Patty Roberts had talked about a small girl they’d encountered at the Kenai Lake Lodge. Trooper Michael Radisch found her on January 11, 1972. Her name was Rebecca. She was blonde, five feet tall, 78 pounds. There was no mistaking that she was the small girl Patty had seen. The interview took place in the presence of her father and mother. By some coincidence, it was her eleventh birthday.
Rebecca: “First of all, we have lived at Kenai Lake Lodge for the last 8 months. Prior to this we lived at Star Route A on Huffman Road in Anchorage. We lived there for approximately 2 years. I am now in the 5th grade. On Sunday, the 17th of December, I was going out a side door which is next to the bar, to go to our cabin and just as I was going out a man was walking up to me and asked if we had any rooms or cabins for rent for him. I told him no we did not have any cabins, that he might try Our Point of View. The man then walked back to his car, got in his car and I think he went to Our Point of View. He drove towards the Anchorage area.
“After I went to the cabin I came back to the restaurant and my mom asked me what did that man want and I told her he just wanted a cabin and that’s all.”
Judging from Patty’s story, they never went to Our Point of View Lodge. Constructed in the 1950’s on land leased from the U.S. Forest Service, Our Point of View featured a bar, dance floor, and a view described as “outstanding.” In November 1976 it burned to the ground. The trooper, of course, was more interested in Rebecca’s encounter.
Trooper Radisch: What kind of work does your mother and daddy do?
Rebecca: My father works in construction in the bush making roads. My mother does cafeteria work. Mother and father own Bob’s Kenai Lake Lodge.
Rasdisch: Do you rent motel rooms here at Kenai Lake Lodge?
Rebecca: No. We did when the cabins were free. We don’t now.
Radisch: Do you remember anyone asking you if you had any cabins for rent a little while before Christmas?
Rebecca: Yes.
Radisch: What did he look like?
Rebecca: He was a man about 5’10” to 6′ tall. He was not wearing a hat. I don’t know if he had any glasses on or not. He was dressed in a grayish-colored suit, white shirt and tie.
Radisch: Do you remember what kind of car he had?
Rebecca: I think that it was a Plymouth vehicle, sort of bluish. It had 4 doors.
Radisch: Was there anyone in the car with him when he drove up?
Rebecca: There was a girl in the car.
Radisch: Can you tell me what this girl looked like?
Rebecca: She was real young. She had dark or black hair.
Radisch: Did you tell anyone about this man?
Rebecca: I told my mom about the man wanting a room.
There were, to be sure, some problems with Rebecca’s story.
First, there was his appearance. Patty said he was dressed warm, wore a coat or jacket, had G.I. type pants and dark, heavy boots. Rebecca put him in a suit and tie. Given that Patty spent considerably more time with the man — and that Hansen was an experienced outdoorsman — her description takes precedence. Not only was Rebecca off. She was way off.
Second, there was the car. Okay, Pontiac and Plymouth. They both start with a “P.”
But this “small girl” hit all the main points. The day. The exit from the lodge’s side entrance. The man. The young, dark-haired woman in his car. She’d managed to get a lot from such a brief encounter.
Copyright Leland E. Hale (2020). All rights reserved.
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