Hi there, it's Greg. We had podcast, want to thank all of you for your continuing support throughout the year podcast could not be what it is today without you. We also wanted to give you a heads up that we're taking a break for the holidays and we won't be back until after the new year. But since the season is all about giving, we do have something special lined up for the next two weeks. So be sure to tune in.

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Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, rape and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. Early in the morning of June 13th, 1983, a truck driver began his route driving through West Anchorage, Alaska. But just as the fog started to clear from his sleepyhead, he swore he saw something dark behind a car in a parking lot.

He rubbed his eyes, unsure of what he'd just witnessed. He couldn't think of any creatures that size and color.

If he didn't know any better, he'd say it wasn't an animal at all, but a human and a barefoot human at that. He chuckled at the thought, why would a barefoot person be running around at 5:00 in the morning?

The driver slammed on his brakes. A young woman had run in front of his truck waving her arms when he reached a complete stop.

The girl, probably no more than 17, rushed to the passenger door and scrambled into the cab.

She ordered the man to drive and fast. She said she was being chased by a crazed man and he was going to kill her.

The driver stepped on the gas. He tried his best to console the young woman and told her that he could drive her to the police station.

But she gave him no response. Instead, she sat in the passenger seat shaking in terror, repeating one phrase over and over again. He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me. He's going to kill me. Hi, I'm Greg Paulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original fun podcast. Every episode we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today, we're taking a look at Robert Hanssen, the troubled, secretive man otherwise known as the butcher baker of Alaska.

I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone.

You can find episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from podcast for free on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Last time we discussed Roberts young adulthood, examining his crimes of arson, theft and attempted kidnapping, as well as his early sexual assaults.

Today, we'll explore Robert's graduation into rape and murder. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us.

32 year old Robert Hanssen opened his front door to the surprise of his life. It was two days after Christmas 1971, and two Anchorage police officers stood on his stoop with a warrant. They arrested him for the kidnapping and assault of the 18 year old we've been referring to as Laura. They also informed Robert that he was a suspect in the murder of another young woman who will refer to as Melody in the eyes of the court. This was Robert's second and possibly third offense.

He'd attempted to kidnap 18 year old Susie Harper the month before and was at large on his own recognizance when these new incidents occurred. Because of these charges, he was arraigned and held on 50000 dollars bail.

One week later, on January 7th, 1972, Robert based Laura and a preliminary hearing. She recounted the events of December 19th, the night that Robert kidnapped, raped and threatened to murder her. Laura's testimony was incredibly detailed. She was an unflappable witness for the prosecution.

Unfortunately, she was the only witness for the prosecution. The defense, however, supplied the court with three character witnesses who were more than willing to speak on Robert's behalf. Two of Robert's hunting friends, as well as the minister of his church, testified that he wouldn't hurt a fly and that they believe Laura must be misidentifying her attacker in lieu of a trial.

Lawyers negotiated a plea deal to combine Laura and Susie's cases against Robert.

Robert agreed to plead guilty to the Susie Hebert incident in exchange for the expulsion of Laura's charges. Laura agreed to drop her suit because both attorneys convinced her that due to the he said she said nature of her case, she would likely lose to Robert. In a trial on March 22nd, 1972, 33 year old Robert was sentenced to five years in prison for the kidnapping and assault of Susie Sheppard. Based on Robert's character witnesses, his long standing marriage and his successful employment record, the judge made it clear that Robert would be eligible for parole as soon as a psychiatrist gave him the all clear.

Robert was more than thrilled.

He'd fooled his doctors before, and he knew he could do it again. For three months, he acted as a model prisoner. Then he was transferred to a halfway house on work release.

And by November of 1972, Robert had successfully convinced a psychiatrist that he was not a danger to himself or others.

He was recommended for parole and released from the halfway house, free to resume life as normal for the next seven months, Robert made sure he was on his best behavior, fostering stronger relationships within his community and with his family. By June of 1973, his wife, Darla, who'd always stood by his side, felt comfortable enough to leave him alone while she and their daughter took a trip to her parents.

Almost as soon as Robert was on his own, young women began disappearing.

But even if sex workers dutifully reported their friends missing, it's unlikely that the Anchorage Police Department took their worries seriously.

The stigma associated with sex work was so strong that some officers had a difficult time finding sympathy for these women and rarely believed their claims. They engaged in a process called victim blaming, which some psychologists say is a normalized reaction to crime.

Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show.

