Serial killer Robert Hansen died Thursday, August 21, 2014, at an Anchorage hospital. He was 75. His death appears to be from natural causes. According to the Alaska Department of Corrections, Hansen’s health had been declining for the past year.
The Anchorage Dispatch News quotes retired Alaska Trooper Glenn Flothe on Hansen’s death. Fittingly, it is Flothe who gets the last word.
“On this day we should only remember his many victims and all of their families, and my heart goes out to all of them,” wrote Glenn Flothe, a retired Alaska state trooper who was instrumental in Hansen’s 1984 capture.
“As far as Hansen is concerned, this world is better without him.” Flothe wrote.
Glenn Flothe in 1982, shortly after Robert Hansen’s arrest.
The Anchorage Dispatch has additional coverage of Hansen’s transfer to the Anchorage Correctional Complex, prior to his death. According to troopers, Hansen had “Do Not Resuscitate” paperwork on file with the Department of Corrections. He got his wish.
I wish the movie had used the detective’s real name. It’s such an incredible story. Though, of course, everyone will see it as something so very, very far removed from the world they live in. That’s why I’m not convinced about your gripes with, let’s call it, “poetic liberty”. In the end, the story – even if it is partly fictionalised – is still incredibly powerful.
The real people involved deserve so much credit for what they did. But, the power of film, and especially Hollywood, to get people to engage is just as important. I just wish people would realise how close to home these things actually are.
If you, or anyone stumbling across this post (unfortunately, not enough people), want to know more about this, visit my website (www.kulclawsher.com); read my book (“1 in 3: Or How I Learner to Stop Fighting and Love the Hegemony”). Your world will never be the same again. And you will credit Glenn and everyone else involved here, including the filmmakers of “Frozen Ground”, with what is really their due.
Not a detective. No police background. I am the daughter of a retired police officer. The granddaughter of a retired police officer and a niece to three former police officers and two retired police officers. I’ve personally seen more than I ever care to remember the toll that good police work and detective work takes on those brave enough to serve in those positions. I’m not that brave. Ive never known a survivor of violent crime such as that Cindy Paulson faced. I have known survivors of violent assaults, domestic battery and sexual assult. I’ve seen some turn to drugs, one to suicide and another who unfortunately committed a violent assault themselves. The survivors who pull themselves up out of the hopelessness, fear and despair and go on to lead what society would define as a normal life are enigmas to me. All I can ever think to ask is how? But of course I would never ask that question of someone. If they choose to share Ill listen, watch the movie, read the book, checkout a blog and maybe watch or listen to an interview. Ill learn what I can from them at a distance for no other reason then educating myself should something happen to me or those I love. Or to possibly share with another survivor just starting out on their road to recovery should they ask my thoughts. Survivors already walked through hell and came back out alive. They now have a steep and treacherous journey back to whatever they determine to be an acceptable norm. One thing that survivors deserve above so many others, yet so often do not get, is peace, time to heal, time to mourn or grieve, time to just be themselves and a safe place to do all those things. I so wish the world would get out of their way but I don’t see that becoming a reality any time soon. Should a survivor read this I wish you peace, time and space. Please know and remember you are worthy! Regardless of what was, what is or what could be…you will always remain worthy simply because you are.