Morbid - Episode 43: Robert Hansen Part 1
Episode Date: February 7, 2019This guy somehow flies under the radar a lot but don't be fooled, he is a prolific and brutal serial killer who seemed to have taken his MO directly from the pages of "The Most Dangerous Game..."(never confirmed but...come on...). In part 1 of our two part series on this trash human, we will discuss Hansen's teen years, his brushes with the law and take a dive into his first few murders. He's a treat, guys. Strap in. Sources:Â https://allthatsinteresting.com/robert-hansen Butcher, Baker: The True Account of an Alaskan Serial Killer by Walter Gilmore 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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That's ANGI, or download the app today. Yeah, this is gonna be more bid. And this one's kind of fun because I don't see it covered a whole lot.
I have never listened to this case get covered.
I don't think.
Yeah, I've just heard, I know last podcast on the left did a great coverage of it, so after
you listen to us, you should go check them out.
Last podcast on the left.
Not on the right.
And on the middle, that.
Maybe a couple have like,
breezed over it, but this is one of those cases, and I'll tell you
what it is in a second, that I, it's actually like shocking that
this guy is not up there with like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey
Dahmer and John Wingacy, like, no, like notoriety wise. He killed
a lot of people. And he was just like the whole thing is crazy.
variety was. He killed a lot of people. And he was just like the whole thing is crazy. So today we're going to be covering Robert Hansen, aka Bob, the butcher, the butcher, the butcher
baker, bad bob, and sideshow bob. Someone definitely called them that. But we're going to be doing it in two parts because there's just a lot of information
for this one and we don't want to skip over anything.
So we'll give you part one tonight.
But yeah, this one is, he's pretty brutal and it's just, he's unique as you'll find out.
Yeah, I feel like.
So a lot of unique things about this.
And it takes place around Anchorage, Alaska.
So that's kind of why I think it hasn't become.
Because it's like in the middle of nowhere.
Yeah, because it's not in the lower 48.
You know what I mean?
I mean, they just get lost in the shuffle
when it comes to true crime, I think.
So we're going to be covering that today.
But first, I just wanted to say how
freaking excited I am for Guillermo del Toro's
real scary stories to tell in the dark.
They're near Mogas.
They're near Mogas, my favorite.
That is a great, great name.
Guillermo.
Guillermo.
But it's coming out, I think, August 9th maybe.
But either way, it's coming out in August of this year
and for anybody, which I didn't share a lot of people
listening to this duck grew up with those books.
They're sitting right in front of me
in my bookshelf right now.
And I posted on the Instagram earlier,
some of my favorite illustrations by Steven Gamal,
the guy who illustrated those books. And I just wanted to know everybody else's favorite ones. And it's been fun to see everybody
else's like the ones that like ruined them as a child because you yeah. I was looking through
those books last night and like showing John because I don't think he was as into those books.
And I was telling him how excited I am for the movie. As I would get to like a certain story
and a certain illustration, I was like oh my my god, I remember this ruining me as a kid,
this one picture.
I remember we used to bring them to my after school program
and I'd be so fucking scared.
And then people would make up their own ghost stories
about our town.
Oh yeah.
And be like, this sounds like what happened in our town.
And then I'd be like, what happened in our town?
What happened?
And then I was like, I'm scared, scared but tell me I'm not gonna sleep for weeks
but tell me and then I legitimately did not sleep for weeks. I wonder if kids do that anymore.
No they probably just like read it on their sleep. Now it's just creepypastus.
Like it's not like that's that that was like the OG version of creepypastus. They're actually just
on Reddit right now. Yeah exactly.
But I think there's something to be said about, like, those old books.
I was like young.
I was like eight.
Yeah, I was like probably third grade.
And I remember getting them and I just remember that was my first introduction to, like,
creepy things.
Those illustrations, the way he has the ink dripping, everything looks like it's like
it's like, it's so neat and just like really wet and just like everything looks like you're like
it's just even just the cover like the skull on the cover. Yeah and there's just a couple of
pictures that just stuck in my brain. Yeah. And I still they still give me like who
I used to like hate when someone would bring the book out,
because I'd be like, fuck.
But then I'd also be like, I can't wait.
Fuck me up, fam.
Well, and I had mentioned in one of the things,
because this did bother me.
I read an article, and it was this woman,
because as I'm sure a lot of people know,
they, these books were banned or on the band list forever.
Oh, I'm sure.
And so recently in the last few years,
they replaced the illustrations with somebody else's
illustrations that are way tamer, not the same feel at all.
But I mean, stupid.
Fine illustrations, like the illustrator is a good illustrator,
but not a horror illustrator.
Right.
And it takes away everything from them.
So people were like outraged and they went back to them.
Yeah, I'd be pretty proud.
But this woman was writing an article saying that
she doesn't think they should have gone back to the old ones
because the old ones are horrifying
and she doesn't understand why kids were allowed to look at them
and I was like, girl, I'm fine.
Yeah, she's grown.
But one of her main things was she pointed out
and she used the story, oh Susanna, which is a scary story.
And she said, why did it get in that book?
It was a scary story.
I don't know how it fit in there, but that's so strange that they put a scary story in it.
