As the trooper investigation moved forward, much would depend on the timing of two critical events. The first of these was the timing of the mayday calls Casino skipper Bruce Anderson made to the Coast Guard on the day of the fire. The second was the timing of the phone call John Peel made from Craig that same evening, proof of which came courtesy of the Alscom phone records obtained by the State Troopers. These were the crucial hours and minutes.
At 4:20 p.m. on Tuesday, September 5, 1982, Ketchikan dispatch relayed a call from the Coast Guard, telling Trooper Bob Anderson that a boat was on fire outside Craig, seven miles from his office in Klawock. The first recorded call on the Coast Guard transcript, however, was made at 4:34 p.m.
An examination of the Alscom telephone records showed John Peel’s phone call home was from the Hill Bar at 4:59 p.m. — twenty-five minutes later.
To make John Peel a plausible killer, in those scant twenty-five minutes he would have to: torch the Investor, take the skiff toward Craig, speak briefly with the Casino crew, land at the cold storage dock, have a hurried conversation with Sue Domenowske, make his way to Craig — which by police estimates took at least ten minutes — and then meet with Dawn Holmstrom at the lone bank in town before finally making the phone call from the Hill Bar. That seemed like too much to ask, even of a superhuman.
But was the 4:34 p.m. call the first mayday call? An examination of the Coast Guard log revealed that the 4:34 p.m. call was made from Ben’s Cove — not from the Craig cold storage dock where Bruce Anderson called in his first mayday. According to the Coast Guard transcript, 4:34 p.m. was the time when the “Casino rpts the Investor engulfed in flames. Can see no one on board or in water.“
That language was consistent only with a report from the fire scene. And Casino skipper Bruce Anderson would testify before a grand jury that he had seen the Investor fire and broadcast at least two maydays before 4:34 p.m. Was the 4:20 p.m. time from Ketchikan dispatch more accurate? That alone added fourteen minutes to the time between the first fire report and John Peel’s phone call home. That made it thirty-nine minutes, almost forty.
So what was it? Thirty-nine minutes or twenty-five? Both times were worth fighting over.
Excerpts from the unpublished original manuscript, “Sailor Take Warning,” by Leland E. Hale.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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