Paula Goulding: The Secret Rendezvous

“Dancing nude did not come easily to Paula Goulding. For the first week she only danced topless. She was a beautiful woman, however, and the woman who managed the club was patient with her. Then she finally got up the nerve to dance bottomless.

“She knew that the girls who did made more money than the girls who didn’t. Ironically, that was the night she made a date for a secret rendezvous with a mystery man, a date she should have refused.

“Goulding met the man at the Bush Company, where he offered her $200 to meet him for lunch. His only stipulation was that she come in a cab. On Sunday the 24th, Goulding called a cab and departed her home.”

Excerpt From: Walter Gilmour & Leland E. Hale. “Butcher, Baker”

Secret Rendezvous: Paula Goulding
Paula Goulding (Alaska State Troopers)


From Robert Hansen’s Confession

[Transcript lightly edited for clarity]
LH: Do you remember where the two of you [planned to] rendezvous at?
RH: Not exactly. No. Downtown most likely some place.
LH: Do you remember how she arrived there? She was supposed to come a certain way.
GF: How would you get them there so you wouldn’t be seen making the connection?
RH: That’s one thing that I thought I was always pretty careful about… And ah, I was going to meet them out in front of the Safeway there at the Northway Mall and one time down by the Post Office Mall downtown… I always made sure I was there, oh, at least half an hour, forty-five minutes ahead. I just stood there and waited you know, not where I thought they could see me, you know. And if someone pulled up with them and stayed, I just turned and took off.

GF = Glenn Flothe; RH = Robert Hansen; LH = Lyle Haugsven


By the time Paula Goulding met up with Bob Hansen for their “lunch date,” she was desperate and confused. Her overwhelming emotion was to leave the topless dance business behind. Hansen, ever in search of a “romantic” relationship — where the woman liked him for himself — offered to let Paula stay at his house until she figured things out. His wife and kids were out of town, so the opportunity was there.

But Paula was wary. Running scared. Before she knew it, she was handcuffed and in Robert Hansen’s airplane. This was not the secret rendezvous she had in mind.


Purchase Butcher, Baker

2 thoughts on “Paula Goulding: The Secret Rendezvous”

  1. I met Paula in Kailua Kona Hawaii, years before she went to Alaska. In a way, I feel responsible for her going to Alaska. When I first met Paula she was a quiet girl who lived in the apartment above mine with her husband. He wasn’t a nice guy. I could hear him yelling at her so when we met on the stairs one day, I told her she did not have to put up with his abuse. I gave her refuge and her husband soon left the island. Paula needed a job, so I talked to my boss at the restaurant where I worked, and he agreed to hire her on a trial basis, as a hostess. She tried, but lacked organized skills to do the work efficiently, but about the time my boss was going to fire her, she met a rich guy who took her in. She moved her clothes out and I did not see her for a few months and when she finally came into the restaurant bar I was tending, she was giggly and seemed wired! She stood facing me, lifted up her blouse and yelled, “What do you think?” I was surprised to see these two rather large bare boobs bouncing at me! “Wow!” I replied. Evidently the guy she’d been staying with bought her some big boobs. That was the last time I saw Paula! I had no idea she’d left the island until the FBI paid me a visit to inquire if I had any idea who killed Paula? They asked me because I once was a topless dancer in Alaska and had told Paula about Alaska and how she could make money there to get a new start. I’m not sure how they made our connection, perhaps Paula had told one of her associates about me. Anyway, I do feel a partial responsibility for Paula going to Alaska, but our destinies belong to us alone! RIP DEAR FRIEND!

  2. I am awestruck by the clarity of your memories and the power of your narrative. In these few, precious words, Paula comes alive again. Thanks so much for sharing. Let me repeat after you… RIP Paula!

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