It ended up in there, weirdly enough, and somehow I remember it.
I don't know.
Weird question.
Maybe because it was an outlier.
I don't know.
But the visual that goes along with that story is like really abstract
wicked creepy. Yeah. It's like this person in a creepy old wheelchair being led through the sky
by this like weird eyeball that's like got all this flesh attached to it. And on top of them
is like this weird skull. It's like all abstract and really weird.
Interesting. And she was like none this artwork doesn't even have anything to do with the
stories. It's stupid that like you know at least the new artwork like has the story in mind.
And I was like no you just don't know how to interpret it. Right. Just because it's not like
literal to the story doesn't mean it doesn't have anything to do with the story
Yeah, like it's art like it's and it's amazing hard
It's like no matter what it made you like it was jarring that's one
Picture was like I don't know what's going on here
But I feel like I want no part of it, but I feel unwell. I feel unsettled
I need an adult. I don't know what's going on. Well, so yeah, that
is it. I got on the stilje fest today about it. So I had to chitchat about it. I'm glad
you do it. I understand this. You get us guys. Exactly. Because I ranted about it to my
husband last night. He was like totally. And he was just trying to be really into it for
me. Because he's wonderful that way. But I was like, yeah, whenever we talked to him about
true crime, just like, yeah. And he likes true crime. But he's wonderful that way, but I was like, yeah, whenever we talked to him about true crime,
just like, yeah. And he likes true crime, but he likes it to like, a point extent.
Like he only wants the surface level of it.
Like the word details. When we were talking about Marilyn Rose,
autopsy, I think it's her and we were like, no, it's not her.
He was like, why are you guys so mad? Well, how you upset about this? You don't get it.
But yeah, that was my little tangent for the night.
Oh, I have a little tangent too.
Do you know what I did last weekend?
What did you do last weekend?
I met Emma and Christine from the last time you drank
and I didn't shit my pants figuratively.
No, wait, literally, but I did figuratively
I went to their live show at the Wilbur and it was so good
So jealous and I fan-girled like really really really hard
And I love it though Annie's the best girlfriend in the whole wide world
And she probably tickets to meet them afterwards which I love and M gives like the best hugs like she gave such a good hug and I said like she just gives off that vibe that she just seems good
hugs she does she's one of those people and Christine was like so nice and
then they were talking really nice and really they're so nice they were talking
about like Annie's haircut or something like that I forget and I was like wait
but really quickly and then they didn't hear me because I was probably barely
speaking because I was probably just like we like took a picture and it was almost over and I was like,
oh my god, Elena's gonna murder me if I don't say this.
And so I said to Christine and she like literally because I was like clearly like so,
like just struck up.
And I think she like held my hands.
I think that's what you said.
And I was like, I don't want to be that person,
but I have a podcast to make my sister sister and it's like, it's pretty good
And people people say that we should collab and I would really love to do that and she was like, oh my god
Yeah, like send us an email like she was so nice and I was literally like
Ah, I'm dead. I'm deceased. I did everything but like throw up on her. It was fine
Which is good. That's the line you want to not, you know, just walk up to.
Yeah.
And not cross.
Yeah, you just just throw up on the line.
And then just don't cross it.
I was so scared.
I'm so proud of you.
Thank you.
And I'm so glad you just like put the little, little, little,
your worm in there.
I did.
And I feel like they're like one of the podcasts that I feel like we would just
vibe well with.
Mm-hmm. Like I just feel it in my bones. Me too. And I was just like so proud of them being up there.
I know because you like at the wall. At the wall. You like see where they came from and you're like
one of our followers uh like answered my story because like I posted that I was there. And they were
like half so much fun. That's so cool or or like whatever and then they were like that could be you guys someday
and then I was like oh my god I love that and I was trying to think of like me sitting on the
stage at the Wilbur and then I got even more nauseous and I just ordered another sangria and I was like
and see fully fully and putting into the universe that that is happening. I want it to happen, but also, oh, I'm terrified of the thought, but I want it to happen.
I'm just going to drool on stage the whole time the fun ever happened. I'm just going to let my awkward flag fly.
It's cool with it. I'm going to need to be heavily medicated.
Oh, so yeah, we're going to wear and put that into the universe, hopefully.
Yeah, someday we'll do a live show. Yeah, exactly.
And sell it out. They sold out the Wilbur House. We're going to wear and put that into the universe, hopefully. Someday we'll do a live show. Yeah exactly. And sell it out.
They sold out the Wilbur house.
We're so out.
We're freezing us out.
The Wilbur someday.
Someday.
Someday.
One, two, one.
Oh, oh, oh.
And in the meantime, we're going to be, we're in the process of kind of getting together
our merch to throw up on the website.
Merch.
We're just getting the last couple of numbers together so we know what to tell you guys
so we're not just throwing up things and being like just sort of this. Right. Um so we are getting
that done really quick so stay tuned for that. We're gonna have a meeting soon. We are gonna have a
meeting soon about it. How fucking legit does that sound? I've never gone to a meeting. It's
worth your I have. I'm just gonna say it. I you have. I have. And we're also gonna be recording a Patreon bonus episode this week, which will be out next
week.
So Patreon donors, patronises, keep a lookout for that next week.
