When Sgt. Flothe memorialized the events leading up to Robert Hansen’s arrest, he reserved a special level of detail for the day the warrant was served. After going day-by-day, the narrative now went hour-by-hour and minute-by-minute. Even the casual reader could feel the pulse of the investigation quicken. It wasn’t every day that a warrant of this magnitude was served. Everyone knew that, everyone acted accordingly: this was to be a carefully orchestrated full-court press.
10-27-83: Search warrants obtained by Sergeant Flothe served on HANSEN Bakery, residence, airplane, Subaru, pickup, Buick, camper, and his person.
10-27-83, continued:
6:30 a.m.: Trooper Bullington and Sergeant Smith surveil HANSEN’s Bakery, waiting for HANSEN to finish work prior to contacting him.
6:30 a.m.: Sergeant McCann and Sergeant Stockard enroute to locate JOHN HENNING, alibi witness Paulson case.
8:26 a.m.: HANSEN contacted by Bullington and Smith agrees to being transported to A.S.T. for interview.
8:44 a.m.: HANSEN advised of rights by Sergeant Galyan and agrees to being interviewed by Sergeant Flothe and Sergeant Galyan.
Sgt. Darel Galyan
“When Hansen got to the interview room he found it was already set up in the most elaborate fashion. Flothe led him into the room and sat him at a desk alone for a while. He wanted him to absorb everything.
On the desk were piles and piles of file folders, some with the names of hunting and fishing associates on them, another open to the page where his wife’s picture was pasted, with the legend DARLA HANSEN written across the top. Next to them were photographs of some of the victims, arranged so that they faced him when he sat down.
Tacked on the wall was a gigantic map of the Knik River area. On it was drawn a big red circle, with two X-marks penciled inside it. Sergeant Darrell Galyan had written in big red letters on the perimeter of the circle: HANSEN IDENTIFIED IN THIS AREA. […]
Sergeant Galyan, an affable but persistent cop, started the questioning. Flothe operated the tape recorder and kept tabs on what was happening with the various searches.Galyan began with seemingly innocuous topics, like Hansen’s bakery, the baking business, the fact that Hansen owned a plane and was a hunter. The whole approach seemed, on the whole, biographical. Then, a little more than five minutes into the interview, Galyan started to draw the loop of questions a bit tighter.”
Excerpt From: Walter Gilmour & Leland E. Hale. “Butcher, Baker.”
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