Morbid - Episode 277: The Investor Murders: Alaska's Largest Mass Murder

Episode Date: November 13, 2021

On September 5th, 1982 The Investor docked on a little Alaskan island called Craig. The Investor was a ship owned by skipper Mark Coulthurst. He had brought his family and a good-sized crew along for the trip. There were four young crew members on board, Mark, his pregnant wife Irene, and their two children 5-year-old Kimberly and 4-year-old John. Unfortunately on the night of September 5th somebody climbed aboard and massacred the entire family. 39 years later, this case remains unsolved and is considered Alaska’s largest mass murder. What Happened in Craig: Alaska's Worst Unsolved Mass Murder What Happened In Craig: Alaska's Worst Unsolved Mass Murder by Leland E. Hale  As always, thank you to our sponsors: HelloFresh: Get up to fourteen free meals—plus, three free gifts!—with code morbid14 at HelloFresh.com/morbid14.  Warby Parker: Try 5 pairs of glasses at home for free at warbyparker.com/morbid.  Stamps.com: Sign up with promo code MORBID for a special offer that includes a 4-week trial, free postage, and a digital scale. No long-term commitments or contracts. Just go to stamps.com, click the microphone at the top of the page, and enter code MORBID. Embr Wave: You can try Embr Wave risk-free for 30 days. Get $50 off by going to embrwave.com/Morbid See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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of your home. Download the free Angie mobile app today or visit Angie.com. That's ANGI.com. Hey weirdos, I'm Ash. And I'm Alena. And this is morbid and it's raining and spooky outside. Yeah, it's fucking wild out there. It is. I'm ready for it to stop raining though

and just turn into snow. Like, make it festive. See, I'm gonna live in this little gloomy era. So I feel like we had the gloomy era. Like it rained, we lost our power. It was windy and I'm over it. And now I'm like nervous that we're gonna lose power again.

Yeah, I don't want that. I just want it to snow so that it's fluffy and it doesn't fuck with my telephone lines. It does though sometimes. Yeah, but like, like blizzards. But that's not what I want. I want like a chill. It's not what I want.

That's not what I ordered. It's not what I manifest to. So let's see if that happens. I'm manifesting fluffy, beautiful snow. Yeah, I'm down for that. I mean, it's the holiday season. I want to put my Christmas lights up. Me too.

My holiday lights. Are you guys ready for that? Are you ready for the holidays? Freddie, I'll give you a second answer. Okay, go ahead. I'm glad you're with us, okay cool. I'm just like so excited, it's like so comfy. I know, it's a cozy time of year.

It is. And we're gonna bring you such wholesome content this time of year. Yeah. Speaking of which, we do have two true crime updates, actually. Yeah, there was a few things going on. So there is true crime news this time. So that's exciting.

Yeah, it's sad, sad news, though. I don't know if a lot of you have been following this. I think a lot of you have, because I've seen it on my Twitter a lot. There's been this little girl missing. Oh, yes. Jacqueline Angel Dobbs and her mother, Janaya Murphy, was found dead in her home this past Tuesday. She was 21 years old. And then Jacqueline was missing.

And they believe that her mother was strangled. And then that Jacqueline was taken away in a Maroon 2020 Dodge Grand Caravan with Illinois license plate FP139293 and then they located the vehicle in Western Missouri, but Jacqueline was not in the vehicle It was like abandoned so they were like, oh no like she's in danger. Yeah, so I saw all of that going on And then I believe it was this morning they discovered Jacqueline Angel Dobbs' body in a pond in Northwest Indiana. A sweet little one-year-old girl, like a baby and she's the cutest, sweetest thing like I can't... And everybody said that she was an amazing mom, that they were so happy together. They had like it's there was no disturbances at that house. Like yeah, there was no, you know, it's just what the fuck?

No, it's like you said deputy chief Alan Stephens, I believe it is, said quote, we never had any domestic incidents at the house. We were familiar. We weren't familiar with any domestic situation there. But at the same time, she was a 21 year old woman, just like any other 21-year-old. She, by all accounts, was a great mom and had great supports within her family.

Their concern was not being able to contact her. Oh. Because they found Janaya's body that Tuesday morning because she didn't show up for work. Oh, excuse me, they found her Tuesday afternoon. It was like 10.30 at night, because she had never shown up for work, and it was like super unlike her. Yeah. So then they went to check, and that's, they found her Tuesday afternoon. It was like 10, 30 at night, because she had never shown up for work and it was like super unlike her.

Yeah. So then they went to check and that's when they found her and they found Jacqueline missing. They said they believed it was somebody that knew her and had a prior, possibly some kind of prior relationship with her but was not the father. The father of little angel. And the three of them were actually

lasting together on Monday, like this past Monday, just that like a person of interest. And they have that person, right? And the three of them were actually last seen together on Monday, like this past Monday, just that was a personal interest. It's a personal interest. And they have that person, right? Yep, so they said that the person of my interest has been located in a Missouri and is being questioned. Good.

So they have whoever this is, hopefully. What a monster. Seriously. Like, and just what a strange situation he comes into the house. If it is him, somebody comes into this house, kills the mother and then takes the baby. Takes a one year old baby. And then kills the baby. Oh, it's horrible.

My brain immediately just like, I get that poor baby. And they don't know anything about her cause of death at all, but her autopsy is scheduled to take place later this morning, this Friday morning. That kills me. And that poor, like, poor Janaya, like, and there was a poor family. She's just like a mom.

And like you said, you know what she has to do, taking care of her baby. She was a great mom. Like, has a support system. It's, that sucks. It's just sucks. It's just sucks. And it's what a sad ending to it. I was really hoping we would get a happy ending out of that.

Not a happy ending, but at least get half of a happy ending, you know, a life. Yeah, that's what I was hoping for. So sad. She's so cute. Her face keeps popping up on Twitter, and I'm like, I just want to give you a hug. Yeah, because this morning, I think I shared like the missing

that I had shown it like a day or two ago, and I was really hoping. And it was actually, it sucked, because this morning, I was like, oh, we should talk about that. And then I opened up, I had shown it like a day or two ago, and I was really hoping. And it was actually, it sucked, because this morning I was like, oh, we should talk about that. And then I opened up, I got the information from CBS Chicago to, and I opened it up and they said the body was identified. And I was like, come on.

Yeah, that really sucks. It does. And then more true crime news, a suspected serial killer has been apprehended. Yeah, this is crazy. It's nuts. His name is is crazy. It's nuts. His name is Perez Reed. He's 25 years old, and he is believed

to have shot and killed four people with a 40 caliber handgun. In a distinctive manner. Yeah, in a distinctive manner, which I'm just gonna go ahead and assume here. I feel like that means execution style. I mean, like, that would be the first thing a lot of people are probably thinking.

But we don't know. Who knows? It literally could be anything. A distinctive manner of shooting someone that's just makes you think freezing. It is. But it could be anything. It could be in a certain position. It could be anything. Yeah. And he's killed four people but he is suspected of shooting more. He's from St. Louis. Is it St. Louis or St. Louis? I think I, I always think of like meet me in St. Louis. Yeah, I think it's St. Louis. I don't know, they might say it differently than we do. I don't know.

Tell us. You know, a general dialect, I suppose. But they caught him while he was riding a train. Oh, train. I hate trains. We've had a lot of train. Yeah, train gnarliness lately. And I don't know about trains guys.