We'll let you know when it's gonna hit.
We're gonna be shouting out our Patreon donors, our patronises, and our mini-sode this week.
If you're here, if you hear some panting in the background, that is my doll.
It's not that.
She has some booty troubles.
So she's just scooting around the floor right now.
So do with that what you will.
Everything's going to be fine.
So we'll be yeah, so we'll be shouting out our paternises in the mini-sode this week. We'll be out at the end of this week and
we'll be in Ash's centric episode. And I think on to the show. Right here we go.
So in 1939 in Iowa a beautiful little baby was born.
And his name was Robert.
And he was born to parents Christian and Edna Hanson.
Oh, that's why his middle name was Christian.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah.
So yeah, his dad was a Danish immigrant
and they owned a bakery with a family.
So his dad was apparently super strict
and made Robert work like super long hours at the
bakery. So Rob was apparently like a super skinny kid. He had a severe acne and a really bad stutter.
That's tough. And so because of that he was pretty much a loner in high school and didn't date
very much if at all. Bomber. One time he explained it in an, quote, this quote is sad, but also I think I know
which one you're talking about because I was actually like, oh, it's sad, but it made
me laugh and I'll tell you why.
So he says, going back in my life, I was, I guess what you might call very frustrated.
I would see my friends and so forth going out on dates and so forth and how to tremendous
desire to do the same.
From the scars and so forth on my face,
you can probably see I could see why girls wouldn't want to get close to me. And so forth
and so forth and so forth and so forth and so on and so forth. He said so forth so many
times and I was done. I was done. But also I felt really bad. Sorry Rob. I know. But like,
no sorry. Sorry but not sorry at all. So he goes on to explain that he couldn't get his stutter
under control and because of all that,
he just like really hated school.
That I mean, that's sad.
I always feel bad when they start out
with like something like that,
because you're like, yeah, you kind of didn't have a quick chance.
Yeah, and the kids are so mean.
Yeah, and he was like tormented at school, he said.
That's rough.
Also, weird fact, he was forced to be right handed.
He was supposed to be left handed.
Oh, yeah.
I don't know if it was a normal thing
that they used to do back then.
They forced the kid to be right handed.
Well, I don't know whether or not he went to Catholic
or private school or whatever,
but I know that a lot of times in Catholic school,
they make you right with your right hand
because the left hand is like the devil's hand.
Yeah.
Yeah, back then that was like a very widespread.
Oh yeah.
It was like we don't want you to be different.
But he said that the stress of that, like because imagine how hard that is, like you're
not supposed to be like you did, and he said it's stressed about so much that it made his
stutter worse.
Oh, I'm sure.
Yeah, he was like really upset about that.
And high school really sucked for him.
Yeah.
So two years after graduating, I mean, I feel bad, but I don't at all.
I don't feel bad at all.
It's like I feel bad for a minute, and I'm like, oh, wait.
But wait, he did some shitty fucked up shit.
shitty fucked up shit.
shitty fucked up shit.
shitty fucked up shit.
shitty fucked up shit.
shitty.
So in 1960, which was two years after he graduated high school, he convinced a 16-year-old
bakery employee to burn down the school bus garage with him.
I mean, haven't we all, you know, kids will be kids.
So it's fine.
So everyone chill out, okay?
Calm, no titules. So it's fine. So everyone chill out, okay? Calm your tichoules.
So in his mind, this was really to get back at the town that outcasted him.
Like he was like, you made fun of me in high school and
school was hard and I had to write with my right hand and I had acne.
And so I think it's only fair that I burned down your school bus garage.
I'm gonna burn down your school bus is house.
That's funny.
But also not good.
Don't think that.
But also funny.
But tragic.
So yeah, he did that.
And the damn thing.
But the 16 year old eventually succumbed to a guilty conscience and he turned himself
and Robert in for the crime.
Well, Robert was probably like, thanks.
Thanks a lot.
Well, that's what you fucking get for convincing a 16 year old.
I don't know, you should do anything.
We should have done it by yourself
if that's what you really wanted to do.
You don't involve other people in your shit.
I mean, he had help.
And like, he was 21.
Why did you need a 16 year old?
Yeah, you're asking for trouble.
Yeah, you stupid idiot.
For a dumb ass.
So he was sentenced to only three years,
which like doesn't seem fitting.
I know. He burned, he successfully burned it down.
Yeah, that doesn't seem like a lot.
But he was perilled actually after only 20 months.
Oh shit, he got, as we'll see later, this dude got out of a lot of shit.
Don't they always say, oh, this guy had the cops like doing backpins to get him out of this shit.
That's what they fucking do.
Ugh.
They're master manipulator.
They really are.
So during his stay, his therapist diagnosed him with an infantile personality marked by
child-like hysteria, volatile emotions, and a clungy fixation on others.
That seems like a rough diagnosis totally.
Like, basically, he he wrote you suck and you
fucked. You a little baby man and it's not gonna work out for you. No one's ever gonna be able
to tolerate you. So good luck. Bye. Also while he was in jail, he his wife divorced him because
apparently he was married. Oh yeah. But there's not a lot about his first marriage or his first wife that I found.
No, the only thing I found was that her parents really didn't want her to marry him.
