Read these entries carefully. At this point in the morning, Darla Hansen was at the Anchorage Trooper post, being interviewed by Sgt. Haugsven and Trooper Von Clasen. While she was there, the troopers executed a search warrant on her Subaru. The troopers were collecting cars and hers was right where they wanted it. Convenient.
Soon, they’d have all the cars under control.
10:20 a.m.: Sergeant Wodrich executes search warrant on Subaru at Anchorage Post.
10:30 a.m. to 1:45 p.m.: DARLA HANSEN interviewed at Trooper Post by Sergeant Haugsven and Trooper Von Clasen. Investigator Maxine Farrell also present.
10:45 a.m.: Sergeant Stauber executes search warrant on HANSEN’s Chevrolet pickup truck, Alaska license 9757BN. Vehicle impounded, towed to Trooper Impound Lot, A.S.T. Headquarters, Tudor Road.
Hansen’s Chevrolet pickup truck, Old Harbor Road (copyright Leland E. Hale)
“Neither Haugsven nor Von Clasen nor Maxine Farrell much relished the interview of Darla. Even in their brief meeting with her earlier that morning, they sensed she had already suffered because of Bob Hansen. And though she was a tall, big-boned woman, what emerged in the interview was a soft-spoken woman who was gentle and somewhat shy. She was a willing talker, with nothing to reveal.
There was a certain, ineffable quality about her, as though she had always been more serious than everyone else. There was also the sense that something had finally, after all these years, been drained out of her. She looked weary, harried.
When the interview finished, Haugsven, Von Clasen and Farrell were collectively convinced that Darla Hansen knew nothing of her husband’s crimes. How eerie that seemed: To live with a man, to share his bed, to bear him children and cook his meals, to love him no matter what he did, and not know that for twelve years he had been a cold-blooded killer.They did not tell her that her husband was suspected of murder, since they were not at liberty to talk. They wondered: How will she handle the news when she finally learns the purpose of all this activity? How would anyone handle it? How many have to face the prospect of learning, after twenty years of marriage, that their life mate has committed unspeakable crimes?”
Excerpt From Butcher, Baker, Walter Gilmour & Leland E. Hale”
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