After Sgt. Miller learned the Investor back story from two experienced men, who’d been there in the days and months before the murders, his instincts started to narrow in on Dean Moon. In (some) important respects, Miller’s reasoning held up.
- Dean Moon owned a firearm — though it was not the same caliber as that used in the murders. (He’d purchased a .30-30 rifle. Troopers learned that the murder weapon was a .22.)
- Dean Moon had trained to become the Investor’s skiff boat operator. Was, in fact, the Investor skiffman at the time of the murders. Whoever killed the Investor crew most certainly knew how to operate that skiff.
- Dean Moon also knew how vulnerable a purse seiner was when it was tanked down incorrectly. He’d been there, on the Kit, when it almost sank for precisely that reason. That was a memory fresh enough that someone in a panic might well be tempted to repeat it: Troopers knew beyond hesitation that their perpetrator tried to sink the Investor.
- Dean Moon was part of a crew that had marinated in bad feelings and overwork, working for a skipper who drove them hard, with little rest, and who finally rewarded them by bringing on exuberant children who were constantly underfoot. After all that — who knew what could happen?
Unsurprisingly, there was at least one person who thought Sgt. Miller was on the wrong track. Thought, in fact, that he’d gone off the rails. That person was Dean’s mother, Ruth Moon. She never thought her son a murderer, and believed Sergeant Miller was going down a blind alley when he kept pointing the finger at Dean.
Excerpts from the unpublished original manuscript, “Sailor Take Warning,” by Leland E. Hale. That manuscript, started in 1992 and based on court records from the Alaska State Archive, served as the basis for “What Happened in Craig.”
Copyright Leland E. Hale (2019). All rights reserved.
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