The Bethel School Shooting

December 3, 2021EpisodeBethel Alaska, Bethel Schol Shooting, Evan Ramsey, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Robin Barefield, School Shooting, True Crime, True Crime in Alaskamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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Before Santa Fe, before Marjory Stoneman Douglas, before Sandy Hook, and even before Columbine, there was Bethel Regional High School in Bethel, Alaska. On February 19, 1997, Evan Ramsey loaded a Mossberg 500 12-gauge shotgun, hid the gun in his pants, and rode the school bus to the Bethel Regional High School, where he attended classes. What happened next would tear apart the small town of Bethel, Alaska, and as with all the school shootings to follow, students and parents would be left asking, “Why?”

Sources:

Evan E. Ramsey. Murderpedia. https://murderpedia.org/male.R/r/ramsey-evan.htm

10-10-2007. Four Wounded in Cleveland School Shooting Rampage. Anderson Cooper 360. CNN. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0710/10/acd.01.html

McBride, Rhonda. 2-22-2017. Twenty years after the Bethel School shooting. Alaska PublicMedia.

https://www.alaskapublic.org/2017/02/22/20-years-after-the-bethel-school-shooting/

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The Kidnapping and Murder of Amy Sue Patrick

November 10, 2021EpisodeAlaska State Troopers, Alaska True Crime Podcast, Amy Sue Patrick, Kyung Yoon, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder in Alaska, Robin Barefield, True Crime in Alaska, True Crime Podcast, Wasilla Alaskamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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We can never know another person’s thoughts and motivations. Most killers have a reason to commit murder; whether for revenge, jealously, or money, they understand why they killed their victim. Kyung Yoon, though, said he did not know why he killed Amy Sue Patrick. He claimed he murdered her on the spur of the moment, but some evidence suggests Yoon premeditated the crime. Events in this case took a bizarre twist when the troopers arrested Yoon and hauled him to prison.

Sources

Mathiesen, Peter B. 2015. The Story of Amy Sue Patrick. Tales of the Alaska State Troopers. Skyhorse Publishing. New York, NY.

Doto, Pamela. 9-27-1991. House sitter, 18, disappears. Anchorage Daily News.

Wohlforth, Charles. 10-7-1991. Wasilla woman apparent murder victim. Anchorage Daily News.

10-8-1991. Suspect apparently took his life after confessing. Anchorage Daily News.

10-8-1991. Man held in murder falls sick in jail, dies. Sitka Sentinel.

Enge, Marilee. 10-9-1991. Troopers say Yoon took arsenic. Anchorage Daily News.

10-9-1991. Arsenic Found after murder suspect dies. Sitka Sentinel.

10-12 -1991. Toxicologist tells how arsenic works. Anchorage Daily News.

10-14-1991. FBI probes death of suspect in Anchorage. Sitka Sentinel.

Enge, Marilee. 10-16-1991. Yoon’s letters ask forgiveness. Anchorage Daily News.

10-16-1991. Troopers defend way murder case handled. Sitka Sentinel.

Randall, Gail. 10-19-1991. Troopers call in dogs to search for body. Anchorage Daily News.

10-20-1991. German Dogs to search Alaskan landfill for body. The Seattle Times. Available at: https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive?date=19911020&slug=1311977

Doto, Pamela. 10-26-1991. Search for body on again. Anchorage Daily News.

Doto, Pamela. 10-27-1991. Teen’s Body Found. Anchorage Daily News.

11-15-1991. Murder suspect’s rights not violated, FBI says. Sitka Sentinel.

Randall, Gail. 11-20-1991. Crime lab can’t tell if teen was molested. Anchorage Daily News.

Randall, Gail. 12-4-1991. Yoon killed himself, inquest finds. Anchorage Daily News.

Randall, Gail. 3-22-1992. Why did Kyung Yoon confess? Anchorage Daily News.

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The Murder of Judy Burgin

October 20, 2021UncategorizedAlaska True Crime, Carl Brown, Judy Burgin, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder in Alaska, Robin Barefield, Skip Palenikmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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August 28, 1993 was a beautiful autumn day for a bicycle ride along the Parks Highway to Grey’s Creek at mile 81.5 on the highway. The burnished leaves of fireweed painted the hillsides a deep red, and a carpet of golden leaves covered the ground. In the distance, Mt. Denali stood watch over the region, wearing a coat of white from the first snows of the season.

When the cyclists noticed a swath of material peeking through a pile of leaves, they stopped to investigate. What they found, sent them scurrying back to the highway to flag down a truck and ask the occupants to call the Alaska State Troopers.

