Metro.Co.UK’s Hot Take
There’s something about UK writers that almost inevitably provides a fresh take on American stories. It seems natural, of course, but their slight remove means there’s a chance things will take on a new sense of clarity. My first such experience was with the Arrow Media (UK) take on Butcher, Baker. Thorough. Well written. Not in the least bit smarmy. Such is also the case with Kirsten Robertson’s story for Metro.Co.UK on the Craig, Alaska, murders — which I covered in my book, What Happened In Craig.
NOTE: Click the URL above the FB story or open in a new window to avoid FB’s link-blocks. They’re insidious.
This is, admittedly, a difficult topic to navigate. I should know. It took me years to write, and then publish, the full account of these murders. It helped, of course, that the prosecutor in the case submitted the full investigative and court record to the Alaska State Archives in Juneau. There was a time when it felt like I lived there. That happened a long time ago, but the memories of winter days in Juneau still linger. As do memories of my first visit to Craig.
One can sense in Craig the claustrophobia of (mostly) young men, stuck there with nothing to do but fish, fight and drink alcohol.
Leland E. Hale
It’s the magic of imagination — and good writing — that Robertson can capture those feelings without ever having visited that remote archipelago. What happened in Craig manages to mystify once more. And, no doubt, new leads on the mystery will start to trickle in. Not that I’m holding my breath, mind you.
False leads have always outrun the truth.
What Really Happened?
I wish I could say “I know what happened” without reservation. If there was one thing the killer(s) achieved, it was the massive destruction of evidence. That hurt is doubled when one remembers that the science of DNA evidence was still on the horizon when the murders occurred. And then one recognizes that the Investor was itself lost in the waters off Craig as it was towed toward Ketchikan in the days after the fire. Bad juju all around.
We take it for granted that the evidentiary trail is there, only to be discovered by forensic scientists.
Leland E. Hale
In that sense, What Happened in Craig was the “perfect crime,” though there is also evidence that the killer fled the scene in sheer panic. Remember: it’s likely that the killer both tried to sink the Investor and, failing that, returned to torch the vessel. Both acts were attempts to destroy evidence that pointed back at the perpetrator.
A cooler minded killer would hardly have bothered with either action. Would instead leave the bodies where they were, on the docks of Craig, as warning to anyone who would cross them. And what kind of person kills women and children?
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You can order my latest book, “What Happened In Craig,” HERE and HERE. True crime on Epicenter Press about Alaska’s Worst Unsolved Mass Murder.
