Tag Archives: Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier

Klutuk: A Hunter of Humans

July 31, 2024EpisodeAlaska History, Alaska Myths, Alaska Podcast, Alaska True Crime, Klutuk, Murder and Mystery in Alaska, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder Podcast, Mystery Podcast, Robin Barefield, Western Alaskamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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Klutuk is Alaska’s version of the boogeyman – a terrifying character you tell stories about around the campfire. He is a man shrouded in mystery and myth. What was his actual name? Was he tall or short? How many men did he kill? Did he possess mystical powers? How did he die? One hundred years after he terrorized western Alaska, it is impossible to separate truth from fiction.

Sources

Dihle, Bjorn. “Klutuk, the mad trapper of Bristol Bay.” June 6, 2020. Outdoorlife.com.

Heaton, John. “Klutuk: ‘The Man from the Mountain.’” 2015. Guilford, CT. TwoDot.

Hunt, William R. Chapter 18: “Native Legends.” 1987. Norman, OK. University of Oklahoma Press.

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Robin Barefield is the author of five Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, The Fisherman’s Daughter, Karluk Bones, and Massacre at Bear Creek Lodge. She has also written two non-fiction books: Kodiak Island Wildlife and Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier. Sign up to subscribe to her free monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.

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If you would like to support Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier? Become a patron and join The Last Frontier Club.
Each month Robin will provide one or more of the following to club members.
· An extra episode of Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier available only for club members.
Behind-the-scenes glimpses of life and wildlife in the Kodiak wilderness.
· Breaking news about ongoing murder cases and new crimes in Alaska

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FTA: What Happened to the Fandel Children?

July 17, 2024EpisodeAlaska Podcast, Amy Fandel, Child Abduction, Fandel Children, Missing Children, Missing Children In Alaska, Missing Podcast, Murder and Mystery in Alaska, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder Podcast, Robin Barefield, Scott Fandel, Sex Slavery, Sterling Alaska, True Crime, True Crime in Alaskamurder-in-the-last-frontier

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Most parents can imagine no nightmare worse than the disappearance of a child, but how can a parent possibly cope when both of their children vanish, swallowed by the Alaska wilderness?

Sometime during the late-night hours of Sept. 5 or the early morning hours of Sept. 6, 1978, Scott Fandel, 13, and Amy Fandel, 8, disappeared from their Sterling, Alaska home on the Kenai Peninsula, 136 miles (218.9 km) south of Anchorage. The mystery of what happened to the Fandel children has baffled Alaska State Troopers for over four decades. How can two kids vanish from their home without a trace?

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A Deadly Cruise

July 3, 2024EpisodeAlaska Cruise, Alaska Podcast, Cruises, Manzanares, Murder and Mystery in Alaska, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder on a cruise ship, Murder Podcast, Robin Barefieldmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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If you want to murder someone, consider inviting them on a cruise. With little law enforcement oversight and a fear of negative publicity, cruise ship officials often prefer to look the other way and ignore unpleasantness on one of their vessels. Cruise ship officers have even been accused of covering up murder scenes or pretending missing passengers never existed.

Cruise ships play an essential role in the tourism industry in Alaska. Cruise ships boost the economy of a handful of port towns in the state, and overland excursion packages tied to the cruise lines provide money to many interior regions of Alaska. While cruise ships are not the best way to visit the state’s wild, remote regions, they offer a comfortable, easy way to get a feel for the 49^th state. Many people think cruise ships provide a much safer way to travel, but do they?

When Kenneth and Kristy Manzanares decided to celebrate their eighteenth wedding anniversary with a family cruise to Alaska, they probably looked forward to a relaxing week with their daughters and other family members. Instead, the trip ended in a bloody murder, and by the time the ordeal was over, their daughters had lost both of their parents.

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IF YOU ENJOY LISTENING TO YOUR NOVELS, CHECK OUT THE AUDIOBOOK VERSION OF

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FTA: Double Murder at a U.S. Coast Guard Base

June 19, 2024EpisodeAlaska Podcast, Alaska True Crime, Kodiak Island, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder Podcast, Robin Barefield, True Crime, True Crime Podcast, U.S. Coast Guardmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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The double homicide I describe in this episode occurred on a secure Coast Guard base near the town of Kodiak, Alaska, on Kodiak Island, approximately 60 miles from where I live. This murder happened toward the end of the most brutal winter anyone on Kodiak can remember, and when the police did not quickly apprehend the killer, tempers flared, and citizens carried firearms wherever they went. Our mail plane pilot, reporting the news to us on his weekly stop, compared the residents in town to a powder keg ready to blow. When it was all over, many in law enforcement and the judicial system praised the investigation, but at the time, it seemed as if no one was doing anything to look for and apprehend the killer.