Sources:

Brown v. State. 11/03/2004. Alaska Court of Appeals. https://casetext.com/case/brown-v-state-5235

Brown v. State 4/4/2001. Find A Case. http://ak.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.20010404_0000093.AK.htm/qx

Grice, Gordon. 9-27-2002. Crime Seen. Popular Science. https://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2002-09/crime-seen/

Psycho for Love: Carl Brown killed girlfriend Judy Burgin when she tried to leave him. 3-31-2015. Bonnie’s Blog of Crime. https://bonnie421.rssing.com/browser.php?indx=30133146&item=155

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Gone Without a Trace

September 30, 2021EpisodeBen Eielson, Clarence Rhode, Ian Mackintosh, Lost Planes, Lost Planes in Alaska, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Noel Wien, Robin Barefield, Russ Merrillmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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Airplanes first disappeared in Alaska as soon as they glided over the mountains, glaciers, oceans, tundra, and forests here. The rugged ocean and landscape of Alaska offer an abundance of places for a plane to vanish. Over the years, many planes have gone missing in Alaska, but not all the outcomes were bad, especially in the early years of aviation in the territory. Often, days or even weeks after a plane disappeared in a remote region and the pilot was assumed dead, he would wander out of the brush and into a village.

Sources:

Mondor, Colleen. 2012. The Map of My Dead Pilots. Lyons Press. Gilford, CT.

Coppock, Mike. Flying on the Edge: Alaska’s Legendary Bush Pilots. History.net. https://www.historynet.com/flying-on-the-edge-alaskas-legendary-bush-pilots.htm

Wien, Noel. Pioneer/Entrepreneur. Aviation Hall of Fame. https://www.nationalaviation.org/our-enshrinees/wien-noel/

A WWII Survival story from the Charley River. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/yuch/learn/historyculture/leon-crane-survival-story.htm

Davis Joy. 9-4-1979. Rhode plane wreckage in Alaska found by hikers after 21 years. Fish and Wildlife Service. Department of the Interior. https://www.fws.gov/news/Historic/NewsReleases/1979/19790904a.pdf

Ian Mackintosh

MacLeod, Calum. 2013. Did spy writer’s disappearance mirror his fiction? https://www.whatson-north.co.uk/whats-on/books/did-spy-writers-disappearance-mirror-his-fiction-112358/

Folsom, Robert G. 2012. The Life and Mysterious Death of Ian Mackintosh. Potomac Books

Eric Johnson 9-20-04. AKfatal.net. https://www.akfatal.net/Johnson%2009-20-04.htm

Search for missing aircraft continues in Katmai National Park. Katmai. National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/news/katmai-missing-plane-3.htm

Mondor, Colleen. 7-8-2015. Aircraft missing in Alaska Bush remain among state’s

unsolved mysteries. Anchorage Daily News. https://www.adn.com/bush-pilot/article/missing-aircraft-alaska/2015/07/08/

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Deadly Passion

September 9, 2021UncategorizedAlaska Murder, Hank Dawson, Jim Wheeler, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Robin Barefield, True Crime, Wasillamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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What would you do for love? What if someone stands between you and your heart’s desire, and the person in the middle is your true love’s estranged spouse? What if the woman you love and her spouse try to rekindle the flames of their damaged marriage, and you must think of them together? Would you accept defeat and quietly walk away, or would you take a more proactive approach? Jim Wheeler decided the best path to his true love’s heart was to blow up her husband’s truck with her husband in it.

Sources:

Neighbor jailed in bombing of guardsman. 11/10/1993. Anchorage Daily News.https://adn.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F78EA61D7B5E22?search_terms

Love may be bomb motive friends say suspect had crush on wife of slain man. 11/11/1993. Anchorage Daily News.https://adn.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F78EA16B5AAD13A?search_terms

Indicted for murder grand jury cites alleged love-sick bomber. 11/20/1993. Anchorage Daily News. https://adn.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F78EA41ED13BA65?search_terms

2^nd man arrested in truck bombing Troopers say suspect held in Washington faces murder charge for Wasilla blast. 3/4/1994. Anchorage Daily News. https://adn.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F78EC96B3F4A800?search_terms

Police followed trail left by blind poodle. 3/9/1994. Seattle Times. https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19940309&slug=1899341

Murder suspect fights extradition. 4/5/1994. Anchorage Daily News.https://adn.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F78ECBE385D18DD?search_terms

Affair fact or fantasy figures large as bomb victim’s widow sues accused man, their relationship takes center stage. 5/5/1994. https://adn.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F78EB491CFEF77D?search_terms