I'm all set with trains. I trade starting to back away from the railroad. I used to have to ride the train like every single day into work And I'm really glad that I don't anymore Well, you but he was from can't or excuse me he was Taking the train from Kansas City back to St. Louis when they got him and the gun was in his possession So he's believed to have killed a 16 year old girl the gun was in his possession. So he's believed to have killed a 16 year old girl, Marney Haynes on September 13th, 40 year old Leicester Robinson on September 26th. And then the St. Louis police on Monday said that they plan to seek charges against

Reed and the recent shooting deaths of 49 year old Pamela Abercrombie and 24 year old Casey Ross. And then this quote is from Chicago's WG9 quote, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch citing a police affidavit filed in federal courts that read could be tied to at least four other homicides and additional shootings. Among them, police are investigating whether read killed Damon Irvin and Deja Ferro, whose bodies were found earlier this month in an apartment complex in Kansas City,

Kansas, charges have not been filed in those killings. Wow. But on Saturday, he was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, three counts of armed criminal action, and one count of first-degree assault. So far, he has denied any wrongdoing. Ooh, interesting. Yeah.

That's so sad. Seriously. Hopefully they figure this out and get some more, I mean, hopefully we can put some closure on some more cases. I know, I hope so, but wow. Really sad. Whenever you see a serial killer is apprehended, it's like, what?

You're like, oh, because this isn't the 70s. Like you forget that it's like that. There's very much still serial killers around. It's just very different. You really is. Damn. Wow. Yeah, so. What a news dump.

And then I have a case. Yeah, you have a big old case. And it's also really sad, obviously, because here we are. So let's just get right into it. Yeah, well, I mean, we'll do our best. Yeah, this case that I am about to bring to you is the biggest mass murder in a last-can history. Okay, so you're really going to, you're taking us there. I am about to bring to you is the biggest mass murder in Alaskan history. Okay, so you're really gonna,

you're taking us there. I am, okay. I did read a really good book for this and I think you should all get it. I couldn't kind of non-kindle, which I was really bummed about because sometimes you could just download it right to the computer.

I know it is nice when you can just get it right. But I love a physical book. I was gonna say, but then I opened the book and I smelled it and I was like, ooh, this is nice. I love a good, smelly book. This is nice. So I open the book and I snelt it. And I was like, oh, this is nice. I love a good, smelly book. This is nice. So I snelt the book called, What Happened in Craig?

Alaska's Worse Unsolved Mass Murder. And it's by Leeland, E-Hail. Such a good book. I love it. So much info. I love a great true crime book. So let's get into it. We are going to talk about the Colthurst family.

So Mark Colthurst was from Blaine, Washington, and he had met his wife Irene when they were both in high school. Okay. And other than Irene, Mark had only dated one other girl. It was actually when he and Irene were broken up that he was dating this other girl. And one day he got into like a really serious motorcycle accident. So Irene and this other girl went to visit him in the hospital.

And it was there that he realized he fucked up and him and Irene got back together. her cycle accident. So Irene and this other girl went to visit him in the hospital. And it was there that he realized he fucked up. And him and Irene got back together. Like I wanna see Irene. And he said this other girl back in. Oh wow. And so from that day on, Irene and Mark forever. Sorry I was swallowing some coffee

and I didn't wanna swallow it into the microphone. It was so funny she went to say something and then realized she had coffee and then back to way and swallowed and then came back. Because I would have been like, blah, I didn't want to just fall in out of my mouth. Yeah, but no, I'm here for their love story now. Yeah, like immediately you've hooked me

into their love story. Like tragic motorcycle accident, he lives, sends this other girl packing, let's get married. Yeah, it's like Mr. Turner on Boy Meets World. Oh my god, yes. Except what? I just love Mr. Turner. Except what happened to him after his serious motorcycle accident.

That's the question. Yeah. Yeah. Anyways, that's a question for another day. Well, I know what happened to Mark after his motorcycle accident. He got married, too. I read. Good.

What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times or fell in love with a vampire or went into a minor surgery and woke up one week later, paralyzed. What would you do? I'm Whit Missildine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast from Wondry that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events, told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dooms his entire future with one choice, to a woman who survived a notorious serial killer. You'll hear their first person account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Each episode is an exploration of the human spirit and personal discovery. These haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies, but I assure you this is actually

happening. Follow this is actually happening. Follow this is actually happening wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to ad free on the Amazon Music or Wonder app. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill or are they made to kill? I'm Candice DeLong and on my podcast Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon Music. I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news. I have decades of experience as a

psychiatric nurse, FBI agent and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, Breaking Down Lori Vallow, aka Mommy Doomstays Motives, and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder. I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes to your morning routine. Hey, Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast Killer Psychie Daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. And then they had two children together, Kimberly, and little John, who was named after Mark's father.

Oh, yeah. Irene was apparently a great mother, a great wife. She loved to host parties at her and Mark's home. I guess they had this big bar in their kitchen, so that they could just entertain as many people as possible. Like, they just loved having people over. That's fun. So she would cook a big meal

and she'd bake treats and everything. Like, she loved hosting. I feel like we could get along. I love that as well. I cook a big meal and she'd bake treats and everything. Like she loved hosting. I feel like we could get along. I love that as well. I know. I feel like she'd fit right in our family because you and I are so like that. But she was also really talented at putting together jewelry and sewing and also stained glass art.

Oh, she was really good at that kind of stuff. Damn. Mark's two sisters said that Irene was the perfect sister-in-law. Wow. Which like ruined me. I'm preparing myself for being ruined here because I'm falling in love with these people. Please do. Because I'm sorry. Okay.

Now Mark himself was a pretty interesting guy. He had started fishing when he was just 16 years old and he fell completely in love with it. He loved being on a boat, loved the whole entire environment. So when he was still in high school, he actually restored an 18 foot ship that had originally sank. Oh, okay.

Just like restored the whole thing back to you and made it his own. Just restore a shipwreck. No big deal. Like crazy. And you're still in high school. Like just like on the side, restore your ship. Yeah, you know.

He was also really good with money. And anytime he heard someone complain about the smell of fish on board, he would tell them that's the smell of money. Which he was right. Yeah. There was one point in time where he had such a good week fishing. He caught $105,000 worth of fish.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. That's why that like that's a very good paying gig if you can get the good stuff. And also, it's so dangerous. Like, you are risking so much. That's why the payment is there.

Do you remember the deadliest catch? Yes, someone died on there. Yeah. That was so crazy. It was intense, like, I mean, think about it. Yeah, deadliest catches wild show It true and when you watch it you really see how what fishermen do when you watch it You like get seasick. Oh, yeah, I have to stop watch

No, I literally can't going like I'm claustrophobic and I'm sick thinking about it right now It's giving me anxiety stress, but yeah $105,000 worth of fish No, but he was saving and saving that money So eventually he was able to purchase his own like new boat. And he had a couple boats. I think his first other than the one that he restored was the kit. And then he saved and saved to get this boat, which was $850,000 and named the investor.

The investor. Right, fully so. Exactly. So over the years, Mark became a really highly respected fisherman in the area. Like, people knew who he was, they knew he was good at what he did. But it wasn't to say that people didn't necessarily have issues with him. Because as much as he was respected, and as much as everybody was like, he's an expert, he also was like really quick tempered, and people weren't shocked to take

her, him described as cocky. Like a lot of people thought he was a cocky guy. And because of his temperament, it really wasn't that unlikely for him to be in a fight with someone. Okay. Yeah. So he had fired people on his crew in the past and it was known that he didn't like anyone on board to have any drugs on board or obviously be on any kind of drugs.

Okay. I mean, that's pretty, pretty stand. Yeah, like that's all right. But back then, I mean, it's like the 70s, 80s, everybody's like smoke and do, but like live in, but he didn't want that shit. I mean, he was like, I'm running a tight ship. So be aware.

Clearly. And obviously, that's for like a myriad of reasons, but if you work in the industry, or if you've watched below deck met a couple seasons ago, you know how intense those maritime laws are. Yeah. Shit's no joke. Yeah, the sea does not forget, just ask Hannah.

The sea is ruthless. Rufles. And so are its laws. At Captain Sandy. Now, in early September of 1982, Mark had made a voyage to Kreg Alaska. Have you ever heard of Kreg Alaska? I actually have.

