Alaska

Robert Hansen

Basic Facts

Full name: Robert Christian Hansen. Nicknames include the ‘Butcher Baker’.

Lived: February 15th, 1939 – August 21st, 2014.

Date Apprehended: October 1983.

Victims: 17+

Criminal Penalty: Life, plus 461 years in prison without the chance of parole (plus other offences prior).

Robert Hansen committed crimes between 1971-1983 and had 17 known victims but officers were sure there were many others. Hansen had an aviation map with dozens of ‘x’s’ marked all over it, supposedly marking out graves of his victims. Hansen even admitted that sometimes he would let his victims escape so they would run through the wilderness where he would hunt them down like animals with his rifle.

Hansen was born in Iowa and was a skinny and painfully shy child with a stutter and severe acne. Getting teased by the ‘attractive girls’ at school caused him to hate them and started to create fantasies and ways to get revenge. His relationship with his father was described as unhealthy and his father seen as ‘domineering’. To find refuge from this, Hansen began to practise hunting and archery. In 1957, Hansen joined the United States Army Reserve though served just 1 year before being discharged. He later began work as an assistant drill instructor at a police academy and met a younger woman there who he married in the summer of 1960.

On December 7th, 1960 Hansen was arrested after burning down a school bus garage. For this crime, he was given a 3-year prison sentence though only served 20 months. While he was imprisoned, Hansen’s wife filed for a divorce. Over the next few years in Hansen’s life, he was jailed several times more for petty theft. He eventually married again in 1963 and had 2 children with her. The family soon moved to Alaska where they were seen as respectable and Hansen well liked by his neighbours.

In 1972, Hansen was convicted of assault. He served 6 months in prison. Just 4 years later, Hansen pleaded guilty to larceny [larceny = theft of personal property] after he was caught stealing a chainsaw from a department store. Hansen was sentenced to 5 years in prison and was required to receive treatment for his bipolar disorder.

In 1981, a team of the Alaska State Troopers were investigating the cases of 3 bodies that were found in the area. 2 bodies were never identified but one was a 23-year-old woman. All three were assumed to be murdered by the same killer.

On June 13th, 1983 a 17-year-old girl escaped from Hansen’s grasp as he was loading his 2-seater plane. When she spoke to the police, she told them that he had offered her $200 to perform oral sex upon him. When she got into his car, he held her at gunpoint. He handcuffed the girl and drove her to his home where he held her captive. He raped, tortured and sexually assaulted her before deciding he needed a nap. So, he chained her by the neck to a post in the house’s basement before napping on a nearby couch. When he awoke, he put the 17-year-old in his car and drove to a public-use airport. He told her he was about to take her to his cabin which was only accessible by boat or small plane before he began loading the plane. The 17-year-old waited for Hansen to turn his back before crawling out of the backseat and running towards the main road. Hansen panicked and began chasing her, but the girl had already reached the road and had flagged down a passing truck who was alarmed by her dishevelled appearance. He drove her to a nearby inn and the girl jumped out and quickly ran inside. She pleaded staff there to call her boyfriend and to tell him to meet her at a nearby motel. The truck driver, concerned for the handcuffed girl he had picked up, phoned the police. When the police arrived at the inn, the girl had already taken a cab to the motel. They caught up with her and found her still handcuffed and alone. When talking to the police, she described Hansen’s appearance and told them about his plane and his plans to take her to the cabin. Hansen was questioned by the police and denied the accusations, saying that the girl was just angry that he wouldn’t pay her demands, so she was now causing trouble. Police had their suspicions that Hansen was lying but his friend gave him a strong alibi so was let free.

The officer in charge of the case began investigating the link between the 17-year-old girl and the bodies that had been found in the local area. The officer contacted the FBI and requested help with a criminal psychological profile. They used the little evidence they had relating to the 3 bodies they had found along with the 17-year-olds description of her perpetrator. The profile came back as someone who would have been an expert hunter and someone who had a history of being rejected by women so would feel the need to keep ‘souvenirs’ from his murders. He would also need to own a boat or a plane as the bodies were all found in remote areas. Using this profile, detectives narrowed down their suspects until there was one person in the area who fit the profile exactly. Robert Hansen. Even though Hansen had an alibi for the 17-year-olds abduction and sexual assault, they decided to obtain a warrant to search Hansen’s plane, his home and his cars.

On October 27th, 1983 investigators searched Hansen’s property. They obtained jewellery belonging to 2 of the known victims along with lots more that were those of women that had gone missing. They also uncovered a large number of firearms and an aviation map behind a headboard. The map was marked with ‘x’s’ which were assumed to be where Hansen had marked each grave where he had buried someone. When confronted with the evidence found in his home, Hansen initially denied it before beginning to blame the women to try and justify his motives for killing them. Eventually he ended up confessing to the police, explaining each piece of evidence found in his house and where and how he had obtained it.

Hansen was charged with assault, kidnapping, multiple weapon offences, theft and insurance fraud. The latter relating to a claim filed by an insurance company over the alleged theft of some trophies taken from him. With the funds he obtained, he used them to purchase his plane, though police discovered the trophies at his home. Once the police had said the ballistics tests returned a match between bullets found at the crime scene and those from Hansen’s rifle, he entered a plea bargain. He said he would give details about other victims of his in return for his sentence to be served in a federal prison along with no publicity in the press. Another condition of the plea bargain was Hansen’s participation in deciphering the markings on the aviation map and locating the victim’s bodies. Hansen agreed and showed investigators 7 of the bodies that were shown on the aviation map. Hansen also admitted to killing 5 other women whose bodies were found by the police and admitted to 2 other murders, though the police never recovered their bodies. 3 other women were suspected to be killed by Hansen with their graves all marked on his aviation map, but Hansen denied killing them. Hansen also admitted to police that he would often rape women and then drive them home, warning them not to call the police. Other times, he would let the women go to run free in the wilderness before hunting them down with his rifle like animals. There were still marks on the aviation map Hansen refused to give up though the remains of 12 of his victims were exhumed by the police and returned to their families. Hansen was convicted of 17 murders – even though police assumed it was more likely that he had killed over 30 women – and was sentenced to 461 years plus life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Hansen died at the age of 75 on August 21st, 2014 due to an undisclosed health condition.