Sources:

Associated Press. “Man arrested in 2012 Alaska Coast Guard base deaths.” November 21, 2015. KOMO News.

Grove, Casey. “Wells convicted, again, of Kodiak Coast Guard double murder.” Alaska Public Media.

Joling, Dan. “Car expert testifies in CG trial.” April 10, 2014. Ketchikan Daily News.

Saint Louis, Julie. “Ninth Circuit orders new trial for man accused of Coast Guard killings.” December 9, 2017. Courthouse News.

Silverman, Adam. “FBI: Coast Guard murder suspect resented co-workers.” February 19, 2013. USA Today.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, no. 14-30146. United States of America v. James Michael Wells. January 11, 2018

“Wives of murdered tower techs sue the Coast Guard for wrongful death.” August 16, 2016.

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IF YOU ENJOY LISTENING TO YOUR NOVELS, CHECK OUT THE AUDIOBOOK VERSION OF

MASSACRE AT BEAR CREEK LODGE

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Join me on June 21st for a Book Blanket Beach Summer Solstice Party!! I will be hosting from 4:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. ADT (8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time). I plan to give away prizes, so don’t miss it!

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FTA: The Chulitna Charmer

April 24, 2024EpisodeAlaska True Crime, Chulitna Alaska, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder in Alaska, Murder Podcast, Mystery Podcast, Paul Stavenjord, Robin Barefield, True Crime Podcastmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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People move to the Alaska wilderness either because they enjoy solitude and crave a subsistence lifestyle or because they wish to escape society. People who fall into this second category are either misfits who don’t know how or don’t want to blend in with others, or they are criminals, seeking to escape arrest and hoping to disappear into the vast wilderness. Many of my episodes have dealt with individuals who ran to Alaska from a life of crime elsewhere. They might have hoped to turn their lives around but instead, most brought their problems and psychopathic tendencies with them.

Until Memorial Day weekend in 1997, Paul Stavenjord seemed to have succeeded at escaping his criminal past, but then something in him snapped, leaving two people dead and forever altering the course of Stavenjord’s life.

Sources:

Brennan, Tom, 2003. Murder at 40 Below. Chapter 7: “The bank robber next door.” 2001. Kenmore, WA: Epicenter Press.

Court of Appeals of Alaska, no. A-7418. Stavenjord v. State. March 28, 2003.

Ice Cold Killers. Season 1, Episode 3: “Mountain man.”

Menerey, Amy. “Convicted murderer’s appeal denied.” April 8, 2003. Mat Su Valley Frontiersman.

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IF YOU ENJOY LISTENING TO YOUR NOVELS, CHECK OUT THE AUDIOBOOK VERSION OF

MASSACRE AT BEAR CREEK LODGE

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The Mystery of the First Broken Arrow

December 20, 2023UncategorizedAlaska Podcast, Broken Arrow, Fat Man Atomic Bomb, Mark IV Atomic Bomb, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Mystery Podcast, Robin Barefieldmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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The U.S. military defines a “Broken Arrow” as an “unexpected event involving nuclear weapons that result in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft, or loss of the weapon.” The first Broken Arrow event occurred in 1950 during a mission from Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska. Questions still surround this event and the mystery of what happened to the B-36 aircraft and the Mark IV atomic bomb it carried.

Map Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada

Sources

Adams, Sharon. “The lost nuke of British Columbia.” January 26, 2022. Legion.

Clearwater, John M. “The first one to get away.” November/December 2004. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Liefer, Gregory P. Chapter 12: “Broken Arrow.” 2011. Anchorage, AK. Publication Consultants.

Roos, Dave. “’Broken Arrow’: When the first U.S. atomic bomb went missing.” January 13, 2020. History.

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Karluk Bones Audiobook Narrated by Beth Chaplin

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The Cost of Survival

September 27, 2023EpisodeAleutian Islands, Boat Wreck, James Allen, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Robin Barefield, Whalingmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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What would you do to survive? Most of us believe there are some things we would never do, even if they could save our lives. However, until we find ourselves in a life-and-death situation, we can never know how far we might go for self-preservation. The marooned survivors from the James Allen did not hesitate to do what they felt was necessary to prolong their lives.

Sources:

De Armond, R.N. “The wreck of the James Allen.” December 1945. AlaskaWeb.Org. https://alaskaweb.org/jasallenwreck.html.

Stein, Gary C. “Their Feast of Death: The wreck of the whaler James Allen.” 2018. Coriolis, Vol. 7, Number 2.

Sullivan, Toby. “Wreck of the whaler James Allen.” June 8, 2022. Kodiak Daily Mirror.