I hadn't. So he brought a pretty big crew for the trip. His wife Irene was coming. She was 28 years old and she was three months pregnant at this point with their third child. They also brought five-year-old Kimberly, who was about a week away from starting kindergarten. And their little son, John, who had just turned four

a couple weeks ago. So they were also four men that were part of the crew for the trip. Chris Heyman, he was about to turn 18 in a couple weeks ago. Yeah, there were also four men that were part of the crew for the trip. Chris Heyman, he was about to turn 18 in a matter of days, 19 year old Dean Moon. He was voted most far out by his classmate. Get the fuck out. Most far out.

Most far out. Hell yeah. That's my favorite thing that I've ever learned about someone ever. If I had gone to high school in the 70s and I wasn't voted most far out, I'm like retroactively mad that gone to high school in the 70s and I wasn't voted most far out, I'm like retroactively mad that I wasn't born in the 70s and voted most far out.

Why didn't I get to have that experience? Most far out. Like, peace man. Oh my God, I'm not kidding. That's my favorite thing I've ever learned about someone ever. Me as well, that's why I'm called the favorite fat. It like has, I just like had to do it in here.

What was his name? Dean Moon. Dean Moon. Obviously he's most far out. It's most far out. Aw. Then we have 19-year-old Jerome Keone. He was voted most dependable.

Aw Jerome. Yes, good for you, man. That reminds me of the Lizzo song. And then there was 19-year-old Michael Stewart, who was Mark's first cousin. All of these kids had really bright futures and they were doing really well in school. Dean was like a football store.

He was a football store. He was a football store. He was a football store at his high school. Jerome Keone was going to Seattle University and he was actually a newbie on this crew. He just joined a week before the trip. And then Michael, who was Mark's cousin, was going to be going into his sophomore year

at Washington State University. And it's like he trusted all of these guys, so they have to be good guys. If you're gonna trust them to take care of your family and like, absolutely. You know, so you know that they were good dudes. It's so funny you took the words right out of my mouth because I literally wrote everyone on the crew

where people that mark highly respected and genuinely enjoyed being around. Yeah, like clearly, like if you're, I mean, you have two, you have your wife on board. You're trying to have like a five year old and a four year old. Whoever's around you, you're gonna trust him, plicitly.

Oh yeah, absolutely. So the trip really went pretty well. They caught about $30,000 worth of fish. Damn. Yeah, and this was them in the 80s. The trip was coming to an end, though, and everyone was going to be heading home the next Monday. But unfortunately, that Monday never came for anybody on board, man.

So the investor made its way into Craig on Sunday, September 5, 1982. Now, Craig is a pretty small town in Alaska. As of 2019, the population was only 1,189 people. Damn. In 1982, the population was almost half of that at 600 people. Wow. Yeah. So Craig is about 220 miles south of Juneau, Alaska's capital.

OK. And even though it's a small town, it's actually the most populated on Prince of Wales Island, which is the fourth largest island in the US. Huh! Isn't that crazy? I didn't know that. Yeah, and you can only get to it via a plane or, yeah, plane or boat.

Oh, wow. Yeah, isn't that crazy? That's cool. I mean, Alaska is like fascinating to me. I find Alaska so beautiful. In beautiful. I feel like I would die there, though, because it's so cold. I get a lot of like

um, TikToks of people who like live in Alaska. Do you really? Yeah, is that your algorithm? It's a me and John, both our algorithm is people who live in remote places telling us about it. And I love that. Does that mean that like you guys want to go live in a remote place? Because we're runs once and so I'm not coming. And so I get a lot of people from Alaska that live in like deep Alaska and like deep Alaska and they they do tell you what they do or how far they have to travel to get to like the store and stuff. Yeah, it's fascinating. You have to like go bitch.

Yeah, they get to like strap on all this stuff to go outside and they have to bring like a giant gun with them to protect them from polar bears and shit. And I'm like you guys are awesome. Do you remember the episode of the girls next door where all of you brings them back to the place that you went to Alaska? Yes. Just like full circle. You like just hearing it. That's all I had to talk about it.

I had nothing else. Oh, it's like what's there any part of it? No, yeah. Alaska. I do remember that. I do remember that. So yeah. But in Craig, Alaska, the fishing industry is huge,

especially the salmon trade. So that particular evening, the crew turned to fish in, and they had to wait until the next day to get paid. Apparently, a lot of these places, like they advertise that they'd pay you cash for your fish, but they didn't. But then they're like, no. No, we won't do that. And it took a little while to confirm everything.

Yeah. So they were going to get the next day. But that meant that they had to spend the night on the island. So they docked their boat alongside a few other boats, including the decade, the casino, the defender, and the Libby Eight. The way I got to tell you, you could have done bad with those names.

I like the casino, I would wanna work on the casino. I don't know. What about the defender? That's like a perfect ship name. The defender is a good one. That's a good one. The decade, maybe it was like a B-day gift. casino. I don't know. What about the Defender? That's like a perfect chip name. The Defender is a good one. I'll say that. Yeah, the decade, maybe it was like a B-day gift. Yeah, I don't know.

An upgrade. I don't know about that. I don't know about the LB-8. Was it? My grandfather's boat was a... The Revery. Yeah, you're right. I loved that one.

Yeah, I think I only went on that boat like once. I like lived on that boat, but I loved that boat. We had to wear special shoes to go on that boat. Yeah. And I was really mad about it. But the way that they docked me so that they would have had to wear special shoes to go on that boat. Yeah. And I was really mad about it. But the way that they docked made it so that they would have had to walk onto the two other boats if they were going to get off the boat.

So they were kind of like smushed in there. Yeah. That would be pretty awkward probably if you didn't know your neighboring boats. But Mark actually knew both of the owners of the other boats and the crew members were at least kind of like acquaintances. Yeah, like they knew who they were. And the decade, it's important to mention

was actually owned by a man named Clyde Curry. And Clyde's brother John was one of Mark's partners in a business called Angel Island Pacific Salmon, which was quote, a cooperative venture set up to market their Puget Sound catches. That's what I figured. Yeah, obviously. That's what I figured. Yeah, obviously. That's what I was about to,

I was gonna finish your sentence, but I didn't wanna like take your thunder. Yeah, it's like just a little, okay. I was like, I'll let her have that spit. Yeah, totally. So yeah, interesting. He like knew the man. That is, that is very interesting.

That's very interesting. Yeah, worth mentioning. And it's good, because like you wanna know who you're docking next to, I suppose. Yeah, like you don't wanna dock next to a pirate. I don't fancy myself a sailor, but I feel like if I was, I watch a lot of below decks. I would want a doc next to someone I knew and not a stranger. I'm basically a second stew.

There you go. I'm not. But once they docked, Jerome and Dean got off the boat and they went to Exploracreg. During their exploration, Dean ended up buying weed from somebody on the Libby 8, which is a detail that I mentioned now, and just know that it's gonna come back a little later. Store that in your noggin. Uh-oh.

So it's believed that the other two members of the crew stayed on the boat, and then the Colthurst family decided to head out to dinner because that night was actually Mark's 28th birthday. Oh, so Craig was a new spot for Mark. He usually didn't take this route to or from Alaska, and he had never taken this particular boat there anyways. The reason they did like stay in Alaska to other than like waiting for their money, but it was because they were going to fly home to Washington

state that upcoming Monday. So it just kind of like made sense. Okay. Anywho. They had dinner at Ruth Ann's restaurant, which at the time was one of the only restaurants in Craig. I mean, so it was like maybe like one or two others. Topping. So they had a couple rounds of drinks at dinner and when it was time to pay, Mark actually borrowed money from one of his friends who was also at Ruth Ann's that night, because he hadn't been in Craig a lot, but he knew a lot of the fishermen in the area. Yeah.

