There are those who posit that Robert Hansen’s greatest thrill was killing young women. Was, more than that, controlling them, releasing them, hunting them. There is some truth to that but, like all truths, there is a greater truth. This one pegs Hansen with his own words. Hint: shoplifting loomed large in his life. Disproportionately large.
Perverse Universe
ROTHSCHILD: “And the thrill and excitement of having these women, he says it was just like shoplifting, getting away with something that’s wrong. What a thrill that was. [Paraprasing Hansen] The more I could get by with the better, you know. I loved to see if I could get by with it. He even said that he damn near would ejaculate in his pants if he could walk into a store and steal something and get away with it, got out the door with it. What a thrill. [He said] that he stole more stuff in this damn town than Carter has little green pills.
I damn near ejaculate in my pants if I could walk into a store and take something and get out the dang door with it and not pay for it.
Robert Hansen’s Confession
Sexual Thrills
ROTHSCHILD: “And he could do things of course to these women that he couldn’t do to decent women. He called himself — he said he was like a moth that’s drawn to a fire. Even when — at least he says had some revulsions when he did, killing these women, he tried to stay away, he couldn’t, he’d find himself driving back downtown and watch them walking around. Like some people go to McNeil River to watch the bears fish for salmon coming upstream, well, he was hanging on the streets watching the women, thinking about the next one, getting all excited. But there seems to be more.
“This hunter who kept trophies on the wall has a world record. Well, he now has trophies scattered throughout south-central Alaska. He put his little notches on the map.”
Shoplifting Beats Sex
This Robert Hansen was one messed up dude, for sure. If there’s a blessing in this, it’s that his greatest thrill was not to be had from killing women. Or at least that’s what he said. After talking about shoplifting a softball for his Minneapolis team baseball team, where he got caught by the female store detective, Hansen moved on to an unusual comparison.
“Well, there was [this] feeling when things were going right [with the dancers], there was a great sexual surge,” Hansen admitted. “[But] not the same feeling, no, as when I was going in stealing something out of a store.”
Copyright Leland E. Hale (2021). All rights reserved.
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