Robert Hansen a.k.a. “Butcher Baker” By: Benny Strawser Robert Hansen a.k.a. “Butcher Baker”

Background Robert Christian Hansen was born on February 15th, 1939 in Estherville, Iowa. He was a Danish immigrant and became a baker, just like his father. When he was young, he had a terrible case of acne. As he became an adult, his acne turned into ugly scarring that caused him to be shunned by society. Due to his acne and his stutter he was bullied all throughout his time in school. He began hunting to find refuge and get away from the troubles of life. In 1957, Hansen enlisted in the United States Army Reserve, just to be discharged a year later. After he was discharged, he worked as an assistant drill instructor for the police academy in Pocahontas, Iowa. While working at the police academy, he met a young women who he would later marry in the summer of 1960. On December 7th, 1960, he was arrested for burning down a Pocahontas County Board of Education school bus garage. His wife filed for divorce while he was serving his three year sentence. After he got out, he was arrested a couple more times for petty theft, before moving to Anchorage, Alaska in 1967.

Crimes Crime Date Victim(s) Punishment Arson December 7, 1960 Pocahontas County Board of Education Three years(State Penitentiary) Petty Theft 1960-1967 Multiple Victims Various amounts of jail time Assault, Kidnapping, Multiple Weapon Offenses, Theft February 18th, 1984 The girls he kidnapped and hunted in Alaska 461 Years in Prison

Evidence After creating a profile of the criminal, they narrowed the suspect down to Robert Hansen, since he fit all of the qualities of the suspected killer. On October 27th, 1983, the police searched his home, plane, and cars and found jewelry belonging to the missing women The police also found firearms hidden away in his attic. They also found an aviation map with “x” marks on it, hidden behind Hansen’s headboard. He confessed to a spree of attacks against Alaskan women that started in 1971.

Sentence He was sentenced to 461 years plus life in prison, without the possibility of parole. First imprisoned at the United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg in Lewisburg, PA. In 1988, he was moved to Lemon Creek Correctional Center in Juneau, Alaska. He was then imprisoned at Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward until May 2014 In May 2014, he was transported to the Anchorage Correctional Complex due to health complications.

Quote by Robert Hansen “Going back in my life, way back to my high school days and so forth, I was, I guess what you might call very frustrated, upset all the time.” – Robert Hansen

Cultural References Film: Television: The Frozen Ground Naked Fear(the killer is just like Hansen) Television: FBI Files episode, “Hunter’s Game” Criminal Minds, Season 5, Episode 21 (mentioned) Law & Order: SVU, season 13, episode 15(The episode was inspired by Hansen)

Social Control Theory Robert Hansen is best explained by the Social Control Theory. This theory states that people care about what others think about them. All throughout high school, people thought very little of him due to his horrible acne. This left him being very bitter and resented most people. Over time, left with scars from his acne and a bad stutter, he decided to take out his anger on innocent women. He was attached to his wife, who then left him while he was in jail. This must’ve hurt him very much, and could’ve contributed to his spur of thefts after he got out from serving time for arson. Whenever he was a suspect for the killing of the women up in Alaska, he at first was denying any involvement with the killings. However, he then began to try and blame the women for what happened to them. He was said to have almost believed whole heartedly that it was their fault. This shows that the criminal rationalizes their deviant behavior so that they can engage in criminal activity and still believe that it is wrong.