Well, they must have been pretty young.
Yeah.
Because it was only two years after that.
And she started divorcing him, like the second he got arrested.
Like she was like, oh yeah, no.
Like that.
So he was sentenced to three years, six months in, she divorced him.
But then he was paroled after 20 months, like I said.
So after he was paroled, he was married again in 1967.
Or I'm not sure if he was married in 1963.
No, 63.
63.
And then in 1967, the couple moved to Alaska for a fresh start, and they lived happily ever
after and Rob was like totally reformed. Yeah, was totally fine after that and like now the podcast is
over. Yeah part two is just gonna be about their life painting you know the
wilderness landscapes of Alaska. Yeah that's what kayaking a lot. Yeah so that's
fine. It's not at all what it's gonna be. Take it away Elena. So like Ash said they got married in 63 they moved to Alaska in 67
and over the next few years he was jailed several more times for petty theft. Good. All like
really small jords. Jords. He stole jords. You know I would not put that past him. He stole really small jorts. That's all. Just really small
jorts over and over. No, it was every time it was a pretty small jail sentence. Like it was just
like in and out. But like a lot of these guys, he was a kleptomaniac and he started with stealing
because he was getting the thrill. He was kind of thrown up the middle finger at authority
and this is what these guys like to do. So a lot of them started out as little petty theft
fuckers. Yes. That's exactly that's what they are called petty theft fuckers. Yeah, you are being sentenced for being a petty theft
fucker. Wow, I'm surprised you were able to say that that many times. I know I'm not even gonna try. It took like
concentration. I'm glad to have him.
So, you know, that was in and out of jail, but nothing too crazy.
Now, growing up in Iowa for a while, he had learned one thing that like he was actually good at.
Because he wasn't good at a lot of things.
Was it weird?
No, he was good at hunting and trapping.
Because Iowa, you know, what else are you gonna do?
Yeah.
So this skill that he had honed in Iowa actually served him even better in Alaska.
Because Alaska is just fucking wilderness.
Well, that's like what you got to do to live out there.
Like, you have to.
So, I mean, he was really good at stocking game and apparently had dead eye aim with both the rifle and the bow.
Wow. I wonder which hand he used. Yeah I know. That's a good point. I wonder if he
reverted back to the left hand or if he became an ambidextrous. Wow. Because don't
fuck with someone that's ambidextrous. You know it fucks with ambidextrous people.
Can do it. Ambidextri. Just don't do it. I don't know. That's a good point. Yeah.
So he, I apparently his Anchorage house was literally filled with animal trophy
mounts.
He was one of those.
He loved to show off his trophies.
I mean, if you like that, that's your thing.
Yeah.
Like, I'm not going to judge you.
I personally don't love hunting, but it's not for me.
I'm not going to tell people they can't do it.
So one of his trophy
animal mounts actually included a record-breaking doll sheep, which are those sheep with like those
really big curly horns. Oh is that the picture of him posing? The picture of him, I saw that.
The picture of him, which okay, truth bomb time. Not bad looking. Not bad looking in that picture.
I'm glad we both, we were we were feeling it together. Because when I saw that picture. I'm glad we both, we were, we were feeling it together.
We just, because when I saw that picture, I was like,
hate that you're holding giant animal horns.
Yeah, I don't like that.
But like, it's okay.
It was very-
It was very Georgia-O-Keef.
It was.
I love her as an artist.
It's just, he, I mean, if he had just like got his shit together,
like he wouldn't have been-
He looked like a modern day hipster.
Like he wasn't, yeah, he really did.
Like he wasn't hideous beast on the outside.
No, he really wasn't.
I mean, he had like scars from acne
and stuff, but like a lot of people,
you know, shit happens.
Yeah.
I know plenty of people with scars
with acne that are super hot.
I'm glad we're both on the same page.
Also, I think he got his glasses at Warby Parker.
He, for sure, did.
Before Warby Parker even existed. He got them there.
I mean, yeah, because those were good glasses.
They really were.
I'm not trying to give the student anything.
And he was wearing like a flannel.
Yeah, all right, but he sucked.
He did, he sucked a lot.
Yeah, I mean, he had grizzly bears.
He had all the things that you like trophy hunters.
I used to bring a grizzly bear home.
Birag about killing.
So, and in 1969, 1970 and 1971, he had four animals entered into the Pope and Young Record
book.
Was that?
It's apparently like a trophy hunting record book.
So it's like if you get entered in, it's like the Guinness record book for hunting.
So he had four animals that are apparently record breaking.
Oh, well.
His name was entered into this book.
You know, he could have just really not killed people in life.
Yeah, just turned his life around.
But the problem is this hunting, you know, actual game was not enough.
He did end up earning a decent living by opening up his own small bakery,
like off because, you know, he grew up in a bakery.
His dad was a baker.
This doesn't turn into a sweetie Todd situation.
It does not, which would have been kind of delightful, but you know, he ended up opening
this bakery and he became, he became known around town as, you know, a really good baker
and a decent dude, the baker.
Bob the baker.
And a lot of people went to this bakery, a lot of cops went to this bakery.
