{"id":26270,"date":"2022-05-18T14:07:19","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T21:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/butcherbaker\/wordpress\/?p=26270"},"modified":"2022-06-09T09:56:30","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T16:56:30","slug":"four-days-before-halloween","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/butcherbaker\/wordpress\/2022\/05\/18\/four-days-before-halloween\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Days Before Halloween: Butcher, Baker Down"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Police arrested Robert Chris Hansen on October 27, 1983, only four days from Halloween. One of his bakery employees had a deep and immediate response. Here was a man, after all, who’d cultivated the image of the conscientious neighbor and boss. And now, suddenly, something had changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“My mind is puzzled by it,” said Hansen bakery employee Robin Thompson. “But I’d still work here (for Hansen). I think he’s very nice. I’d never say anything against him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Mr. Hansen is a very nice person, and he tried to help us out as best he could. This Halloween he was going to take his and my kids trick-or-treating. And he was going to have a Thanksgiving get-together and a Christmas party.”<\/p>Robin Thompson, Hansen Bakery employee<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Robin Thompson had company among the bewildered. According to a news article in the Anchorage Daily Times<\/em>, at least one of his neighbors was also struggling with the pre-Halloween activities in their suburban cul-de-sac. That neighbor, James C. Robertson, lived across the street from the Hansen’s. “He’s been a real fine neighbor as far as I’m concerned,” Robertson said. “He seemed to be real quiet and resourceful. And he worked on several of the projects for the community.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not everyone was so sanguine. “He’s got a bad temper and he’d get mad over the littlest things,” one former employee — who asked not to be named — told a Times<\/em> reporter. “He’s impatient.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bob’s Dad<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
One hint on how to unravel the apparent contradiction of a good boss, with a bad temper came from one of Bob’s former attorneys. James Gilmore had represented Bob when he assaulted real-estate secretary Susan Heppeard in 1972. Gilmore had successfully plea-bargained for reduced charges against his client.<\/p>\n\n\n\nRobert Hansen at his 1972 arrest<\/strong> (courtesy Anchorage Times)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
“Mr. Hansen, all through his growing-up period, worked closely with his father,” Gilmore said. “He comes from a family of bakers.” Gilmore added that Bob graduated from baking school in the Midwest, and had worked in his father’s bakery in Pocahontas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, Bob felt forced to work for his father’s bakery in Pocahontas. He felt exploited. Said his wages insulted his effort. Proclaimed that he felt his father’s wrath whenever he made a mistake. It was the old school of learning a trade. A devil’s apprenticeship. He’d taken on his father’s bad temper in the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Hunter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Early on, moreover, news reporters started to make the link between Hansen’s prowess as a big-game hunter and the more deadly game he now seemed to be playing. Until his arrest Oct. <\/em>27, friends told the Times<\/em>, Hansen spent as many weekends as <\/em>possible hunting. But the article made a point of using Hansen’s own words was a way of describing his pursuit of a different kind of trophy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Shooting an animal with a rifle at 300 yards is one thing, but taking a trophy with a bow is a fantastic experience,” he told a Times<\/em> sports writer in 1971. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“You have to work yourself within about 35 yards and that makes hunting more than just shooting the animal.”<\/p>Robert Hansen, 1971<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Hansen’s more recent victims, all young women, were shot by a rifle. And at distances far less than 300 yards. The hunter, it seemed, had honed his techniques for a different kind of game. And he’d tried to rig it so he never lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Copyright Leland E. Hale (2022). All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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