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Karluk Bones Audiobook Narrated by Beth Chaplin

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From the Archives: Serial Killer Roberth Hans

September 13, 2023EpisodeAlaska Serial Killer, Alaska True Crime, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder in Alaska, Robert Hansen, Robin Barefield, Serial Killer, True Crimemurder-in-the-last-frontier

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Robert Hansen is Alaska’s most notorious serial killer. Several television shows have portrayed Hansen’s life; numerous books have detailed his horrific deeds; and a 2013 movie, The Frozen Ground, starring John Cusack as Hansen and Nicholas Cage as an Alaska State Trooper, chronicles Hansen’s crimes and dramatizes the police investigation and apprehension of Hansen.

I hesitate to repeat this story, but if my goal for this series is to recount some of the worst crimes in the history of Alaska, I would be remiss not to include those of Robert Hansen. This story is also important for two other reasons. First, it showcases the time during the construction and early operation of the trans-Alaska pipeline when thousands of people flocked to the state for jobs, and crime soared. Second, this case represents the beginning of the change in the criminal justice system in Alaska when investigative techniques, evidence processing, and in particular, dealing with sexual assault crimes and victims moved out of the dark ages and into the present.

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Karluk Bones Audiobook Narrated by Beth Chaplin

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Christian Klengenberg –Explorer, Trader, Whaler – Murderer?

August 30, 2023EpisodeChristian Klengenberg, Herschel Island, Murder, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Murder in Alaska, Robin Barefield, Serial Killer, Whalingmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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Christian Klengenberg greatly impacted Inuit settlements in the Arctic from Nome to central Canada. Many of his descendants are community leaders and active in Canadian politics. However, not all stories about Christian Klengenberg are good. He returned from one fateful voyage with only five of his nine crew members on board, and according to the remaining crewmen, Klengenberg murdered the four who were missing.

Sources

Harper, Kenn. “Christian Klengenberg, an Arctic enigma.” February 26, 2009. Nunatsiaq News. https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/Christian_Klengenberg_an_Arctic_enigma/

Harper, Kenn. “Christian Klengenberg: The rest of the story.” March 12, 2009. Nunatsiaq News. https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/Christian_Klengenberg_The_rest_of_the_story/

Hunt, William R. Distant Justice. Chapter 12: “Tough Characters.” 1987. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

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Karluk Bones Audiobook Narrated by Beth Chaplin

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Join the Murder and Mystery in the First Frontier Facebook Group!

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If you would like to support Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier? Become a patron and join The Last Frontier Club.
Each month Robin will provide one or more of the following to club members.
· An extra episode of Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier available only for club members.
· Behind the scenes glimpses of life and wildlife in the Kodiak wilderness.
· Breaking news about ongoing murder cases and new crimes in Alaska

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Merchandise! Visit the Store

From the Archives: Who Murdered Sophie Sergie?

August 16, 2023EpisodeFamilial DNA Database, Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, Robin Barefield, Sophie Sergie, Steven Downs, University of Alaska Fairbanksmurder-in-the-last-frontier

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In the early morning hours of Monday, April 26, 1993, someone brutally raped, stabbed and shot Sophie Sergie in a college dorm on the University of Alaska campus in Fairbanks. Several hours later, a janitor discovered Sophie’s body stuffed in a bathtub in a second-floor bathroom in the dorm. No one saw or heard anything. Sophie’s case soon went cold and remained cold for the next 18 years. Would her murder ever be solved?

Sources:

Alaska Department of Public Safety, State Troopers: Alaska Bureau of Investigation. “Cold Case Investigation Unit.” n.d. https://dps.alaska.
gov/ast/abi/cold case

Associated Press. “AST cold-case unit faces elimination.” April 10, 2015. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Bohman, Amanda. “New theory revives old murder case.” April 25, 2009. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Farneski, Anna. “Sergie was target of opportunity.” May 8, 1993. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Farneski, Anna. “While troopers hunt Sophie’s killer, family tries to cope.” July 8, 1993. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Nolan, Caitlin. “Genealogy DNA leads to arrest in 1993 murder of Alaska student found dead in dorm bathtub.” February 18, 2019. Inside Edition.
https://www.insideedition.com/genealogy-dna-leads-arrest-1993-murder-alaska-student-found-dead-dorm-bathtub-50844

Williams, Tess. “Jury finds Maine man guilty in Fairbanks cold-case murder.” February 10, 2022. Anchorage Daily News.

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Karluk Bones Audiobook Narrated by Beth Chaplin

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If you would like to support Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier? Become a patron and join The Last Frontier Club.
Each month Robin will provide one or more of the following to club members.
· An extra episode of Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier available only for club members.
· Behind the scenes glimpses of life and wildlife in the Kodiak wilderness.
· Breaking news about ongoing murder cases and new crimes in Alaska

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