Thanks, Greg. Victim blaming or questioning what a victim could have done differently to prevent a crime is often promoted by something called the Just World Hypothesis. According to psychologist Sherry Hanby, the just world hypothesis centers around the idea that people deserve what happens to them. We believe that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people because it's easier to think that the universe is fair instead of chaotic. These police officers saw sex work as a dangerous profession and insisted that jobs like that came with consequences.

And so they assigned responsibility for the crime to the victim instead of the perpetrator because they wanted to believe that the world was just unfortunately, bad. Things happen to good people all the time. And although no one had control over how the universe treated these women, they certainly deserved better from their local law enforcement.

After testing the waters while his wife was away, Robert continued attacking women. Throughout the next couple of years, many of his victims from the mid 1970s likely remain unknown because women were. Hesitant to report their friends disappearances to the Anchorage P.D., the women Robert raped and let live also neglected to report their assaults, mostly because he terrified them into silence.

One of these women was a dancer who will call Emily.

She was approached by Robert in October of 1975 while working at the Kit Kat Club, 36 year old Robert held out a wad of cash and asked Emily if she'd be interested in having some fun. Emily agreed, and the two met up after her shift as soon as Emily got into Robert's car.

He became aggressive. He grabbed her hair, jerked her head back and stuck a gun in her face. This was something he did with all of his victims to immediately take control.

Robert raped Emily before letting her go somewhere in Chugach State Park, about 13 miles from the city of Anchorage. Emily made her way to a rape crisis center where she detailed her attack.

Despite their help, Emily refused to go to the police and filed charges, evidently based on what her friends from the club had told her, she believed that the authorities wouldn't offer a stripper any help.

The crisis center, however, reported the incident to the police, and they informed Roberts parole officer of what happened when Robert was confronted about the incident. He claimed that he mistakenly thought it was a date. He said they went out and had sex and then Emily demanded payment. When he refused, she claimed he'd raped her.

Roberts parole officer didn't believe him, but because Emily wasn't pressing any charges, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't even contact her as she left town immediately after visiting the crisis center. Emily was traumatized by the attack and couldn't bear to stay within Robert Hansen's vicinity any longer.

In addition to raping and murdering women, Robert also resumed petty theft. Stealing was a simpler crime than kidnapping, but because it was so easy, Robert often didn't plan when he was going to do it. And on November 3rd, 1976, his sloppiness cost him his freedom.

That day, 37 year old Robert was arrested for stealing a chainsaw from a local department store. One week later, a grand jury indicted him for felony larceny, while the theft could have been classified as a misdemeanor.

The district attorney chose a heavier charge due to Robert's previous convictions on April 5th, 1977.

Robert was sentenced to five years in prison.

His attorney immediately filed an appeal, claiming that although this was technically Robert's third felony charge, he was far from being a habitual criminal in his previous offenses were a thing of the past.

Robert was now an upstanding citizen and model prisoner. Apparently, this was enough to sway the Alaska Supreme Court.

On August 31st, 1978, 39 year old Robert was released from prison. He'd only served 16 months of his five year sentence before he was allowed to return home on parole. Once again, Darlow welcomed her husband with open arms, assuming the duties of a good Christian wife.

But Robert was rarely at home. He was released just in time for hunting season, so he and his friend John Summerell spent most of that autumn roaming along the river tracking foxes, coyotes and wolves in order to take his hunting to the next level.

Robert made friends at a local airfield and began flying small planes around the area. He and John would hover above the Karnik River, getting the lay of the land and shooting at animals from the sky. Robert felt incredibly powerful up in the air, like everything beneath him was under his control just the way he liked it after he targeted animals in the forest.

Robert returned to Anchorage as a red light district to zero in on women. But he no longer sat in his car and gawked like he used to. Now he preferred to go into the clubs and see his potential victims up close.

On October 14th, 1979, while sitting alone at a club called Ember's, Roberts saw a topless dancer who piqued his interest. He flashed the young woman a wad of cash, then asked if she'd like to meet after her shift to have some fun. The woman who will call Betsy considered saying no, but Robert seemed nice. He was soft spoken and wore glasses. Betsy figured she could even take him in a fight if she needed to. She agreed to the date.

Robert immediately started planning his attack. Coming up, Robert drives Betsi deep into the wilderness. Hi, listeners, it's Vanessa.