So he wrote this guy $100 check for the cash because Mark had a strict rule that there was no cash on board during the season That makes sense. Yeah, I didn't want any on that smart. I thought so But because he had just turned in like a shitload of fish earlier that day his friend knew that he was good for yeah So dinner ended around like 9.30 that night and they made their way back to the boat They stopped along the way a couple times just to chat with the people on the other ships. So it's believed that they were back on the boat between 10 and 1030. Okay. Now a lot of the boats that night were pretty hectic, like they were all having parties on board, like, and there was a lot of people there. Because one, it was the end of the salmon season. And two, the next day was Labor

Day, a day off. So people were really in the mood to celebrate. Yeah. Now a lot of the crew on the neighboring ships stayed up drinking until the early morning hours, and when they woke up the next day, they were not feeling so hot. No, it's also important to note that there was a pretty big storm going on that night, so most of the partying was presumably going on indoors.

Like not necessarily people just like hanging on the dock. Okay. Okay. Now, it would make sense that nobody would notice somebody creeping onto the investor that night, and that nobody noticed that the investor had drifted from the dock until early the next morning. Oh, it was about 6.30 in the morning on September 6th, Labor Day. One of the members of the crew on a neighboring boat

noticed that the investor was idling away from the dock. Huh. That was really weird because the two boats had been connected with the tie down lines. Yeah, I was going to say, wouldn't they be connected? Yeah, they absolutely would. And tie down lines are like crazy expensive. Yeah.

So they were like, Mark absolutely knows how to like dock a boat. Yeah. So this is crew, so, what the fuck? So at first, the crewman on the other boat thought, maybe those lines had come loose during the storm. But then he saw a man in the pilot house or the wheelhouse of the investor. So he waived at the man thinking that it was Captain Mark, because they did look similar and the man waived back. Now, another strange detail was that the ship definitely didn't have Now, another strange detail was that the ship definitely didn't have its engine turned on.

And if the person steering the ship away was Mark or one of his crew members, the engine definitely would have been on because it's a safety thing. Like, you can't leave the dock with your engine turned off because you have no control of the boat. Yeah, you would just be like literally floating away. Yeah, and like if another boat was coming,

you'd literally crushed it. You'd be able to get out of it. Exactly. So they didn't necessarily like notice that at first, the person, but then thinking about it later, they were like, oh shit, then just wasn't on. So this is already like really creepy. Like I'm already like, what the fuck?

It gets so much creepier. I don't like it. So now we know that the man who waved back to that crew member was not. Oh, I hate it. I hate it because I knew that was the answer, but I and I could feel it. But I don't like that. At that point in time, nobody had put two and two together. Oh, imagine learning that later. Oh, yeah. So if you waved at this guy, it only gets creepier. I wouldn't, I couldn't, people were so close to whoever this guy was and had no fucking idea.

So after that offbeat interaction, the investor was anchored near Fish at Guyland. It's a small island about a mile away from Craig across the harbor. It's a pretty secluded place where somebody could do something sinister as fuck and have less of a chance of being seen fleeing the sinister as fuck activity that they just did. Oh no. So at around 4 o'clock the next afternoon, Tuesday, September 7th, another boat, the casino, which was docked in Craig, noticed smoke coming from the same direction where the investor had gone. So the members on board called the Alaska State Troopers, obviously thinking they're some kind of fire.

Yeah. And then they headed out that way to help themselves. Wow. Yeah, great people. So while they were making their way over, they saw a young man wearing a dark baseball hat on the investor's skiff, who seemed to be heading towards Craig. Now, if you don't know a skiff is like another smaller boat. Large boats usually have them in tow.

Like, you can tow away the fish if they need to. It's just like a way to get around faster. So they notice somebody driving the skiff away from the investor and he's wearing a dark baseball hat and they're like, okay, like whatever. They assumed that the man in the skiff was going to shore for help. So later to investigators, the man was described as a young man in his early 20s with either blonde or light brown hair The multiple witnesses who saw him said that he looked to be about 150 pounds and maybe around 510 But it was kind of hard to say how tall he was because he was sitting down. Okay. Now unfortunately By the time that first responders got to the investor there was a fire

Blazing through that boat. And there was nothing they could do to save anybody on board. Oh. And at that point, they didn't even know like who was on board. Who had gone on? Yeah, they don't know how many, like they don't know what's going on. It took four hours to even get the fire under control to the point where first responders could even get on board.

And then it took two more days on board to extinguish the smaller fires. Oh my god. Yeah. Now the investor's skiff was found docked and abandoned and Craig, and whoever had been driving it earlier was never seen again. This whole thing gives me more chills than I was not ready for how chilly willy I would feel. Oh, it only gets worse This is something about something about the sea man. It's something about the sea. It's the scariest place It's beautiful. It's fascinating, but it's the scariest fucking place aren't the most beautiful fascinating things always the scariest I

Wow, wow, and that's your beautiful and fascinating Wow. Wow. And that's so beautiful and fascinating. And sometimes you're scared. And sometimes you're scared. Like that was a little scary. That guy. But you're beautiful and fascinating.

You're beautiful and fascinating and also scary. Oh my God. Oh my God. That's really nice. But really the seas, a scary place. Fuck the sea man. I'm not going to lie. So this kind of stuff happening and like someone just

tutin' away on a boat into the sea. They all saw the sky tutin' away. And he w the sea. I mean, they never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again.

They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again.

They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again.

They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. They never to be seen again. Yes. So the investor's gift was found docked in abandoned. And the tie down lines that I mentioned earlier were found on board one of the neighboring ships the decade. You would have never left your tie down lines. No, okay. They're expensive. They're expensive and they're necessary for future dockings. So the lines were sent to the FBI to see if any fingerprinting could be done on them,

but they weren't able to find any prints. One of the biggest problems during this whole investigation was that a storm was rolling through, and it most likely washed away what every little evidence was left. Oh. Because they weren't able to get anything off the skiff either, like any kind of fingerprints. Oh, come on.

So while search almost like it was planned that way, or it just worked out way too well. Yeah, I think it's the latter. I think it just worked out way too well. Yeah, I think it's the latter. I think it just worked out. Yeah, I mean, you can't really plan the weather. So it's like, but it just seems like it just worked out so well that it's like, wow. And even still, I guess like you could say

whoever was driving could have been wearing gloves or something. No, for sure. Yeah. So while searching the investor, this is where it's going to get really heavy. Just so you guys know. Troopers found some victims,

but the bodies were so badly burned. It was hard to decipher whether or not they were human remains or not at first. Ooh. So on Thursday, September 9th, a medical examiner was able to perform autopsy's on two of the four bodies. They were later identified as 28 year old Mark

and his wife, 28 year old Irene. Oh, again, was three months pregnant with their third child. Upon closer inspection, the medical examiner was able to determine that both of them had actually been shot multiple times before being burned in the fire. Oh my gosh! Yes, there were multiple gunshot wounds to each body, but specifically each one of them had been shot in the head. Whoa. So, the gunshot wounds were only said to not be done execution style, but other than that,

they didn't say much else about them. They just said- So, they were like the one thing we can say is that they were not execution style. Yeah, but they were shot in the head and then they were shot like other times, like other parts of their body. Where they found in their beds, you said? Like they were shot like other times, like other parts of their body. Were they found in their beds, you said? Like they were.

They were found. They were found in like various areas. Okay, so it was like they were sleeping and somebody crept on and killed them in their sleep. Okay. So now during the initial search of the boat, only four bodies were found. So those were the bodies of Mark and Irene, their daughter Kimberly and Michael Stewart who was Mark's cousin.

Oh no. Two days later, investigators. With Jones. Yeah, we're gonna get to that. Two days later, investigators found partial remains of what they believed to be another crew member, but they weren't able to definitively say who. No.

Down the line, the only other crew member that was positively ID'd was Jerome Keone. And that was through dental records when they were able to find a job home. But Dean Moon and Chris Heyman were technically never found. So for a short time, people wondered if they could have had something to do with this. Yes, I mean, you have to.

