Sgt. Glenn Flothe’s nightmare scenario was Robert Hansen in a helicopter, ready to take it down as part of some ultimate death wish. The alternate view, held by Maj. Walter Gilmore, was that Hansen was a “chicken killer.” That is, he killed other people because he was too scared to kill himself. That Robert Hansen would not be taking any helicopter down.
The question was: when troopers took Hansen up to the Knik to identify burial sites, which Robert Hansen would show up? Sgt. Flothe was loathe to take any chances. He didn’t want the nightmare scenario to come true. He fervently wanted a nightmare free zone.
Troopers Review Hansen’s Flight Map (l-r, Lt. John Lucking, Maj. Walter Gilmore, Trooper VonClasen)
Lieutenant Jent told Sgt. Flothe that it was perfectly all right for them to take the State Trooper helicopter up to the Knik River to look for burial sites, and when Flothe passed along the information to Krumm and Rothschild, they decided to take Hansen up to the Knik the following day, a Friday. In the meantime they would make arrangements for Bob to see Darla Hansen, so the two of them could straighten out some of their domestic business.
Flothe barely slept a wink that night. In his mind, Flothe imagined Hansen going for the control stick of the chopper and then saw them wheeling toward the ground as the pilot vainly tried to regain control. Hansen was laughing the laugh of the howling dead.
The trooper sergeant was convinced that taking Bob Hansen up to the Knik River in the State Trooper’s Bell helicopter was a suicide mission. If they could get a bigger chopper, something like a Huey, he’d feel better, but there was no way the colonel was going to approve that. It would run something like five grand a day, and they’d already spent enough money on this case.
The next morning, however, when Flothe screwed up his courage to ask the colonel to rent a larger chopper, Kolovosky shrugged. “Of course,” he said.
“That way,” Flothe went on, “I could put a guy on either side of him, so he doesn’t pull any funny business.”
“Of course,” Kolovosky repeated.
“And I can sit up front with the maps, with a bulkhead between Hansen and the pilot…”
“Of course,” Kolovosky said. “Anything you need, Glenn, anything you need. Oh, and by the way, congratulations.” Then Kolovosky reached for a case at the front of his desk. “Have a cigar.”
Excerpt From: Walter Gilmour & Leland E. Hale. “Butcher, Baker.”
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