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Now back to the story on October 14th, 1979, a topless dancer, Betsy, agreed to meet with 40 year old Robert Hanssen. After her shift, he invited her into a gold camper attached to his car and immediately became aggressive. He forced her to strip naked, then bound her arms and legs together.

Betsy, however, screamed the entire time, worried someone was going to hear her cries. Robert got into his car and drove them out to the wilderness. While on the road, Betsy managed to untie herself and tried to flank the attention of passing vehicles. She screamed and banged on the windows of the camper for help.

Robert pulled over on the side of the highway to try and set her straight. But as soon as he got out of the car to come around to the camper, Betsy locked the doors on him.

Then she crawled from the camper to the car and frantically tried to hotwire it so that she could drive off. Robert grew so frustrated that he smashed the driver's side window with his hand, at which point Betsy escaped out the passenger side door.

Naked and bruised, Betsy fled to the nearest house. Robert considered chasing her down, but decided against it. She'd already proven to be too much trouble.

Betsy reported the assault to the police, but she was unable to give any details about her attacker. And because she hadn't identified anyone in particular, the authorities quickly gave up on her case.

Later that fall, Robert picked up a woman in the red light district who would come to be known as Eklutna Annie. Unfortunately, like many of Robert's victims, we can only base what we know of their encounter.

Off of Robert's version of the story, Robert told Downey he was taking her back to his house and started driving. Eventually, he turned on to Eklutna Lake Road, a long, winding trail that travels through the northern half of Chugach State Park. When he realized that Robert wasn't in fact taking her home. She asked him to turn around.

Robert put a gun in her face and told her to shut up, frightened, and he complied and silently searched for a way out of this situation. A little while later, Robert's car got stuck in the mud and Annie saw her chance for escape. While he was out looking at the tires, she ran for her life, heading deep into the wilderness.

As Annie ran, she heard Robert trying to start the car several times so that he could chase after her. But eventually it got quiet and Annie breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't sure how she was going to get home, but she was grateful to be alive.

Once Annie felt confident that Robert wasn't pursuing her, she began to creep back toward Eklutna Lake Road. She was almost out of the woods. When Robert appeared from behind and tackled her onto the ground.

Annie pulled herself onto her feet and took a large knife out of her purse. She waved it around wildly to keep him at his distance. Robert attempted to calm her down, promising Annie that he wouldn't kill her. It was all a lie. As soon as she relaxed, he tripped her and she fell face first onto the ground. Then he plunged his own knife into her back.

Robert buried Annie in a shallow grave near some power lines, then booked it back to Anchorage. In later interviews, he claimed he was extremely shaken up by Annie's murder. So much so that months went by before he felt another urge.

In the spring of 1980, 41 year old Robert picked up a young woman named Joanne Messina on the beach in Seward, Alaska. He wanted to take her out on a proper date, but she allegedly offered to have sex with him for money.

Instead, Robert immediately lost respect for Joanne. He agreed to her proposal and drove towards the secluded area. When Joanne realized that her driver was headed into the middle of nowhere, she started to panic. She thought Robert, until he finally pulled over. Then she jumped out and began running.

Robert grabbed the revolver he kept in his car, followed Joanne and hit her on the head with it. She fell to her knees, weeping, but mustered up the strength to stand up and fight back. But Robert shot Joanne twice, then buried her body in a gravel pit nearby.

Joanne's remains were discovered by the Seward police until July of that year. Nine days after they found her, workmen on the eklutna power line unearthed Annie's body near one of their poles. She was so badly decomposed that she couldn't be identified and to this day is only known as Eklutna Annie.

Even though Joanne and Annie's bodies were found near one another, the authorities didn't suspect that the same person was responsible for both of. Are murders, and Robert was by no means under suspicion for these crimes, which left him free to do as he pleased.

Later that year, Robert allegedly kidnapped and killed 24 year old Roxann Eastland and 41 year old Lisa Futrell, bringing his murder count to four.

For that we know about anyway, when 1981 rolled around, Robert was feeling extremely confident and began experimenting with other crimes Roberts stole from local stores. And in January of 1981, he even committed insurance fraud.

Roba reported a home invasion to his insurance company, claiming that 13000 dollars worth of hunting trophies and other valuables were stolen. No one was ever pinpointed in the burglary, and when Robert received his check from State Farm, he used it to buy his own bakery. Shortly after that, he bought himself a plane.

The families of Anchorage saw Robert as a man who had pulled himself up by his bootstraps. He'd repented and reformed and spent his days giving back to his community. His nights, however, were still spent frequenting the red light district, where dancers continued to go missing.

