Did You Sell Pot?

After talking to the Coulthursts, Sergeant Stogsdill now wanted to interview John Peel. He had a boatload of questions for him — including that new allegation of a pot transaction involving the Investor crew. Together with Sergeant Roy Holland, he made his way to Peel’s place of employment — a Bellingham firm that built portable floats for marinas. Peel agreed to talk to them, at first suggesting they meet at the Cocoanut Grove, so he could have a beer while they were talking. Stogsdill vetoed that idea.

“Meet me at the police station,” he suggested.

John Peel showed up at the Bellingham Police Station after work, wearing a halibut jacket and baseball cap. Stogsdill led him to an interview room that just happened to be equipped with a two-way mirror. Not only were they going to interview him, they were going to get additional photos.

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John Peel, Bellingham Police Station (courtesy Alaska State Archive)

As the interview progressed, Stogsdill asked Peel about Sally Coulthurst’s allegation that he’d sold pot to two of the Investor crewmembers. Yes, Peel admitted, he’d given some pot to Dean Moon. From there, the questions and answers started to rattle off like a drum beat.

Asked how he got to Craig that summer, Peel told them he’d ridden up on a boat called the Cleveland. When he got to Ketchikan, he said, he saw Mark Coulthurst and asked him for a ride to Craig. Mark turned him down. Told him he wasn’t going to Craig. So, Peel told them, he pawned his watch and took the ferry to Hollis. When he got to Craig, one of the first things he saw was the Investor, tied up at North Cove.

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Hollis Ferry terminal, Prince of Wales Island, AK

The troopers also asked John Peel about the Investor fire. Peel said he had gone out on the Cindy Sue [1] while the Investor was burning. “How big was the fire when you got there?” Stogsdill asked him.

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Investor fire (courtesy Alaska State Archive)

“All the bulwarks were burned back,” Peel replied, referring to the raised area that extended around the deck of the boat. But Stogsdill knew better. He’d spent hours in the post-fire debrisment of the Investor. The bulwarks hadn’t burned at all.

“What else did you do that day?” Stogsdill asked.

“Called my parents,” Peel told them. That was something they could easily check, using records for the two pay phones in Craig [2]. The troopers already had them.

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Search warrant information for Craig pay telephone records, covering the days immediately before & after the Investor fire (photo courtesy Brian Keown)

[1] The Cindy Sue was owned by Larry Demmert, Sr., the father of Larry Demmert, Jr. , who skippered John Peel’s boat, the Libby 8. At the time of the fire, it was moored next to the Libby 8 and behind the Investor’s most recent berth. The Demmert’s, rather than fish one more opening, had collectively decided to call it a season.

[2] No cell phones in 1982, just marine VHS radios operating on standard, international frequencies. The two pay phones in Craig were the only reliable outside lines.


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.


Craig

Order “What Happened In Craig,” HERE and HERE. True crime from Epicenter Press about Alaska’s Worst Unsolved Mass Murder.

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