In this segment, we review the “Anniversary Meeting” that took place in September 1983, one year after the Investor homicides. It was a time that brought a host of Alaska State Troopers to Ketchikan, where they meticulously reviewed (and critiqued) their year-long investigation. More than anything, they needed a fresh start — and possibly a new direction.
Troopers increasingly felt that their killer was someone in close proximity to the boat at the time of the killings. Investigators quickly identified four boats docked near the Investor on that fateful day in September: the Decade, the Defiant, the Cindy Sue and the Libby 8. If they could determine who on those four boats had more than a casual acquaintance with the Investor crew, they might be able to identify a cold-blooded killer.
But to answer that question, they had to talk to the fishermen who’d been on those vessels and in Craig the previous season. They had to talk to them soon, before the salmon season ended. According to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, that time was fast approaching.
The idea was to cover as much territory as they possibly could in the shortest possible time. Stogsdill and Bullington took the docks in Ketchikan. Sergeant Flothe went with Sergeant Demmert in a Fish & Game boat. They worked the boats anchored in the myriad coves scattered throughout Southeast Alaska. Trooper Israelson took Petersburg. Trooper Anderson took Prince of Wales Island.
Ten days out, on the 29th of August, Trooper Anderson found the Libby 8, tied up in Craig. Stogsdill and Flothe hurried to Prince of Wales Island. The Libby 8 was done for the season and soon everyone would be headed home. Flothe and Stogsdill had some talking to do.
Stepping on board the Libby 8 was like taking a trip into the past. She was an old, wooden boat, built in the 1950s. She had weathered many a season, starting all the way back when the cannery was still owned by the Libby-Dole company. She had seen better days. And she was nothing at all like the Investor.
Excerpts from the unpublished original manuscript, “Sailor Take Warning,” by Leland E. Hale.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.
Order “What Happened In Craig,” HERE and HERE. True crime from Epicenter Press about Alaska’s Worst Unsolved Mass Murder.