Dancers in Alaska seemed to vanish more than others. But that didn't stop 23 year old Sheri Morrow from taking a job at the Wild Cherry. She'd been bouncing around clubs for years, dancing under different names, trying to stay under the radar.

Sherry wanted to meet a good guy and settle down, but most of the men she dated judged her line of work. So she was surprised when, in November of 1981, a soft spoken man in glasses approached her in the club and asked her out on a date.

Robert had talked to several of the dancers that night, including Sherry's roommate, Susan. When Sherry told Susan about her date, Susan grew worried. She told Sherry that the guy had given her the creeps and tried to convince her friend not to go. Unfortunately, Sherry couldn't be swayed. The man had told her he had an airplane. It seemed too glamorous to pass up. So the next day, Susan waved goodbye to Sherry after she walked her down the block to meet up with Robert.

As soon as she got into his car, he threatened her with his gun, then handcuffed her to the bottom of the passenger seat, Cherrie knelt on the floor of Robert's car, weeping and pleading for her life. Robert ignored her cries and drove out to the Karnik River.

He ended up on a sandbar along the riverbed where he led her out of the car, unlike his other victims. Sherry didn't run away. She waited until Robert dropped his guard, then tried to charge him.

Robert pulled a gun out of his jacket and shot her dead.

He dug a shallow grave in the sand and rolled her body into it. He stood over his victim for a moment, relishing the thrill of the murder. Then he bent down, unhooked Sherry's necklace and put it in his pocket.

This was the first instance in which Robert kept a trophy from one of his murders, a practice that serial killers often engage in. According to Jack Levin, a professor of sociology and criminology, serial killers take items from their victims in order to relive the pleasurable experience of the kill. He compares it to the way baseball players might collect their home run balls. The object represents a memory of an accomplishment and viewing or handling it allows the owner to experience the event all over again.

For serial killers, the opportunity for retrospection isn't the only reason to keep a souvenir from the scene. These trophies also offer proof of a successful conquest. They act as a reminder of the killer's power over others. When he killed Sherry, Robert felt more powerful than ever. He kept her necklace in order to hold on to that feeling. Two weeks later, he set out to experience it again for real.

On December 1st, 1981, Robert picked up a dancer named Andrea Altieri at a club called the Bush Company. Andrea was a quiet, beautiful 23 year old who was used to men asking her out or buying her gifts. Robert did both. He told her he wanted to take her on a date and then a shopping spree.

The following day, Andrea met Robert just outside the Boniface Mall in Anchorage. Before they browsed the shops, he asked her to accompany him to his car. When Adria got in, Robert handcuffed and blindfolded her, then started driving toward the Canek River.

He turned off on to a secluded service road, put a gun to her temple and forced her to perform oral sex. When he was finished, Andrea asked to be let outside to go to the bathroom. Robert allowed her to find a spot behind a tree while he stood at the car waiting.

As soon as he turned around, Andrea ran at him, reaching for the pistol he'd put on the hood. Unfortunately, Robert got to the gun first and shot Andrea dead.

He pocketed Andrea's ring, a necklace, adding to his collection. Then he filled the duffel bag with gravel, tied it to her body and pushed Andrea over a nearby bridge into the neck river.

After yet another missing woman, the Anchorage Police Department finally admitted that there may be a link between the disappearing dancers when their initial investigation turned up, no leads. They made a public request for anyone with information about the missing women to come forward.

Sadly, no one did. But five months went by without any reported disappearances, and the police began to think that perhaps their killer had moved on.

Those hopes were dashed in May of 1982, when 23 year old dancer Sue Luna went missing. By this point, the Anchorage P.D. was extremely stressed. They still had no suspects and hadn't found any remains since they discovered Eklutna Annie two years prior.

Robert Hanssen, however, felt fantastic. His bakery was booming, his hunting game was impeccable, and he seemed impervious to detection by the authorities. He continued to kidnap, rape and kill dancers with impunity.

But on September 12th, 1982, everything changed to hunters. Walking along the Canek River discovered what appeared to be a human bone sticking out of a sandbar.

They called the police and the body was identified as 23 year old Sheri Moreau, the missing dancer from Wild Cherry.

The authorities finally had a body, and Robert's luck was about to run out. Coming up, the Anchorage police close in on their killer. Now back to the story. In September of 1982, the body of dancer Sherry Murro was discovered buried on a sandbar in the Neck River. With authorities back on the trail, 43 year old Robert Hanssen realized it was time to slow down instead of committing murder. Robert returned to petty theft in order to satisfy his cravings for excitement.

