Jewelry. Mementoes. The small things a killer keeps. To Cindy’s mind, her jewelry was part of her indelible glamour, a sign-post to her worth. That Robert Hansen didn’t seem to want it was a perplexing anomaly. He didn’t even want her cash. This man was weird, she concluded.
But of course, there would be plenty of time to claim those things once he’d killed her. He was in no hurry to smash and grab. And now, as she talked of these things, Sgt. Flothe grasped another truth. Cindy’s “valuable” jewelry, worth “thousands” of dollars was, in fact, nothing but cheap, gaudy costume jewelry designed to deceive the eye.
Perhaps Hansen would have taken some of it anyway. They’d never know. But troopers would soon learn that Hansen went for the good stuff. For the gold.
Purchase Butcher, Baker
Cindy Paulson
FLOTHE: At any time did it seem like he had been drinking or on drugs or anything like that?
CINDY: No. Just seemed like he was kinda weird. But at first it did, you know (inaudible) and then he started doing inappropriate… And he didn’t never take no money. No jewelry. I had all the jewelry I owned on. And he didn’t take none of it.
FLOTHE: Why do you think that’s unusual? You mentioned that a couple times.
CINDY: I don’t know. It’s just very strange. You know, ‘cause I had about two or three thousand dollars worth of jewelry on. And I had about three hundred, four hundred dollars.
FLOTHE: In cash?
CINDY: Uh huh. And then the money he gave me, he didn’t take it back.
FLOTHE: Oh, he didn’t?
CINDY: No, he did not.
FLOTHE: Keep the two hundred dollars? Was that in… What denominations?
CINDY: Fifties.
FLOTHE: So it was like four fifties?
CINDY: Yep.
FLOTHE: So you actually had your shoes on? Or how did your shoes get into the car?
CINDY: OK. I was in the chair and my shoes were off and I was thinking I’m gonna break when I get outside. You know, I’m gonna take off running. You see, we didn’t go outside. So I put my shoes on and walked. My shoes were pumps, they were like… they had the front covered and the back covered… they were slip on type shoes, so I just… when I got in the car I just took ‘em off. You didn’t have to unbuckle them or nothing.
Shoes Found in One of Hansen’s Gravesites (Anchorage Times)
FLOTHE: Did he turn any music on? Was there a radio playing or anything?
CINDY: TV. And then the TV went off and there was static.
FLOTHE: The TV (went off).
CINDY: I would say it’s a colored 19-inch screen TV.
FLOTHE: Where was that?
CINDY: In the corner, right here. (points to diagram)
TV and computer in Hansen’s den (courtesy Alaska State Troopers)
FLOTHE: Oh. How did… Did he turn it on?
CINDY: Uh huh.
FLOTHE: When did he turn that on?
CINDY: I think when he laid down he turned it on. As a matter of fact, he did, ‘cause he said he was gonna go to sleep. And I could watch TV or something.
This was Cindy’s reality: Five hours chained to a post. Five hours of watching Bob Hansen sleep. Five hours of television, slowly diminishing to static and a scratchy screen gone blank. The near-human sound of dog paws scattering across the floor above her. And somewhere in the room a clock, slowly ticking away the remaining hours of her life.