Trooper Anderson: Chickens With Their Heads Cut Off

“What Happened in Craig” On September 8, 1982 — the day after the Investor fire — troopers were understandably uncertain about the identities of the bodies they’d found onboard the vessel. The remains were in Ketchikan, being examined by the coroner; the results weren’t in. In the meantime, Trooper Bob Anderson was taking steps to bring more clarity to the situation.

On the ground in Craig, he was pursuing every lead he could find concerning the fate of the Coulthursts. They’d heard from the Coulthurst family that, when the fire broke out, at least some of them were on their way back to Washington State. They’d found four bodies; they knew that eight were onboard that vessel. What happened to the other four?

Anderson
Bob Anderson, AST Retired (courtesy Fireweed Lodge, Klawock, Alaska, 2017)


While Lieutenant McCoy had made his way to Hollis, Trooper Anderson made his way to the Craig police department. After providing a description of the suspect, Anderson enlisted the help of Craig’s police chief in the ongoing canvass of Craig. Their first stop was the cold storage dock, where they began inquiries as to the possible whereabouts of the Coulthursts. As the day wound on, they made their way slowly toward downtown Craig and the cannery. As new leads developed, they pursued them. As possible witnesses were identified, they tried to locate them.

Anderson
Craig, Alaska (copyright Leland E. Hale)

Eventually, Trooper Anderson was sent down to the Libby No. 8 to find John Peel. Maybe he knew something about the Investor crew. He’d worked for Mark Coulthurst in the past. More than anything, the troopers had to find people who actually knew the Investor’s crew. They had to find out where they’d been and what they’d been doing before they were murdered. So far, they had been drawing blanks.

Anderson and the Craig police chief headed to the cannery dock, where the Libby 8 was moored. A so-called “cannery boat” — it was owned by the cannery and leased to a skipper for the fishing season — the Libby 8 was being cleaned and readied for winter storage. The only person around seemed to be Larry Demmert, Jr., an Alaska Native who was the seine boat’s skipper. On questioning by Trooper Anderson, Demmert allowed that Peel crewed on his boat — but little else. The trooper wanted to know where John Peel was. “I haven’t seen John in a couple of days,” Demmert told him, his manner cold and uncommunicative.

Anderson
Libby No. 8 (photographed in Ketchikan, 1994; copyright Leland E. Hale)

The Craig police chief had known Larry Demmert since they were kids. Their families had feuded off and on for years and, the chief thought, maybe that had something to do with Demmert’s lackluster response. But he sensed there was more to it than that; he sensed the skipper was being less than cooperative. “Mr. Demmert knows more than he’s saying,” he whispered to Anderson. “I know Larry Demmert.”

As they left the Libby 8 and the cannery dock, the two of them ran into another Libby 8 crewmember. Dawn Holmstrom told them she knew some of the victims on the Investor. She was shook up and shocked, her anguish palpable. But she was having trouble communicating. She was, it seemed, too overcome with grief. And after speaking to her, there was little the two cops could do except head for the Hill Bar. Again, there was no sign of John Peel.

And still they trudged on. Craig was so small, they figured to talk to everyone in town in a matter of days. Every corner they rounded brought with it the potential of a new witness. Every establishment they entered held the promise that someone had seen something worth investigating. Every stop they made brought another rumor, another innuendo.

Anderson, however, was beginning to get the feeling that they were “running around like chickens with their heads cut off.” Although he was in no position to second-guess his commander, Anderson felt the investigation was becoming less and less methodical. The time, meanwhile, had edged toward four o’clock. Time for the reinforcements to arrive.

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 (2018). 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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