But then over the years, it's kind of been like confirmed that it was debunked a little bit. Debunked a bit. No, that makes me happy because I really, I mean, I don't want to think of anybody doing this. No, of course not. But I really don't want to think of people that they trusted, respected, and felt safe around doing this. And like people on their crew, just turning on them.

Yeah, it's fully that they were just like totally demolished by the fire. Because Mark and Irene Sun-John, who was four years old, was also never found. No. So, they believe that he was sleeping in a room right off of the wheelhouse, which happened to be one of the main areas that the fire just like completely demolished. The fire was like really going crazy there. No. So sad. Now the corner, but was able to determine that the victims had all died before the fire was started. Okay. Because there was no carbon monoxide in

their lungs. Okay. So they were all shot. And blood alcohol tests were performed and showed that most of the adults on board weren't toxicated. I'm assuming not Irene because she was pregnant, but I don't know. Yeah, it's just you can't tell. Either way. Yeah. Now, they weren't able to find much obviously,

because I mean, some of the bodies they could have eaten for. But whatever they did uncover painted a picture of someone obviously trying to cover this whole thing up. Because investigators realized that whoever had done this had tried to sink the ship actually by opening up the sea cocks while it was docked on Fish Egg Island. So they believe that the family was shot first while the boat was docked in Craig and then when it was floating away,

that's when they think it got to Fish Egg Island and the guy tried to sink the boat. Jeez. Yes. But then whoever did this must have realized the next day on the seventh that the boat hadn't sunk. So they went back and decided to set it on fire to get rid of any evidence or something that they had left behind. Now, they also believed that whoever did this had to have used some kind of accelerant

because the flames spread so quickly and the fire lasted for so long. Yeah, for it to be able to burn like that, I feel like there had to have been. Yeah, there was an arson investigator named Barker Davy and he believed that anywhere from 2.5 to five gallons of accelerant had been used to start the fire and keep it going. Now, Mark's father, John, he actually co-owned the boat with Mark, and he explained that this ship was actually designed not to burn like it had, so it was obvious that this person had to use something. Now, one of the first troopers on scene Charles Miller said to people in the magazine,

every time I pursue something, I keep coming up short. There's always something that doesn't fit. One thing that is stuck in my crawl is why the murderer didn't burn the boat right away. Or at night, when there was darkness to cover his escape, there must have been some compelling reason that caused him to do it in broad daylight. That's the thing. Because people notice this boat burning at like four o'clock

the next day. Literally in like the afternoon, like in the afternoon, When everybody's just hanging, like, right, people are at work, like it's just like, that is the worst time to do it. And a bunch of people saw this guy in a skiff, like multiple times,

like he seemed very brazen. He did. And it's also, are they positive that John wasn't taken? Like are they sure that he's dead? I didn't see you. If they don't have his body. I didn't see anything that said they did believe that he was taken. Like are they sure that he's dead? I didn't see. If they don't have his body. I didn't see anything that said they did believe that he was taken. They believed that he was burned in the fire. They believed that everybody was.

But they believe that everyone was. But they have evidence to show that. They don't necessarily. So yeah, he could have been taken. So there's a real, I mean, not that I'm saying there's any kind of like motive there, but yeah, I don't know. Yeah, we don't know. Was he? Is he alive somewhere? And it's funny, because I thought the same thing, but I never saw that like mentioned anywhere. Yeah, that weird YouTube and kidnaps.

So I'm like, did they must have found some kind of evidence that yeah, like maybe like proofs he was there? I'm not really sure. I don't know a ton about like, I know very little about like bodies and fire. Like I know, I know kind of like a base level there. Like how, you know, that it takes a very strong heat for a long, for a long period of time to burn bone.

Yeah. But other than that, I kind of, I'm a little naive when it comes to that here. So, but it's interesting. It is interesting. But it's like, why would they take John and not Kimberly? I don't know. That's the thing, because we don't know who this person is.

We don't know what the mode of here was at all. And I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, this is technically an unsolved case. I had a feeling. Yeah, so we don't have a feeling. The bummer about this case is this case in general, but the huge bummer is that nobody really knows what happened. Like a lot of people think they know what happened,

but nobody's totally certain because there's really no physical evidence whatsoever. Like we're gonna learn that, obviously, this meant to trial later and somebody was implicated, but it was purely circumstantial evidence. Oh, that's interesting. I didn't know anybody was implicated. Oh yeah, we'll get to that.

So immediately the police wanna talk to different people on the island to see if anybody saw anything strange, which they did. A few other witnesses described seeing that same guy driving the skiff away from the investor. And there were also witnesses who saw a similar-looking man buying two and a half gallons of gas early on the morning of the seventh, and then leaving it on the investor's skiff, which was docked in Craig Hall by itself, which is weird. You typically don't dock a boat for very long by itself

like that, like a skiff. Super strange. Now the only problem was that nobody had a name for this person, simply that description. So for a little while, like I mentioned earlier, there were people who thought that maybe Dean Moon or Chris Heyman could have had something to do with this since their bodies weren't found.

Yeah, and I understand that, but I would think that too. Of course, and to heat things up, at one point in the investigation, the police actually had an informant who claimed that he had gone to school with Dean Moon, and he was sure that Dean Moon could have had something to do with these murders. Oh! to do with these murders. Oh. So the informant told the police that Dean was incredibly well connected in the drug world. This informant said that Dean could get his hands on anything

from weed to cocaine to meth. And he also said that Dean had fucked over a few well-connected people and that he was really playing a dangerous game in the drug world. The informant said that he ripped off some dealer and owed them something like $30,000, which interestingly enough is how much fish they caught that day. Right. And the informant also said that Dean had stolen half an acre of marijuana plants from another dealer.

So obviously investigators found this concerning, maybe whoever Dean had fucked over had shown up to try to take this whole family out. Little far fetched. Maybe Dean did something to try to get the money to clear his debts. Yeah, I mean, when you get into that kind of stuff, it's dangerous and there's really no far fetch there.

The girl out on the wall there will definitely take out a whole family if it means prevent teaching a lesson And like the way that they did it like shooting everybody and burning the boat down like yeah Yeah, and then the other compelling thing was that before everyone on the boat had been massacred Dean was actually training to become the new skip operator. Oh Dean was actually training to become the new skip operator. Oh, yes. So clearly he would have at least known- That's interesting. How to operate it to get it like away from the scene.

Yeah. And he also kind of matched the description that a lot of the witnesses gave, because this was like a very distinct description. He was about 150 pounds, had light brown hair, was close to 5'10". And the only problem was that he had wavy hair, and the witnesses said that whoever this was

had straight hair, but also he had a baseball cap on. His hair might have been what, who knows? Unfortunately, that also describes 90% of men. It's actually... It's like humans on Earth. So I feel like that's a very average description of a human being. It very much is.

But all that other stuff is pretty interesting. It is. So now all, like what they were focusing on doing was searching for Dean, like he was still alive because they had nothing on that boat to say that Dean wasn't alive. He didn't find even a shred of him. Huh. But that would obviously prove to be incredibly difficult. So things in the investigation actually got hot for a second.

In February of 1983, when somebody called one of the lead investigators, Sergeant Jim Stogstill, saying that Dean Moon had been spotted in San Francisco by multiple people. So Stogstill went out there himself to talk to all these different witnesses, but pretty quickly he started to realize that these people had not seen Dean Moon.

