{"id":31101,"date":"2024-10-18T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T19:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/butcherbaker\/wordpress\/?p=31101"},"modified":"2025-08-25T07:41:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T14:41:13","slug":"robert-hansen-the-lost-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lelandhale.com\/butcherbaker\/wordpress\/2024\/10\/18\/robert-hansen-the-lost-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Hansen: The Lost Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Part One: Wandering the Midwest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One tantalizing thought has long nagged me. From the time Robert Hansen was released on parole in 1963 till the time he moved to Alaska in 1967, the man spent a lot of time “lost” in the Midwest. While second wife Darla Henricksen was with him much of that time, there were stretches when Bob was on his own. Sometimes for months at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot can happen when you give Robert Hansen four years of alone time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that’s the premise. These lost years represent an opportunity for additional murders. Hansen’s “first” murders, if you will. The ones before<\/em> Alaska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"lost\"\/
Northern Midwest, U.S. <\/strong>(courtesy Ontheworldmap)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finding Robert Hansen: 1963<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let’s start with Walker, MN: that’s where Hansen’s parents owned a lakeside resort, having sold their Pocahontas bakery to “escape” to southern Minnesota. That’s where Bob went immediately after being granted parole. It’s also where he met Darla, his soon-to-be next wife. Those months were heady ones for Bob, what with romance in the air. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wasn’t there the entire time, however. He took three weeks off to complete a course at Wilton’s Cake Decorating School<\/a> in Chicago. That would loom large when he reached Alaska: His first job in Anchorage was a Safeway cake decorator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"lost\"\/
Wilton Cake Decorating School photo, circa 1929<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What’s of particular interest to us, however, are three other cities: Minneapolis, MN; Minot, ND and Rapid City, SD. Hansen spent unsupervised time in all three cities. We know he got in trouble in at least one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opportunities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Soon after arriving at his parents resort, Bob was presented an opportunity by a “friend of the family.” Once his parole officer gave the go-ahead, Bob took a bakery job in Minot, North Dakota. He was now three hundred and sixty three miles away from his parents — and even further away from his Iowa-based parole officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wasn’t there for long. In his own words, he “worked there for a while… but it didn’t pan out too well.” Even though Darla followed him there, suddenly they were back in Iowa City — where Darla was enrolled at the University of Iowa. They got married and then took a one week honeymoon. Bob ended up back at his parent’s resort, where he soon wrangled another opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cox Bakeries<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Cox Bakery chain consisted of 32 establishments, spread throughout the Midwest. The opportunity was for Bob to work as a fill-in manager when existing managers went on vacation. That boiled down to lots of opportunity. Cox even had bakeries in Minnesota, a place that now seemed closer to home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"lost\"
Photo courtesy Minnesota Digital Library<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

His first assignment? Back to Minot, North Dakota. It’s an Air Force town on the northern plains. Sometimes it seems to have more in common with Canada than the U.S. He was there for “seven, eight weeks.” Crucially, this was Bob’s first post-prison opportunity for mischief. Did anything untoward happen? We don’t have any evidence, except that Darla apparently was not<\/em> there with him. And Darla, by Bob’s own admission, was the one person who seemed able to keep him under control. Darla could help prevent him from going “lost.” Well, at least for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, by the time of his next assignment, in Rapid City, South Dakota, Darla had joined him, working as a bookkeeper\/receptionist, having put aside her educational aspirations. That didn’t last long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lost Again<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Even while Bob was working in Minot, Darla had started to steer a new course. She enrolled at the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Shortly later, the two of them reached a decision. The year was 1964.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“I really didn’t like working for Cox too well. So, ah, we went back and decided [it was] time for [Darla] to come back and complete her college.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Hansen: Daryl Galyan & Glenn Flothe, Alaska State Trooper interview, 27 October 1983<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While Darla pursued her degree, Bob took a job at Myers Bakery in Minneapolis. Bob seemed happy there. “I respected him no end,” he told Alaska State Troopers at the time of his arrest. “Awfully nice fellow.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By his own estimate, Bob worked at Myers for “about a year and a half.” But this is Bob Hansen we’re talking about. Trouble was soon on the horizon. And Bob’s lost years caught up with him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NEXT<\/strong>: Bob In Trouble<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Purchase Butcher, Baker<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

Copyright 2024. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n

You can order my latest book, “What Happened In Craig<\/strong>,” HERE<\/strong><\/a> and HERE. <\/strong><\/a>True crime on Epicenter Press about Alaska\u2019s Worst Unsolved Mass Murder.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Craig\"<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part One: Wandering the Midwest One tantalizing thought has long nagged me. From the time Robert Hansen was released on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9,27,28,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anchorage-1970s","category-butcher-baker","category-robert-hansen","category-serial-murder","category-true-crime"],"yoast_head":"\nRobert Hansen: The Lost Years - Butcher Baker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Hansen's lost years are tantalyzing. 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