It was, he was known as respectable around town
Because he did portray an air of respectability. He wasn't walking around like a big weirdo creep being like
Like he was just bacon stuff and living his life
I was living his life. I was married.
He was a career-lo-bear.
Maybe that's an effort.
An endangered species in the last year.
It's a morph species.
A hunk of career-lo-bear.
It's people who are like, you are a big weirdo creep.
That's not a thing.
You used to do use.
But again, he was married.
He had two kids at this point.
He was BTK in it up.
So people had no idea.
So again, even though he was
he was being a super respectable guy on the outside, he had the whole fam, you
know, was a business owner. He did have, you know, besides the stutter and all
that, he had some some quirks and some, one might say darker interests as well in killing people. Not quite yet, but still a little
little on the cedar side. So he didn't have to look too hard to find the women that would eventually
become his victims because apparently in the 70s tons of young women were drawn to Anchorage, Alaska from the lower 48. Because there was a Transalaska pipeline being built.
So all these workmen were up there. Lots of money up there.
Lots of dudes with huge wallets ready to pay for this stuff.
And apparently the road next to this-alaska pipeline that was being built was the Dalton highway.
And at this time, Anchorage had an extremely dark district in it called the Tenderloin district.
Tenderloin?
Yeah.
And apparently it was run by a crime bus.
I think his name was Frank
Collock Curseo Collock Curseo. I don't know Frank. He did it Frank from Frank ran the place
And it was it would centered it was centered on a place called fourth Avenue fourth Avenue was where all the dark shit went down
I'm like if you were like I'm a go to fourth Avenue. Everyone knew where you were going.
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I like that that was a combo of Australian and British. Listen!
This is where all the, all the quote unquote dancing clubs were with names like these names
are amazing.
Wild Cherry, Arctic Fox, my favorite booby trap.
Shut up.
And another one, the Great Alaskan Bush Company. Wow. That last one
is still open. It's just in a different location. But it's still there. Arctic Fox is a type
of hair dye. I don't really. I believe it's also an actual animal. So this is that. Whoa. I wonder if Bobby Boy hunted an Arctic fox.
Bobba Boy.
So these were all places where, you know, unfortunately, his type of victim were at the
ready.
They were chilling.
Unfortunately.
There was a big oil boom in Anchorage during this time, so the population started rising.
People had disposable income.
It was like a really good
financial time for them, and so there was a lot of women that were making a lot of money. And they
said it was like wicked city, like there was clubs, those kind of dancing clubs, there was peep shows,
there was magazine stands that had child pornography in them. Oh god. Like, this place was a scary place. And this also became a part of the, of Anchorage
that was like ripe with violence.
People just getting beaten and armed robberies,
fire bombs, murders.
Like, police were pretty busy in this area.
Sounds like great.
Yeah.
Like, between 1979 and 1983,
police responded 207 times to disturbances at the booby trap alone.
Yeah, 207 times.
277 times.
Major, yeah.
Just at one club.
The booby trap.
So needless to say, Robert was kind of a regular at the Strip Clubs on 4th Avenue.
Which one do you think he liked best?
I think he liked the Alaskan Bush Company.
Do you know that or why I don't feel that?
I just feel it in my bones.
He strikes me more as a booby-trap guy.
I don't know.
No, since he became a regular at these places,
obviously the dancers and escorts and sex workers
began to know who he was.
They could spot him, they knew who he was.
Hey, it's Bobby Boy.
And they all said he had kind of a quirk.
They said that they always had to make the first move,
no matter what, because it was part of his weird elaborate fantasy
to like demean women.
Like you have to ask me for it.
No thanks.
Yeah.
And in fact, he said, quote,
she had to come out and say we could do it,
but it's going to cost you some money.
Then she was no longer, I guess, what you might call a decent girl.
So the way that he would get these women and the way that he usually ended up later, which we'll discuss, killing these women,
was once they transformed from a regular in his eyes, a regular girl, into a sex worker, which he deemed a whore. That's
when they had to go, because he was like, you're no longer human to me.
But like, it's not up to you to play God.
No, it's not you, fucker. Here's the thing. Robert Hansen was the, like, one of the original
in cells. He just was breaking. Like, because he was frustrated.
He wasn't getting it.
I mean, he had a life, but obviously he's very frustrated.
For most of his life, he was not getting a whole lot of lilies.
And he wasn't saying, and it seems like he almost takes a little responsibility, like I understand
why women didn't want to come near me when I was in high school.
But now he's like twisting it on its ear and
basically being like
these women are the problem not me.
So I'm gonna take them out. So it's like a total in-cell way of looking at it that it's like
they should accept all my grossness and still want to sleep with me, but they don't. So they now I need to
punish them and And it's
like gross. So girls, however, that talked to police later, some of the girls, a lot of
them said at the right at the beginning of talking to him, they said they always felt
pretty safe with him, just because of his physical appearance, because they said, you
just looked like a normal dude. They said, quote, he sort of looked like the perfect dork.
And they all described him several times.
He was described as one,
to buy women like, he's a literal like dork.
Like they were like, he is the ideal of a dork.
Oh.
And it's like, he kind of,
what, he like, he had the glasses, the stutter, you know what I mean?