One of them described like seeing a guy that was like more like a bum, another guy had like a completely different description and like the guy didn't look like Dean Moon at all. And all these people's stories started falling apart and so did the informant stories. Ah. Because it turned out that this informant

who knew all these wild things about Dean Moon, he had lied. He actually had not gone to school with Dean. He was six or seven years older than Dean. So I'm sorry, no one checked that out like right away. My next one. You think that maybe they would have checked his ID and confirmed his age before being led on a wild fucking goose chase to a fucking San Francisco. Oh no, guys. But I digress. Guys, come on. The thing about this investigation is,

it took a while for them to even get somebody arrested. And I think I don't have an actual opinion of if I think this person did it or not. There's not enough for me to say, like, absolutely, he did it. And there's also not enough for me to say like, absolutely, he did it, and there's also not enough for me to say like, no, like he didn't do it. So I'm kinda just like, I don't really know. But I do think that they were getting to a point

where they were desperate to be like, we solved this. Well, yeah, I mean, one, this is so bizarre and so tragic. And it's so true. And it's hard to remember. And it's so true. And then that demon thing doesn't look great for them. No, not at all. They didn't check the age and then we're like, oh, oh, actually, this informant is a lie.

It happens to be almost, you know, like seven years older than it. Like, no, yeah, no, that doesn't look good for you. No. So I understand it makes sense that they would suddenly be kicking it into high gear to finish it out exactly. And they did, because another name that would start to come up in the investigation quite frequently actually, is the name of a man that they had already cleared.

And now they weren't so sure though. Now this man also knew the Colthurst family pretty well. He was a 23 year old guy named John Peel. John Peale was also from Washington and he had actually casually dated Mark's sister Lisa in high school. And he was actually went to the hospital when little John was born. So he like really knew this family. Wow. And actually later on while this was all going on, the family's like felt really bad for each other. But in the beginning of this, Mark's mother was worried

because Lisa was getting married, and John Peel's mom was supposed to make the cake. So these families were connected. Wow, yeah. Yeah. And Mark was actually one of the reasons that John got into fishing in the first place. Because while Lisa and John were dating,

it was nearing the end of high school. And John hadn't really made his mind up about what he wanted to do. He thought maybe he might go into the military just because he wasn't sure. But he wasn't sure exactly that he wanted to go into the military either. So he was hanging out with Lisa one day,

talking about this when Mark walked into the room and he overheard them. And he joked with John and said, you wanna go fishing instead? Like instead of going military, you wanna go fishing? Like what a way for it to come about. Yeah, I know. Wanna go fishing and like that,

that doesn't sound fun. Yeah, you can go fishing instead. Yeah, let's just go fishing. And John was like, hell yeah brother, let's go fishing. Let's go fishing. So that year he actually joined Mark's crew. But things didn't really work out

Because while people or excuse me while investigators were talking to different people about John Peel They learned that he and Mark were not exactly the best of friends and were not exactly on the best terms Oh, no, there were a lot of rumors about what had gone on between the two of them But basically the gist of the rumors is that Mark ended up firing John from his crew. And all these rumors said a bunch of different things that John was a party animal. He brought drugs onto the ship, he was drunk all the time, he never showed up, if he did show up, he was like fucking everything up, he was just a mess. Like there was a ton of different things that people had to say.

Uh-oh. But John's parents later said he actually wasn't fired from this boat, and this was the kit that John had worked on. He wasn't fired, his family said, but he decided to leave Mark's boat, quote, because, excuse me, because, quote, the boat wasn't that sea worthy. Which, I feel like that's pretty important for a boat. That should be sea worthy. Yeah. Like, you're going to be out there pretty important for about... That should be C-worthy. Yeah.

Like you're gonna be out there on the C. So you should be C-worthy. Yeah. I don't really know what that means. Worthy of the C. I'm gonna go ahead and think that Mark probably fired John. Yeah, if I had to put some money down on it, I would say this Mark definitely fired John. And Mark is like, he's kind of a hard-o.

And if John shows like he runs a type ship. So be Mark is like, he's kind of a hardo. Like, and if John is showing up, he runs a type ship. So beware. Yeah, so beware. So beware, John Pila. So like I said, there is no physical evidence that Ty'd John Pila to the scene, but the police really focused in on him

because he matched the physical description of the man driving the skiff. And because there's all these rumors, they're not on gun terms. We have probable calls, I guess. For sure. But Craig's mayor did say to the Associated Press, there were probably 500 guys in town

that looked just like him. I was good, because you literally just said. That's a bit, I feel like the physical description is really not helping anybody. It's a very average male. Like really not helping. I can name like eight guys that I can off the top of my head that fit that description.

Literally. And I'm not like good at height and weight either. So I'm really bad at that I can off the top of my head that fit that discriminatorily. And I'm not like good at height and weight either. So I'm very bad at that. He's John, I don't know. Yeah, I'd be like, I don't know, sure. Yeah, right. But the police focused in on John Peel anyways. For one thing, like I said, his name had been brought up

a ton and he had a motive. He was mad that market fired. Yeah, you can't ignore that. But then you're also like, would he kill his entire family, including his children? I don't know. I also don't know. But people have done worse.

Crazy things about the kids. And for crazier reasons. And John Peel may have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the right place. I don't, he was in a place. He was somewhere. Because he was working on the Libby 8 at the time of the murders,

which I said earlier was one of the neighboring boats. And another crewmate had seen him climb onto the investor the night of the murders. The witness who saw him said that it looked like he had a bottle in his hands. So the investigators said, maybe he was coming to wish Mark a happy birthday, Mark didn't want him on the boat or he said something like to embarrass him and pissed him off, and one thing led to another.

Now one of the biggest things to police too was that they were fairly certain that this person who had massacred an entire family and the crew had to have killed every last one of them for a reason, because they were like, why would he kill the kids? Yeah. And they felt that whoever committed these murders must have known the family and felt as though they had to kill the kids because the kids would have been able to ID them.

That's what investigators thought. Okay. Which, yeah. That makes a lot of sense, because if it's just a stranger, the kids are gonna be like, I don't know, like they're four and five, they're not gonna be able to be like,

well his cheekbones felt like they were a little bit, but like, you know what I mean, they won't be able to get a good description of that. But if they're like, yeah, it was John. Like they're gonna be able to point to that and be like, yeah, it's John, I hate him. And John later like talked to Lisa and he said he saw them while they were like they're docked in Craig and he actually told Lisa that he had like pushed John on like a little

swing that was on the boat. So the kids absolutely did know him. I mean, like I said, he was at the hospital. He was at John's birth when John was born, right? Oh, I really don't want to believe. I don't want to. I don't want to believe that. But I don't.

I don't. I get why that's something that connects him though. Yeah, definitely. I just struggle and I'm like, oh man. It's tough, but it does make sense. I mean, it's awful no matter what. No matter which way you slice it. It's not like any situation you're gonna be like,

well, I'm glad it was that instead of this. Like, no, the whole thing, it sucks. It's horrible. But to think it's someone that they knew, oh, but hopefully they were sleeping. I think that's also. John definitely was sleeping. And I think Kimberly was said to have been shot pretty close

to her bunk because her and the Irene and the mother used to share a bunk together. And I think they were found pretty close to each other. So John was brought in for questioning multiple times over the course of about a year and a half. Because again, they don't have a lot. I was gonna say, this is all just hearsay. Basically their hope was that they would crack him

and he would confess. Yeah, that's all you can try. So during one of the last visits that he made to the station, they asked him to take a polygraph test, which he failed. Okay. But we said earlier in the case that you just got a dog in a trench coat.

A hot dog in a trench coat. But it's there, but it was the same type of thing. The police were telling him, we know for a fact you killed this family. We have this. The polygraphs telling us everything we already knew, but John was sitting there continuously denying any involvement in the murders. But what fucked him over is that he kind of started like asking for like things from the police.

Like he'd be like, well, what do you know? And like that kind of puts you in a really shitty position. Ooh. And it's a weird thing to say. Yeah. And then what really kicked things even into higher gear was a witness named Joe Weiss. He had been fishing in Alaska during the time of the murders.

And he had seen the composite sketch that they put together from the witness statements. And he said, I realize I saw that man that morning on September 7th. And he went to go tell the police. And so when he went to go tell them, they set up a photo lineup of six men. And obviously John Peel was on the photo lineup. Joe Weiss picked him out almost immediately.

