Mind of a Monster: Ep. 6
Episode 6 of Mind of a Monster: The Butcher Baker, takes us behind the scenes to a dramatic confrontation just as it’s breaking before us. The scene is an office tower in downtown Anchorage, one that housed the hundreds of civil servants working for the Anchorage District Attorney’s office. The occasion is the second day of Robert C. Hansen’s confession. The date: Thursday, February 23, 1984.
On the previous day Robert Hansen was to tell authorities about each and every one of the murders. The goal was to relay that information back to the families of the missing women. But something had gone wrong. D.A. Vic Krumm knew it. The cops knew it. Assistant D.A. Frank Rothschild knew it. Robert Hansen was circling around the four women who’d already been found, and refusing — with the exception of an inadvertent mistake — to go any further.
Breaking Bad
Day Two started at 9:06 a.m. Hansen continued with his narrative, not budging from his evasions of the previous day. They took a brief recess at 11:00 a.m, still no deeper into Hansen’s predations — though they were learning the minute details of Hansen’s M.O., including his crude attempts at disguises. By 12:41 p.m., they were at their lunch break, one that included salads with bleu cheese dressing. Anchorage District Attorney Victor Krumm had heard enough.
After lunch, Krumm let Hansen know that they were finished with his dissembling. Reminded Bob of his agreement to give “a full statement and your fullest cooperation.” Reminded him that he was not convinced Hansen had done that.
We have reason to believe, good reason to believe that — we know at this point — that in the past you’ve lied to your own attorneys about what’s been going on. I know that they spent enough time trying to figure out a way to get you out, because they trusted what you said. And you’ve been lying to them and I think this has been opening their eyes as much as anybody’s in the last couple of days. You told us a number of things yesterday, here in this very room, that we know are not totally accurate and we don’t believe you’ve been totally candid.
Anchorage D.A. Victor Krumm, Feb. 23, 1984
Sticking to His Story
What Krumm knew was that Hansen was sticking to the two survivors he knew would testify against him. Sticking to the four victims they’d already found (the fifth, as noted, was a slip-up on his part). That’s when the D.A. pulled the rip-cord. We have your flight charts, Bob, Krumm told him. “Your flight charts have the 21 little asterisks on it,” Krumm continued, “[to] include the five places where we found bodies that you’ve talked about, leading us to conclude that there may well be 21 girls out there.”
There was one further point that Krumm was absolutely clear about. If Hansen told them where the bodies (plural) were, “we will not charge you with any of those crimes.” He was, as it turned out, breaking Hansen in plain sight. Or, at least, trying to.
“Okay,” Hansen responded. “There’s one, uh, I understand wha… what you’re saying, sir. But there’s one more thing that you just mentioned there that I want to talk to these gentlemen about here, uh, now.”
“That’s fine,” Hansen attorney Joe Evans responded. “That’s fine. Let’s go across the way here.”
Yelling Shouting Screaming
Evans, Hansen co-counsel Fred Dewey and Hansen himself scuttled off to a nearby conference room. It became clear almost immediately that things were, in fact, breaking.
Assistant D.A. Frank Rothschild: “For at least ten minutes, anyone on the whole floor could hear [Hansen] screaming, at the top of his lungs, at his lawyers. He was pissed, because we’d called him. And he wasn’t getting away with what he was trying to get away with. He wanted to beat the man. And the man was not having any of it.”
Defense Atty. Joe Evans: “I’m yelling at him. I’m saying, ‘What the fuck’s going on?’ I have no idea… what you have told me [is] that you were involved in four now five murders. Are you telling me now that there are more than four or five? And I remember him saying, ‘Yes.’ And I said, ‘well, I think we’re finished here,’ meaning, you’ve confessed to four or five, we’re done for the day, it’s time to leave. We need to take a break, we can come back later.’ And he said to me very emphatically, ‘I don’t want to do that. I want to take care of all of this today. I want to finish all of this today.'”
Back on the Record
They were back on the record at 2:24 p.m. And Hansen did just that. Or more accurately, got as close to the truth as he could. Shown his flight chart, he said he recognized it.
“How many women, sir,” Vic Krumm asked, “how many women, sir, have you killed in Alaska?”
They never could agree on that number. Authorities knew there were at least seventeen dead at Hansen’s hands. Hansen wasn’t disputing it. The D.A. thought there were at least 21. But there were more marks on the chart. In fact, his flight chart had 24 asterisks. Not just favorite hunting spots, but bodies. Gravesites. His grisly obsession, marked for all to see.
Copyright Leland E. Hale (2024). All rights reserved.
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