Like he, I wonder if he ever got rid of the stutter you know me like he did I
wonder if he ever got rid of the stutter I don't know I think he still had it
later I think it chilled a little bit but I think it was still there yeah so I
think the dorkiness in his like his appearance is like kind of a dork just made
them feel a little safe which is which worked out really well for him I would
be thrown off by the dorks to not been thrown off by the door because I've never taken that solve. Do not be thrown off by the door, man.
We could Steve Jobs.
Exactly.
You can't even donate, but I know.
But, you know.
That we know of.
No, I'm just kidding.
Let's be smirch his memories.
I'm totally kidding.
So in the mid 70s, at least two sex workers
told cops that Hanson was a nut job and had like
showed them his rape fantasies, like made it pretty clear to them.
Hate that.
And they were like, we feel like endangered by him.
I'm afraid he's going to do something because this is not normal behavior that we're used to.
Well, the complaints fell on total deaf ears and police were like,
your sex workers, I'm not concerned.
Which is so fucking awesome.
Which seems to be a pattern throughout this that every time like any because most of
his victims were sex workers of some kind.
Whatever they would come forward somehow it would become his word against theirs even
if there was evidence involved and they always took his side.
Because that's because like the bias into the woman. So it's like it's so frustrating not really a so messed up so
in December 1971 was when Hanson really began his descent into madness I
would say in December 1971 he followed a female customer from the bakery
that he owned back to her fucking house. When he got there,
he like crept up on her and asked her for a date. I'd be like, what? And she was like,
dude, no. Like she's like, are you real? Like she's like, are you real?
Real right now. Like you just followed me from your fucking bakery. I'm a customer and
you just followed me home.
That's so scary.
Like that's not romantic, that's not a grand gesture,
that's stalking.
Like you need to go.
Ask me while you hand me my baguette.
Exactly.
That's romantic.
She was like, you just followed me
to my house, you big creepy weirdo.
Just hand me the carbs and then ask me.
Yeah, and then get the fuck out, man.
So in the moment, he seemed to take it fine and in stride.
But a week later, he returned to her home with a gun
and attempted to kidnap her.
What the hell?
Luckily, he was arrested in the process of this.
Jesus.
Basically, this doesn't for attempted murder.
But basically, this in-sale couldn't handle the fact
that a woman didn't want him. Like that she was like, no, I don't want to go. Well, she was this in-sale couldn't handle the fact that a woman didn't want him.
Like that she was like, no, I don't want to go.
Well, she was probably just like, why did you follow me home?
Yes, I go.
He ended up getting out on bail and tried to do the same exact thing.
Was he still married?
Yup.
Well, like, what did his wife think he was a jail for?
I have no idea.
Um, so, this one is not confirmed by him, like he hasn't admitted to this one, but
they're fairly certain that this is him who did this. On Christmas day, so only a few
days after the attempted kidnapping of the female customer after, because he got out
of bail like right away. Of course. The body of Celia Vanzantin and McEw Creek State Park was found.
Oh, no.
Her hands were tied behind her back with speaker wire,
and she had been slashed across her chest like multiple times.
Huh.
Which, to me, indicates some little bitch of a dude did it,
so that points me to Robert.
Yeah.
Like, cutting up her chest seems to be something like,
I'm mad at women.
I'm going to cut up your chest.
So I mean like Robert, I'm looking at you.
Because you're a little bitch of a dude.
Oh, I'm not looking at you.
She's all along.
Look at your face.
I'm just busted.
This was not what killed her though.
She did not die because it was just slashes.
Oh.
It had been negative five degrees below zero the previous night. So they found out that she had frozen to death while trying to escape or hiding from her
Salon. Oh my god. Which fits his ammo. Because as we're gonna find out later, let me just drop the bomb on you now.
Boom!
Robert Hanson liked to bring his victims after torturing and raping them.
For whatever amount of time he would put them on a little bush plane,
fly them into the Alaskan wilderness, let them run in the middle of the night in the Alaskan wilderness
after he had already weakened them, and then he would hunt them like fucking animals.
This is like the most dangerous game.
So this fits him out, his MO, that she had already been slashed up.
She was like tied downed and that she died from trying to hide from her silent.
She's it's Christ.
So that he denies that one, but you know he's a little
fuck so we don't believe him. The next kidnapping which they did efficiently connect him after
this was while police were asking local sex workers for any information about who could
have kidnapped and murdered Celia. An informant named Robin Patterson told police that she had
like a weird slash bad experience
with a short guy with acne scars on his face and a stutter.
No, not a lot of guys have that combination.
True.
She then said, for sure, she was kidnapped by Robert Hansen at gunpoint.
When she was kidnapped, because she said he had gotten in his car, he immediately pulled
the gun, drove her to a motel where he raped her.
After this, he put her back in the car, drove her to the Alaskan wilderness,
and told her he couldn't let her go.
What?
But Robin was smart, and she literally talked her way out of it.
Oh, hi.
One thing she said to him was she hated cops,
and she was like, look what line of work I'm in, I hate cops.
I am not going to talk to the cops.
Right. I won't.
So Robert went through her purse, she said, found her parents' address and wrote it down on a piece of paper.
Oh my God!
And then he told her he'd kill both of them and her if he found out that she went to the cops.
