's twisted explanations and attempted justification
for his killings are disturbing to say the least.
He reportedly told authorities that he only killed bad girls
and would never hurt, quote, good women.
In a chilling quote from his confession,
Robert told officers about his thoughts on women saying,
"Every one of them become so precious to me
"'cause I wanted their... I wanted their friendship...
"I wanted them to like me so much."
He also detailed his bizarre and disgusting
selection process for his victims
saying that he would go to bars
and wait for the dancers to make the first move.
"It's like, it's like it was a game." He explained.
"They had to pitch the ball before I could bat."
Robert said he didn't look down on dancers, quote,
just trying to make a buck.
But that once a woman propositioned him,
he felt they were no longer a decent girl,
and sadly, would choose them for his next victims
with little remorse.
Though he admitted to assaulting at least 30 women
and likely killing between 17 to 21 others,
he was only convicted for four of the murders
as part of a deal to avoid 17 separate trials.
The Butcher Baker was sentenced to serve 461 years
plus a life without the possibility of parole.
During Robert's trial,
Cindy stayed with a friend in a safe house.
Following his conviction, Cindy left Anchorage
and reportedly went on to get married
and have three children.
Cindy was the only one of Robert's victims
who he intended to kill that escaped his clutches.
Because of her, he was caught.
In 2014, Robert died at age 75
from natural health conditions.
As Alaska's most notorious serial killer,
Robert's savage crimes were turned into the film
"The Frozen Ground" in 2013,
which starred Nicolas Cage and John Cusack.
You may also recognize Robert's crimes
from an episode of "Criminal Minds"
where his abduction and emo of hunting women
was an inspiration for one of the shows, "Unsubs"
in the first season.