When the remains of women began appearing in remote areas around Anchorage, Alaska, in 1980, authorities wasted little time organizing a task force to deal with the sudden emergence of what was likely a serial killer. Still, it would take over three years for them to capture the slayer, bakery owner and avid outdoorsman Robert Hansen.
Hansen came to Anchorage after marrying in 1967 and moving to the state from his hometown of Pocohantes, Idaho. He appeared to have left his ineffectual past behind, including a childhood marked by unconquerable shyness brought on by stuttering and acne problems, until he was arrested for two sexual assaults in 1972. After serving a few months in jail, Hansen embarked on a career of homocide, picking his victims from Anchorage's ranks of prostitutes and exotic dancers.
It was on June 13, 1983, when it all came crashing down for Hansen. An abducted prostitute escaped his clutches while being led to her assailants airplane (Hansen is quite possibly the only serial killer to transport living victims by air) and ran, a pair of handcuffs still attached to one wrist. Authorities were alerted and Hansen was immediately picked up as the prime suspect in the rash of murdered and missing women. It was not long before he broke and confessed to seventeen murders. Most of these victims had not yet been found so Hansen dutifully pointed out the locations of various dump sites over the next few months.
His method was nothing if not inventive. After luring his future victims to his plane and flying them out to a remote cabin, raped them, and would often strip them and allow them to set out into the wild on foot. Hansen would then pursue his frightened prey until he hunted the woman down and dispatched of her with a hunting knife or a high-powered rifle. Strangely he claimed he had let several women go free when convinced his abductee would not report the sexual assault to police.
Hansen pled guilty to four homocides, with charges dismissed in the other thirteen cases, and was sentenced to 461 years in prison.