He said to her, he'd kill her like he did kill all the girls before her.
Oh my!
And then when he dropped her off, he said that he wished they had met under better circumstances.
I feel like, yeah, I wish that we had them at all.
Like what the fuck, dude.
So apparently, I think what she had done is she humanized herself in some way to him.
So he was like, eh, but I like that's not fun anymore.
Wow.
So cops brought him in after this.
Finally.
And they had a handwriting sample from when he signed them into the motel where he raped
her.
He used a different name like an alias but it was handwriting that they could compare
to his.
Right.
So when they got him in the interview room they asked him to empty out his wallet for
a sample to compare to.
Well what fell out was a scrap of paper with Robyn's father's name and address on it.
Oh my god.
Literally confirming what she had told them, like, boom, right there.
How did he get out of this?
One cop suddenly became worried that they needed a search warrant to look in his wallet.
This one cop was like, it might not be admissible because we didn't get a search warrant. Which I think literally this was their way of just getting him out of this.
What the hell? So they let him go. They're like he makes really good cheese date.
Literally I think they're like he's a good baker. But also he had a ton of friends like
respectable friends around town like business owners who would come in and vouch for him.
Some of them in like his wife's friends would come in and vouch for him. Some of them, in like his wife's friends, would come in and vouch for him.
And then some of them, you even would give him fake alibis.
Like they'd be like, oh, I was with him.
No, you can't do that.
Yeah.
And later, it was life and death.
Like, come on.
And later it was found that they really, they were like, yeah, we did not.
That's so much stuff.
And it's because they really believed, it's almost like the Ted Bundy thing.
You see some of those people on the Ted Bundy thing you see some of those
people on the Ted Bundy tapes that are like no I literally believe there was no way that he did
this stuff. Like an rule? Yeah and it's like so these people were like no there's no way he did that
so I'm not gonna I'm not worried about it. That's wild. Yeah. In 1972, Hanson was convicted of assault
and he was placed on a work release program
after serving only six months in prison. In 1973 a school teacher who was living
in the lower 48 who was in Alaska because her side hustle was an exotic
dancer. It's like good for you man. Everybody needs a side hustle and you know
make that money because you're not making it as a teacher.
You're not.
You're not.
You're not.
So he apparently assaulted her, and she reported it,
but he got off because the Alaska DA
wouldn't let the woman testify through a mediator,
because she didn't want to testify herself
because she was worried she was going to lose her job
if people found out that she was an exotic.
Which she would because everything sucks.
I feel like I'm starting to remember this case because I remember that story.
Like she wanted to do it through a mediator so that she could get the story out and
testify but not have to show her face that she was doing this on the side.
Right.
So the DA was like no you either do it or that's it and she was like well I'm not doing it.
My job is important.
So he got off once again. Wow. In 1976 he pleaded guilty to larceny after he was caught
stealing a chain saw from an Anchorage department store. Awesome. He was for that he was sentenced
to five years in prison and was also required to receive psychiatric treatment
because he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
What's up with like criminal stealing,
super incriminating shit?
Well, and you know what he said the chain saw was for?
He said he stole it to give to his father for Christmas.
Well, like why couldn't you just pay for it?
Like, you're gonna have money.
Well, that's the thing.
So he, and actually he so he was
Sentenced to five years, but the Alaska Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 16 months
Sixth that's barely over a year. What the hell and he was released with time served
Now during his confession to this stealing the chainsaw
He basically said that he had a thing about taking things and he just liked to see if he could get away with it.
So he was basically saying, like, I like the thrill of doing something that's bad.
And he basically said that he like, ejaculated his pants when he was able to steal something
and get away with it.
But I just threw all over the place and it's time for me to leave now.
And then, um, you, what the fuck?
Even if that did happen, dude, don't fucking submit to that shit.
Right?
There are some things that are better left unsaid.
Oh, he, that is the first one of all.
So the first victim that Robert Hansen admitted to murdering was in the summer of 1979.
She is currently unidentified.
Still.
But she is known as a clutna Annie.
Oh.
Robert admitted that he drove this woman out to a clutna lake, which is northease somewhere
northeast of Anchorage.
His truck got stuck in the snow
and he told her he was gonna get it on stuck and just bring her home. She didn't believe
them because he'd already been a big weirdo creep to her. Oh no. And she got out and ran
away into the night. He chased her, he grabbed her hair, she pulled a knife out of her purse
like a fucking badass. Oh yeah. And tried fighting him, but he got the knife away from her, knocked her down, and he stabbed her to death.
She admitted to this.
She admitted to this one.
Yeah, he admitted to this one.
A couple months later, he tried this whole thing again.
He tried it in his camper this time, now it's truck, but the woman did get away.
Police didn't believe this woman?
Even though she showed up at a house nearby naked with her hands
and feet all cut up from being tied up with guitar strings.
Oh, I'll, that hurts.
I know, doesn't that make, I'm like, yeah, guitar strings are like so in the scenario.
So she shows up naked with guitar strings tied to her arms and like, cut up.
And these women are not saying like, oh, it's some guy blah, blah, blah. They're like, it is Robert Hansen.
This is who it is.
Like I can tell you who it is.