Bomb suspect pleads not guilty to murder. 6/25/1994. Anchorage Daily News. https://adn.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F78EB81C856C7E9?search_terms

Neighbor Convicted of Wasilla Bomb Murder. 10/21/1994 Daily Sitka Sentinel. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/13043179/

Bomb case bound for federal court – 5 charges filed in slaying. 12/19/1996. Anchorage Daily News. https://adn.newsbank.com/doc/news/0F7933BEEA0ABAC4?search_terms

United States v. Geiger. 8/31/2001. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. https://casetext.com/case/us-v-geiger-4

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The Murder of Shelley Connolly

August 16, 2021EpisodeCold Crime in Alaska, DNA, Donald McQuade, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Parabon Labs, Robin Barefield, Shelley Connolly, True Crime in Alaskamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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As soon as detectives saw her body, they knew someone had violently abused and murdered her. Forty-one years later, investigators believe they finally know who killed Shelley Connolly.

Sources:

DNA links Oregon man to 1978 cold case murder of Shelley Connolly https://www.ktva.com/story/40997206/troopers-arrest-man-accused-of-1978-cold-case-murder-of-shelley-connolly

Oregon man arrested, charged with teen’s murder in 41-year-old Anchorage cold case https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2019/09/03/oregon-man-arrested-for-teens-murder-in-41-year-old-anchorage-cold-case/

Details about Gresham suspect emerge from 1978 Alaska cold case https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2019/09/details-about-gresham-suspect-emerge-from-1978-alaska-cold-case.html

Alaska’s DNA detectives make an arrest 41 years after teen’s murder https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Alaskas-DNA-detectives-make-an-arrest-41-years-after-a-teens-murder–559314791.html

Bail reduced for suspect in 1978 cold case murder of Shelley Connolly https://www.ktva.com/story/41969168/bail-reduced-for-suspect-in-1978-cold-case-murder-of-shelley-connolly

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The Brutal Killings at Cache Creek

July 27, 2021EpisodeAlaska Gold Rush, Cache Creek, Gold, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Robin Barefield, Talkeetna, True Crime in Alaskamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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Money often leads to greed and sometimes even to murder, so we should not be surprised to learn about a miner killing other miners for their gold, the rawest form of currency. This story sounds believable from our jaded twenty-first-century perspective. In 1939, though, to the miners in Cache Creek country, the residents of Talkeetna, and people in Anchorage, the murders at Cache Creek represented the worst type of betrayal of the code of trust and respect followed by the independent men and women who labored in the mud to eke out a living and extract a valuable mineral from the earth. When the FBI did not quickly apprehend the killer, miners began to lock their cabins and fear their neighbors.

Sources:

I based this story almost entirely on the book The Mystery of the Cache Creek Murders by Roberta Sheldon, published in 2001. I have only outlined the basics of the murders in this newsletter, so if you want more details, not only about the murders but also about the life of a gold miner in Alaska in the 1930s and 40s, I recommend Ms. Sheldon’s book. She presents the context of these murders against the backdrop of the years leading up to WWII, and she gives the reader a glimpse of how the FBI operated in those years and the near lack of law enforcement in the wilderness of Alaska.

Sheldon, Roberta, 2001. The Mystery of the Cache Creek Murders. Publication Consultants.

Alaska’s “Gold Rush” Years 1832 – 1913. History of Mining in Alaska. http://www.alaskaminers.org/mining-history-in-ak

Dunham, Mike, 2012. Fire destroys historic Forks Roadhouse in Susitna Valley. Anchorage Daily News.https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/article/fire-destroys-historic-forks-roadhouse-susitna-valley/2012/04/05/

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Finding the Murderer of Jessica Baggen

July 13, 2021EpisodeCold Cases, Familial DNA Profiling, Jessica Baggen, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder in Alaska, Parabon, Robin Barefield, Sitka Alaska, True Crime in Alaskamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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When a small Alaska town loses one of its children, the entire community grieves, and when a monster brutally rapes, murders, and discards that child, the residents cry out for answers and justice. In the case of Jessica Baggen, the folks in the community of Sitka, Alaska, would not have those answers for twenty-four years.

Sources

Boots, Michelle T. 8-11-2020. Suspect in 1996 cold-case murder of Sitka girl killed himself last week in Arkansas, troopers say. Anchorage Daily News. Available at https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/crime-courts/2020/08/11/troopers-announce-theyve-identified-killer-in-1996-sitka-cold-case-murder-of-teenage-girl-arkansas-suspect-kills-himself/#:~:text=When%20cold%20case%20investigators%20traveled,the%20Alaska%20State%20Troopers%20Tuesday.