He took his super cub airplane and flew north of Anchorage, burglarizing cabins around the Hawk Lake area. A few of the residents attempted to track down the thief, but a lack of evidence quickly quashed their investigations. Meanwhile, the search for Sherry Morrow's killer stalled out despite having a body. The police still couldn't link a suspect to the crime. After a few months of silence, Robert felt safe to resume his murderous activities.

In the spring of 1983, 44 year old Robert kidnapped and murdered at least three women, 22 year old sex worker Theresa Watson, 20 year old Dylan Frye and 30 year old Paula Goulding.

The details of their deaths are largely unknown, but investigators gathered that Robert coax them into his plane and flew them out to remote locations. There, he raped and murdered the women, then left their bodies in the wilderness late at night. On June 12th, 1983, Robert picked up 17 year old Cindy Palsson near Anchorage's red light district.

He spotted her walking down Fifth Avenue, rolled down his car window and beckoned her over. When she approached him, he discreetly offered her 200 dollars to perform oral sex. Singes shrugged.

The man seemed shy and kind, and the offer was pretty good. She got into his car and he immediately sped off at a stoplight.

Robert became aggressive and handcuffed. Cindy, she asked where they were going and he told her he was bringing her to his house. His wife was out of town visiting her parents and he didn't want to pay for a motel room.

When they got to Robert's house, he dragged Cindy into his basement and raped her violently. After he finished, Robert wrapped a heavy chain around her neck and locked her to a post in the middle of the room. Then he gave her a blanket to cover up and told her he was going to sleep. When Robert woke up early the next morning, he told Cindy he was going to fly her to his cabin where they could have more sex. He promised that if she behaved herself, he would let her go.

He led her through his house into the garage, forcing her to lie down on the floor of his car before he drove outside.

When they arrived at the airfield, Robert started pulling supplies out of his trunk and carrying them to the plane. He made several trips before he accidentally left the driver's side door open. Cindy saw her opportunity to flee barefoot and handcuffed.

Cindy sprinted from Robert's car and ran across the empty field. When she glanced back, she saw that her captor was trailing her with a gun. He yelled, I'm going to get you.

She passed a used car lot and hid behind one of the vehicles before she heard a truck coming down the road. Robert was still close behind, but she decided to risk revealing herself to get help. Cindy ran out into the middle of the street and waved her arms.

When the truck driver slammed on the brakes, Cindy jumped up into the cab and told the driver to go. And fast she was being chased by a man who wanted her dead. The driver did, as he was told. The truck driver tried to convince Cindy to let him take her to the police station, but she insisted that she just wanted to be alone. The man complied with her request, letting her out at a nearby motel. Then he called the police and reported the incident on his own.

Eventually, an officer met Cindy at the motel. He gingerly took off her handcuffs and promised she wouldn't face any trouble because of her job as a sex worker. Satisfied? Cindy told him everything. The officer took her back to the airfield where she identified Robert Hansen's plane. She also revealed where his house was and what it looked like as the Anchorage P.D. dispatched officers to Robert Hanson's home.

Cindy agreed to be tested by a rape kit at the hospital where they found evidence of semen inside her DNA technology was not yet advanced enough to identify the culprit by his sperm, but its existence proved Cindy's claim that she'd been raped.

Meanwhile, the police arrived at Robert Hanssens House when they informed him of the nature of the investigation. Robert laughed off their accusation. He said, You can't rape a prostitute, can you?

The officer stayed stone faced and reminded him that in Alaska you certainly could. Robert adopted a more serious tone and told them he had an alibi for the previous night. He said he was with his hunting buddies, John Summerell and John Henning, until the wee hours of the morning when he stopped at the airfield to fix a seat on his plane. Then he went home and found the officers at his door.

John Sumrall and John Henning both lied to confirm their friend's alibi, even though Cindy had showed them Robert's plane and pointed them in the direction of his house. The testimony of a teenage sex worker didn't hold up against that of two respected men. Robert was allowed once again to go free. Detectives on Cindy Paulson's case were sure that Robert's alibi was fake, but there was nothing they could do to prove it. They turned their focus on proving Robert as the culprit behind the disappearances of local dancers.

Sergeant Glen Flaherty sorted through every file related to Robert or the missing dancers.