Every single time the cops are like,
it's really just your word against his
and we're taking his word.
I feel like I'm moving the way
from a last spot.
How are all these women just like,
are they all just conspiring against the local baker?
Like that doesn't make any sense
that they would only take his word. did the police get into any trouble after this
I don't think so. I don't think a lot happened here. That's so fucked up
But in that scenario they took Robert's word again that she's crazy. I don't know what she's talking about
I can't even imagine how frustrating that would be oh my god seriously and terrifying
Yeah, it's like because you're literally watch. She's walking out of there being like nothing was done about that
Like I just ran away naked bound with guitar strings and nothing's being done about it. I know who did it
Yeah, you would literally have to move away because what else are you gonna do? Yeah, I mean that's bonkers. How do you sleep again?
so
but
So six months later
Roxanne
Islan became his second victim murder murder victim, not victim, murder victim.
She was found by Hansen actually leading police to her body when he was caught later.
I don't know a lot about that murder, there's not a lot about each of the murders, there's
really only a lot about some of them.
She was found in the Alaskan wilderness in the same area, bound all that terrible stuff.
Hanson again led police to her body later.
Why?
The third victim, the third murder victim, was Joanna Messina.
She had met Hanson on the docks somewhere and like they met and then immediately
did like went to dinner together.
Like she agreed to go to dinner with him.
She kept telling him during the dinner date
that like she was looking to make money.
She was looking to get some work.
Like she was a sex worker.
And she was basically trying to give hints for a while
that she just like wasn't really interested in just a date.
She was like, I need to get paid here.
So finally she was like, dude, I will have sex with you
for money.
Like, let me just look at her for you.
Like you're not getting it.
And he said until this point, he wasn't going to kill her, but when that happened, she was no longer quote a decent girl.
So she was killed on the canine peninsula just because of that.
Like you don't get to decide that.
Oh he's God, man.
What is wrong with people? You don't get to decide that. Oh, he's God, man. What is wrong with people?
Like, you don't get to decide who stays and who goes.
These dudes all think they're God.
And she was killed because of that
because she was like, I need money.
Listen, I'm gonna just give me money and I'll sleep with you.
Can you imagine how desperate you'd have to be to do that?
That's so awful.
And then this is how it ends.
And that's like your biggest fear to you, I'm sure,
as a sex worker.
Like every single time you have to just take your life in your hands and hope that this isn how it ends. And that's like your biggest fear to you, I'm sure, as a sex worker. Like every single time you have to just take your life
in your hands and hope that this isn't the time.
It's like it's awful.
Ugh, stresses me out.
Now, when investigators found her body,
it turned out that a black bear had already begun to eat her.
Oh, God.
That's the last thing I've got.
Oh, yeah.
That's like, I'm surprised this didn't happen
in more of these cases actually
But this bear actually came back when the investigators were there and aggressively chased them off so he could
Finns or her turn yeah, and
Black bears are endangered so they couldn't do anything about it. Oh shit
And it's like, what a sad statement
that like they're not helping these women at all.
But they're helping you.
Which I'm like, I don't want them
to cheat the blackberry.
No, I mean, he's just doing it.
He's just living his life.
But it's like, but look at how,
like where are your morals?
Where are your principles standing?
Right.
Well, this is an endangered species,
but like,
actual women are gonna be sued too.
Actually, we'll hear them in the last couple of years.
So, you know, it's scary how many people do that happen too,
and then they didn't even find the remains.
Exactly.
Like, it was just gone.
That's so scary.
Never to be found again.
And there are a few women that they haven't found
the bodies in sure.
Now, three months after Joanna Messina
was the next victim, Lisa Futrell. I don't know a lot about this murder either.
If I can find more about it, I'll talk about it next week. But basically it was a whole year
between Lisa Futrell and the next victim, which is where we are going to take our break.
That's interesting that he waited a whole year. Exactly, which I think it's because he was starting, I don't want to say he's starting
slow because these are all horrific, but he hasn't quite got his mo down yet,
by this point, and I think he's just slowly in the escalating phase, and then he's
going to go through that bonkers phase where he just goes correct.
Because what he ends up doing is he ends up killing a woman like
every six months or so. At least. At least. In the end. And we're gonna get into all
that and the rest of his victims and how he was caught in which how he was caught
is a very uh... It's a very dramatic story. So is it satisfying? Um well if anybody
has seen the movie about this case
because there is one movie about this case called The Frozen Ground. It's got like John
Q. Sack playing him. Which he looks to like him. Vanessa Hutchins plays a very important
character which we'll discuss next week. But it also has Nicholas Cage playing like the investigator.
So Frozen Ground is pretty it's it's alright it's like fine you know John Q.sack looks just like Robert Hanson so he does a
really good job with it. So yeah if anybody's seen that movie then you know how he got caught
but don't spoil for everybody else. So we'll discuss that next week and we'll shout out
our Patreons on the mini-sode this week, again just so you know you're not being forgotten.
You've wonderful, wonderful people.
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We hope you keep listening, and we hope you keep it weird!
But not so weird that you develop a stutter in certain murder girls just because you feel like you can and move to Alaska and then like make people naked with guitar strings and run away by.
I love those.
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