He was like, that's definitely him. Okay. Uh-huh. I mean, that's interesting. It is interesting. I will say that is very interesting. So finally, two years after the fire, John Peel was arrested and belling him Washington on January 10th, 1984.

He was charged with first degree murder for the eight people killed on board and first degree arson. Damn, yeah. Now the prosecution's argument was that John Peele's motive was that he was fired and he was scorned. And the evidence, like we've said a million times, was clearly purely circumstantial

and a whole lot of he said, she said, which we're gonna get into. If you read this book, there's like even more witness testimony, I included kind of like the most important things. Yeah. But if you read the book that I mentioned earlier, which I'll link in the show notes, he gives you so much. It's so good.

This is fascinating because it's also, you just think about it and you're like, okay, so yeah, I get it. Like he's mad. He doesn't like this guy. He got fired. And it's like, okay, he has to get, he has to kill the kids to not ID him and all that, but it's like, why did he choose a time in place where he would have to kill the entire family?

Right. If that was his whole plan to get rid of Mark and like, right, scorn him, you're from the same town. Like, why would you choose a time when you have to not only kill the entire family, but kill what, three or four more men on board? Four men on board. To me, this just like is like crazy. I'm like, yeah, is this really what happens?

I don't, I feel like there should, there had to have been like more people. Like, I don't know, one guy took out that entire, like, wow. That's the thing, but they said all of the adults, or most of the adults on board were drunk. Yeah, that's true. So, like how did you know that? And it's like the night, but they said all of the adults or most of the adults on board were drunk. Yeah, that's true. So, like how did you know that?

And it's like the night so they were, well maybe he had parties with the party. Was he partying with them? Yeah, I mean, was he drunk? I don't know. A witness on like another boat saw him climb on board with a bottle. With a bottle.

But that's still real risky. Like that's real risky. Absolutely. To get on a boat alone, knowing that there are six adults and two children on that boat and you have to get rid of literally all of them. Well, I feel like that is like... The other thing that worked in this person's favor, unfortunately, was that there was only one exit off of this boat.

Yeah. So... But even that, it's like, as soon as somebody hears you, there's seven people to overpower you. I mean, and you're docked next to like these a bunch of other ships and you're shooting these people, you had to. Again, they were shot multiple times. There's six adults, two children.

That didn't, nobody heard anything. It's crazy. Yeah, because I just, I can't get past the idea of walking into that place being like, there are six adults that I have to take out. Yeah. Because the sun is one was shot, didn't they all wake up and when they all attack that one guy?

That's what you would think, absolutely. And the other thing is these are all like well-built guys presumably like they're working on her, so there's tailors, they're working on a boat all day, like hauling heavy lines and doing manual labor. I'm not convinced that there's only one person involved here. I'm not either. And I'm not convinced to be honest.

To me it doesn't. I'm not convinced that it's John Peel, but I'm not convinced that it's not John Peel. Yeah. Because so far I'm sure there's many things that are suspicious. Yeah. And if given physical evidence, I would go,

yep, and look at all that too. Like, I'd be like, yep, that all makes sense now. Right. But without the physical evidence. There's nothing. There's no physical evidence. And because that description is just so generic, I can't, I can't get behind it.

And I just, there's more people involved here, in my opinion. I don't believe it's one person who's overpowered this entire boat. And before I got to the part where it was like Dean Moon more people involved here in my opinion. I don't believe it's one person who's overpowered this entire boat. And before I got to the part where it was like Dean Moon didn't have anything to do with this we think. Yeah. I was like, oh, it makes sense like a couple of people

involved in like the drug world. Yeah. That made more sense to me that there was so much sense. Like not a serally Dean Moon because then it was all made up. And as soon as you start, I was like, no. Like I didn't want, I was like, and now it's like, okay, now I'm just sad that he's dead. But I do, as soon as you start, I was like, no. Like I didn't want to, and now it's like, okay, now I'm just sad that he's dead.

But as soon as you were saying that, I was like, it makes sense that there's more. That it's like a group. Like, yeah, I don't buy that it's one person. No. And the way that they got away so easily, it did to me at least feel somewhat organized. Yeah, you know?

But one guy riding the skiff back and forth. Mm-hmm. It's, yeah, it's strange. But then the other thing is the only way to this island is by boat or plane. So it's like, can we not check the records of who was on this island? And at the time, the population is 600 people.

Well, that was the other thing. I was, when everybody was like, yeah, we didn't know this person. I was like, you didn't. Right. And that should have shocked everybody. Like, when we were filming, we'd be like, look at the records of. When everybody was like, yeah, we didn't know this person. I was like, you didn't? That should have shocked everybody. Like, when we look at the records of us, this person. Exactly. We don't know, because we know everybody. Right.

But then again, it's also the 80s. What's happening? Technology heading from that far. I'm not sure. It's stressful. I want to solve this. So the DA on the case was Mary Ann Henry. And she said that it was a combination

of anger, frustration, humiliation, and jealousy that led John Peel to murder the entire cult her family and the crew on board that day. And she had witnessed testimony to back that up. And she said that John had been caught in multiple lies, which he technically was. So one of the things that she really focused in on was how John abruptly left Alaska. She said that there was a quote, sudden change in John's travel plans. And there was on Tuesday, September 7th, he called a travel agency at 11.56 am and at 4.59 pm that day. And then ditched his original plan and went back to Washington via plane instead of boat. He originally was supposed to leave

on a boat. Huh. And changed his travel plans. The plans at 4.59. The boat was found on fire at 4.00. Okay, okay. Yeah. Again, circumstantial butt compelling, but does not look great for you. Why do you want to get out of there so quickly? Yeah. Later on, John's parents told reporters that the reason he flew home so quickly was because his family was taking a vacation to Reno and he really wanted to join them, but that meant getting home quicker so they figured out a way to get him home on an airplane instead.

Okay. Fair. Makes sense. Like everyone in his family said that his father and his mother. And as soon as you started that, it's like, and then they say that and you're like, okay, that makes sense. Yeah, like people go over the case

and it's like the biggest time in the location. So the trial began in March of 1986 and the prosecution, like I said, had a lot of witnesses, most of whom worked on the Libby 8. I will say the problem with a lot of the witnesses that they had was that a lot of them were struggling with addiction at the time. So not necessarily like, you can't necessarily believe

everything that they said, because they might have been hazy at the time of this. There's some impairment happening. Correct. Correct. Corredivated wise, that correct. Correct. I like to be very professional.

I know. So the main witnesses from the Libby 8, again, which was the boat that John worked on, were Don Holmstrom, Brian Polinkis, and Larry Demmer. All three of them said that John Peale was lying when he told investigators that he had crashed early on the boat the night of the murders because he was tired. That's what he inspected to the investigators. I crashed early. They all said that he was tired. That's what he insin to the investigators I crashed early. They all said that he was not on the boat that night. And Larry Demert was actually the one who saw him climb aboard the investor with that bottle in hand. All three of them also said that

John was again lying to the investigators when he told them that he went out on the boat to watch as the investor was on fire, because a bunch of them all, I mean, it's kind of shitty that they did this, but they all went out on a smaller boat called the Cindy Sue to see the flames and see what was going on. Yeah. I mean, it happens, you know? Yeah, like you're just seeing what the hell was happening. Exactly.

So he told them, he had told the investigators that he went with them to look at this, but they said he told them that he was too busy with things to do and he was going to go find Mark Colthurst to tell him that the boat was on fire. Hmm. So they also... Interesting. Yeah, they also tore apart his alibi when he said that he saw his girlfriend Robin Thomas that night.

So it's like, first he crashed early and then to account for the rest of the time he was with his girlfriend, Robin Thomas. Okay. Robin Thomas said they were already broken up by that point and she wouldn't have been with him that night. Oh, yeah, the plot thickens. It does. And the other thing about him going on the boat

to see the fire, he had said to the investigators like a couple of the things were burned. And I think I believe, I don't have it written down. But I believe he said that it was on the North cove that they were watching it when it was actually on the South cove. And then he had said like a certain part of the boat was burned and it wasn't burned. So it was almost like he was trying to, he's a sailor. It's almost like he was trying too hard to like get it wrong.

