Robert Hansen (Butcher Baker) By: Mikayla Robertson

Background  He was born in on February 15, 1939 in Estherville, Iowa.  Throughout his childhood he was described as quiet and a loner.  He had a dysfunctional relationship with his dad.  He was bullied in school for his acne and severe stutter.  He was in the United States Army Reserve, and served one year after being discharged.  He married his first wife in the summer of 1960.

Background  On December 7 th of 1960, he was arrested for burning down the Pocahontas County Board of Education school bus garage for which he served twenty months of a three year sentence.  His first wife filed for divorce while he was in jail.  He was in jail several times for petty theft.  In 1967, he moved to Anchorage, Alaska with his second wife.  He was a well known hunter and had broken several state records.

What was his crime?  He raped and assaulted over 30 Alaskan women.  The crimes took place as early as 1971, but most of them happened between the years Who were the victims? Why did he commit the crimes? Nobody knows why he committed the crimes that he did.

How did he get caught?  Authorities got a break when Hansen kidnapped an underage stripper. He first took her to the basement of his home. There he hung her by the arms from a meat hook he had hammered into his ceiling. Horrified, the girl screamed until he rammed a sock into her mouth. He then took a nap. A few hours later, he put her in his pick up driving out to Merrill Field. As he was rotating off the runway during take off, the girl managed to get loose leaping from the plane.  She ran crying to the nearest police car telling her story. The Anchorage police brought Hansen in for questioning, but he had two friends willing to swear he had been with them all evening. Frustrated and believing Hansen to be their man, detectives went to a local judge for a search warrant with only a psychological profile in hand.  On Oct. 27, 1983, now granted a search warrant, Anchorage police searched Hansen's home. There in a hidden spot in his attic were found a.223 caliber Mini-14 rifle, a Remington 552 rifle, a Thompson 7mm single shot pistol, ID cards for several of the missing women as well as jewelry from the women he had kept as trophies, including a custom made fish necklace from victim Andrea Altiery, and there was an aviation map with 26 locations marked with an "X," turning out to be grave sites for the victims. 

What disorder does he have?  Robert Hansen was diagnosed as being bi-polar.  Bi-polar: is a mental illness that causes people to have severe high and low moods. People who have this illness switch from feeling overly happy and joyful to feeling very sad and vice versa.

What sentence did he get?  Hansen was officially charged with four murders. Through a plea bargain, he led authorities to the bodies of 11 of the victims.  On Feb. 27, 1984, Hansen was sentenced to 461 years, plus life, which he serving out in the Spring Creek Correctional Center at Seward.

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