Despite his new revelations, Larry Demmert, Jr. hadn’t exactly presented authorities with the smoking gun.
He had told them, for instance, that there was a five gallon jerry jug [1] on board the Libby 8. The troopers knew that the killer had carried gas in a similar jug when he torched the Investor. But Demmert said the Libby 8’s jerry jug was on board when they unloaded her — and that it was still full. Demmert also confirmed Brian Polinkus’ assertion that there was a .22 rifle on the Libby 8. But, Demmert told them, he always kept that gun locked up in his stateroom.
As the day went on, the troopers learned more: They confirmed that John Glenn Charles was fishing on the weekend of the Investor murders. He had returned to Craig on Tuesday, when the fire was already in full bloom. He was no arsonist and probably no killer. The only gun he’d used was on himself, when he committed suicide in Craig’s North Cove.
They talked briefly with John Peel’s erstwhile Craig girlfriend. Yes, she admitted, they had dated that summer. But she broke up with him when she found out he was married. She wasn’t absolutely certain when they’d broken up, however, and couldn’t remember if she’d been with him on the weekend of the murders. She seemed to recall, though, that they had broken up earlier in the summer — and that she had not been with him since.
And they talked to Larry Demmert’s girlfriend. Dawn Holmstrom had insisted she was on the way to the bank with this woman — and John Peel — when she first saw the Investor fire. But the woman told troopers she wasn’t sure they’d seen John Peel that day. Maybe, she suggested, they had seen Brian Polinkus instead.
By the time troopers finished in Craig, two of John Peel’s alibis looked a little shaky. In reality, though, it was one person’s word against another. Larry Demmert against John Peel. Larry Demmert’s girlfriend against Dawn Holmstrom. Sgt. Chuck Miller’s trenchant assessment of their witnesses remained relevant.
“They started out okay,” Miller declared, “but then they just got totally flaky.”
[1] A jerrycan (or jerry jug) is a container made from pressed steel, most often used to hold petroleum products. It was designed in Germany in the 1930s for military use. The name refers to its German origins, “Jerry” being slang for Germans.
Excerpts from the unpublished original manuscript, “Sailor Take Warning,” by Leland E. Hale.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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