Or he just wasn't there in the first place. And all of them are saying he wasn't there. So Brian Polinkus testified that when he and John were talking about the murders, John said, quote, bless you. Sorry, not quote. John said quote, mark probably tweaked out and shot everyone. But at the time, it wasn't common knowledge that any of the victims were shot.

And you all know that this boat was on fire, so why't common knowledge that any of the victims were shot. And you all know that this boat was on fire, so why would you have that mark? Why would you shoot down and shot everybody? No. Weird. Then came a biggie that I told you earlier would come back. I had said that Dean and Jerome went out to explore, and that they had bought weed from somebody. That someone just so happened to be John Peel. Oh.

And originally, he had told the investigators, he didn't tell the investigators anything about that, about the weed. But he said it was because, at the time, when he was arrested at that point, he was married. And he was dating this woman named Kathy or Catherine. And she had sent him the weed by mail. So he said the reason that he lied was that he didn't want to get her in trouble. But he lied. Yeah.

And about like selling a potential murder, but he weed and allegedly during their exchange, Dean mentioned that he was going to be getting 12% of the investors earnings for the trip. John on the Libby eight was only getting 3%. So the prosecution surmised that John was pissed and felt like if he had still been working for Mark, that money would have been his. Oh. Right. And if he's sitting there saying that he's making 12%, it might have come up how well they did that season. Yeah, of course. Maybe John thinks he's going to find that check on the

boat, that $30,000 check. Of course. And he's gonna get all the fucking earnings. Again, wow. It's all allegedly. Yeah, exactly. But there were also other people who said that John Peel actually asked Mark if he could hitch a ride with him out to Alaska for that trip so he could make it to the Libby 8

because he was gonna be working on the Libby and Mark told him no. So John had to like, pawn a watch to get money for a fairy ticket and then had to hitch the rest of the way to get on the boat. Oh, damn. So he was already pissed off. Yeah. Then he maybe even got more pissed off

because he was fine. He was fine. Then he's finding out how well Dean is doing. So he's increasingly getting more and more angry. Yeah. Like by this time there are three events that would have left him feeling squirt. Of course.

So that's a good argument. It's not bad. It definitely is. Now there was also another skipper who knew John Peel and said he definitely saw him on board the investor the night of the killings. And another witness said that he was the one who sold John Peel gas just hours before the fire.

And Don Holmstrom even said that John admitted to killing the family one night through tears. What? Yes. The problem with all of their testimonies though, they later recanted parts of their statement saying that what some of the saying that some of what they had said

was done while they were quote, under pressure. So all of that went to shit. Just you can't believe any of it. Went to shit. Yeah. So all in all the trial lasted six months and when it came time to deliberate, the jury just couldn't decide. Yeah, of course. They were hung and John Peele's first trial was considered a mistrial. That's not talking at all. No. So the second trial started in January of 1988 and the newspapers all said that it was the state's longest running prosecution and the most expensive at $2 million. Damn.

It took three months of testimony in four days to deliberate and this time the jury acquitted John Peel. Wow. So, I mean, there's nothing physical. What do you really have? It's all, he might have been mad. He might have been mad and I lied about what I saw. So, it's like, what do we, what do we really have here?

Exactly. Wow. So two years later, he filed a 177 million civil suit against the state for wrongful prosecution. And seven years later, he settled for $900,000. Damn. But by that point, his family had sold to their family home to pay for his defense.

So I had mentioned earlier, like when you were doing your case about that, I'll also happen in my case. Yeah. And his family was just like ruined. And his name was ruined. And if he didn't do this, then that really sucks. Yeah, it really does. And now to this day, nobody understands

what happened that night and who could have murdered this entire family and crew if it wasn't John Peel. And John Peel was asked by a current affair what he thought it would take for his name to be cleared like shortly after he was acquitted. And he said for them to solve the case, which like yes. Yeah.

But unfortunately it's now been 39 years. 39, I know, I keep forgetting. Every time you say the latest. There's a couple. 10 years ago, happens to me every time. 39 years. Wow. So Mark Colthurst family full-heartedly believes

that John Peale was the right man. Mark's father, John, said, in one sense, it makes us more at peace because we know who the perpetrator is and his mother Sally added onto that saying, but in another sense, it doesn't do us any good. He's running free, but nothing is gonna bring my kids back. People say he'll get his punishment someday. I'd like to live long enough to see it.

A conviction wouldn't change our lives, but it would finally put some things away like having the body of a soldier. Oh, I just got chills from that. I know that really just like, not in my stomach. It's so sad. And John's family said that the whole case, of the whole case, quote, we really know the case against him is contrived.

They, the Alaskan authorities, have misrepresented themselves, falsified testimony, intimidated witnesses, and changed John's statements before a grand jury. The list is endless. He wants everyone to know about this. It can happen to anyone. Wow. Which it is, it's so crazy that we picked these two cases

at the same time because we just saw it happen. In Alina's case, this very well could be happening or could have happened to John Peel, for sure. But I also feel like there's not enough to say that he didn't do it. Yeah. You know what I mean? Because this one, it's like, I don't know.

There's a little more reason involved. There's a little more, you know, meet on this bone, but more witnesses. Not enough. Not enough. Not necessarily credible witnesses. They haven't erased a reasonable doubt in my mind. Same.

Which you can't convict. No. If there's a reasonable doubt, they tell the jury. There's a reasonable doubt. Then you cannot convict. And there is a reasonable doubt. And there's convict. And there is a ton of reasonable doubt. And there's no physical evidence. I need something.

Something. But there are a ton of people who do believe that John did this. And police detective David McNeil said, quote, they got the right guy. Just because someone's acquitted doesn't mean they're innocent. It just means there's not enough evidence

to show guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. And that's true. It doesn't mean he's innocent. No, it doesn't at all. I could not tell you that this guy's innocent and I can't tell you that he's guilty. I don't know. I have no idea.

But I wish he could sit here and be like, no. Boba Boba, like no. I have no idea. I have been working on this case for two weeks now at this point. I have no idea. I have no idea who did this. Wow.

It's crazy. To me, if it is him, there was more people involved. I agree with you. I think they're had to. I do not, it's going to be real hard to convince me that someone walled onto a boat with six adults, right? And two children and was like, well, I'll just take my chance and see if I can get them all.

I mean, like, yeah, you have a gun, obviously. But like, that's a lot of people. It's a lot of people. Not that it's not happened before. It's just, it's, it's stretching. But I mean, I guess if they're all sleeping and who's, I mean, did they have silencers back then for guns? It's so risky.

It's crazy. It's risky. And there's kids on board. Yeah. It's crazy. But if you want to know, like, even like a little bit more about this case, you definitely get that book. What happened in Craig Alaska's worst worst unsolved mass murder by Leelinda E.Hale. I want to read this so badly.

I'll give it to you because I have a physical copy. It's really good. I got to read this. Wow. Really good. That was a wild tale. It's just so sad. And I feel awful for that family.

39 years later, they still... I mean, they don't have peace. They don't have peace. But the father, John said, like, it gives us a little bit of peace because we feel like we know. But I just want them to, I know nothing will, yeah, you want to know, definitely, you know,

like, nothing's gonna take, get them back, but no. Wow, yeah, it was a doozy. Damn, that sucks. It does, but you told that well. Thanks, I was like, very immersed in this for the past couple you told that well. Thanks. You're welcome. I was like very immersed in this for the past couple of years. You could tell. Thanks.

Well, we hope you keep listening. Yeah, and we hope you keep it weird. I don't think I have to tell you not to keep it this weird. Yeah, you just said you know. Don't lie to people. You know. Good bye. Goodbye. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts.

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