Boots, Michelle T. 9-9-2020. 23 years ago, Alaska tried the wrong man for the murder of a Sitka teenager. Now police say they’ve found the real killer. Why wasn’t he a suspect all along? Available at https://www.ktoo.org/2020/09/09/23-years-ago-the-state-of-alaska-tried-the-wrong-man-for-the-murder-of-a-sitka-teenager-now-police-say-theyve-found-the-real-killer-why-wasnt-he-a-suspect-all-along/

1996 Cold Case Solved: Jessica Baggen Killer Identified Through DNA. Public Information Office. Alaska Department of Public Safety. Available at https://dps.alaska.gov/AST/PIO/PressReleases/1996-Cold-Case-Solved-Jessica-Baggen-Killer-Ident

Genetic genealogy can help solve cold cases. It can also accuse the wrong person. 11-7-2019. PBS News Hour. Available at https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/genetic-genealogy-can-help-solve-cold-cases-it-can-also-accuse-the-wrong-person

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Miranda Barbour, Serial Killer or Pathological Liar?

June 28, 2021EpisodeCraig's List Killing, Elytte Barbour, Miranda Barbour, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder in Alaska, Robin Barefield, True Crime, True Crime in Alaskamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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In December 2013, after police arrested Miranda Barbour, 19, for the murder of Troy LaFerrara in Pennsylvania, Miranda told a news reporter she had murdered between 22 and 100 people. She said she killed a few in North Carolina, Texas, and California, but she claimed most of the murders occurred in her home state of Alaska. Her statement startled law enforcement officials across the country, but they soon began to question her declarations. Was her claim of serial murders real, a cry for attention, or was she attempting to lay the foundation for an insanity defense? After the brutal killing of LaFerrara, though, few investigators doubted Miranda could have killed before, and most believed if she hadn’t been stopped, she would have killed again. What should we think, then? Is Miranda Barbour a serial murderer, a pathological liar, or both?

Sources:

BBC Miranda Barbour, Serial Killer or Liar https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6w80lb

Miranda Barbour. Murderpedia https://murderpedia.org/female.B/b/barbour-miranda.htm

Wenner, David.2-21-2014. North Carolina town copes with connection to couple accused of Craigslist killing. Penn Live Patriot News https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2014/02/miranda_barbour_craigslist_sat.html

Lysiak, Matthew. 4-28-14. Exclusive: Craigslist Killer Miranda Barbour Tells How and Why She Killed. Newsweek Magazine. https://www.newsweek.com/2014/05/09/exclusive-craigslist-killer-miranda-barbour-tells-how-and-why-she-killed-248670.html

Scarcella, Francis. 12-7-2013. Pal: Newlyweds Sat, Watched Investigators Comb Murder Scene. The Daily Item. https://www.dailyitem.com/news/pal-newlyweds-sat-watched-investigators-comb-murder-scene/article_751c6fcb-9a43-5be0-a64e-2090305ef9e0.html

Burke, Jill.3-16-2014/ Accused Craigslist killer Miranda Barbour had traumatic start to life. Anchorage Daily News. https://www.adn.com/crime-justice/article/accused-craigslist-killer-miranda-barbour-had-traumatic-start-life/2014/03/17/

Associated Press. 9-18-2014. ‘Craigslist Killers’ Miranda and Elytte Barbour Sentenced to Life in Prison. People.com https://people.com/crime/craigslisit-killers-miranda-and-elytte-barbour-sentenced-to-life-in-prison/

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The Wreck of the SS Princess Sophia – The Unknown Titanic of the West Coast

June 14, 2021EpisodeAlaska, Alaska Gold Rush, Canadian Shipwrecks, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Princess Sophia, Robin Barefield, Shipwrecks in Alaskamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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The deadliest marine disaster on the west coast of North America occurred in Lynn Canal on October 24, 1918, but few people have ever heard of it. Approximately 345 people died when the SS Princess Sophia slid off Vanderbilt Reef and sank. Did the captain’s recklessness cause the disaster, and did his poor decision-making doom the passengers and crew of the Princess Sophia?

Sources:

SS Princess Sophia Expedition. Available at: http://www.princesssophia.org/history

Sullivan, Toby. 12/12/2018. The Sinking of the Princess Sophia. Kodiak Daily Mirror

Princess Sophia. Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Princess_Sophia

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Subscribe to my free, monthly Murder and Mystery Newsletter for more stories about true crime and mystery from Alaska.
Join me on:
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Visit my website at http://robinbarefield.com
Check out my books at Author Masterminds

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Robin Barefield is the author of four Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fisherman’s Daughter, and Karluk Bones. Sign up to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.