By September of 1983, Glenn felt he had enough evidence against Robert. The package he brought to the district attorney contained records of Robert's previous crimes, his potential insurance fraud and his attacks on Cindy Paulson and Laura, a sex worker he attempted to rape in 1971. He also had a flowchart displaying the names and locations of all the missing dancers, as well as Robert Hanssens perceived whereabouts at the time of their disappearances, Glen wasn't sure he'd be able to pin the murders on Robert, but he felt he definitely had enough to at least get the man off the street.

Unfortunately, the D.A. disagreed. He told the detective that he simply needed more proof if he wanted to obtain a search warrant for Robert's property.

Glen continued to work himself to the bone on the case. He sent his evidence to the FBI and asked them to come up with a suspect profile for him. Their profile matched Robert to a T. And it helped Glen flow to finally get his warrant at the end of October 1983, as officers searched Robert's house. Glenn brought Robert into headquarters for questioning during their interviews.

Detectives found that Robert couldn't understand why the police would ever take the word of a sex worker over his own.

Glenn noted that Robert consistently divided women into two groups ST's and Horror's. Psychologist Sigmund Freud developed a theory to explain the anxiety men feel about women's sexuality called the Madonna whore complex known today as the Madonna whore dichotomy, the premise behind this dichotomy is that in the eyes of some men, being loving and being sexual are mutually exclusive options for women. Love is clean and pure, whereas sex is dirty and shameful. A 2019 study by Israeli psychologists found that believing in the Madonna whore dichotomy can come at a real cost to men.

Men who viewed women in these polarizing contexts displayed far lower levels of personal and sexual satisfaction than men who understood that women contain multitudes just like everyone else. They also showed women they deemed promiscuous, little to no respect.

As Roberts struggled to comprehend why the testimony of a sex worker might actually be valid, police officers ransacked his house, searching for any clue that could connect Robert to the missing dancers.

After several hours, one of the officers discovered the house had an attic, and he climbed up inside there, he noticed some exposed insulation on one of the walls and stuck a gloved hand inside his fingers closed on something solid.

The officer pulled the insulation away from the wall, revealing Robert's stash of weapons and murder trophies. The discovery of the jewelry from the dead women in particular, was enough to charge Robert.

Even though authorities found compelling evidence against Robert, possession of these items didn't necessarily prove that he killed the women who owned them.

Fortunately, Sergeant Glen Floaty caught a huge break. Robert's friend John Henning recanted his testimony from June, where he'd vouch for Robert's whereabouts during the day of Cindy Paulson's abduction. After seeing the news of Robert's arrest, John felt too guilty to keep that secret any longer.

The scales tipped further in Glenn's favor when he discovered a hand drawn map amongst the papers that had been collected from Robert's home as a hunter and an amateur pilot. They expected Robert to own maps of the area, but this one was different. This map had been found taped behind the headboard of his bed and was heavily marked.

The officers stared at the map, trying to make sense of the X's drawn across it. Suddenly, Glen rose to his feet.

He carried Robert's map over to the map he'd made, displaying the locations of the bodies they'd found. So far, the Xs matched perfectly. The officers were ecstatic, but their excitement quickly depleted. There were a total of 24 Xs on Roberts map. This man wasn't just a murderer. He was the most prolific serial killer the state of Alaska had ever seen.

On February 16th, 1984, after three months of preliminary hearings, 45 year old Robert told his attorney he wanted to, quote, clear the decks. Robert Wood confessed to the four murders they could pin on him, as well as all of the grand jury indictments in exchange, Robert would not be charged with any more murders no matter what future investigations discovered.

The deal was agreed upon. And over the course of two days, Robert admitted to killing Eklutna attorney Joanne Messina, Sherry Morreau and Paula Golding. He also confessed to the kidnapping and rape of Cindy Paulson.

After his confession, Robert assisted the officers in locating 12 of the bodies he'd marked on his map. The officers remembered that he was excited to show off his work, especially under the conditions that he wouldn't be held accountable for it. To this day, these remain the only victims that have been found.

On February 27th, 1984, a judge sentenced Robert to 461 years in prison plus life.

When asked by the judge if he had anything to say for himself, Robert answered, No, sir, I don't.

One month later, Robert was moved out of Anchorage to serve his sentence in a Lewisburg penitentiary in Pennsylvania, as he had reportedly requested that he be imprisoned out of state. After four years, he was allowed to return to Alaska and asked for a transfer.

However, in 1990, guards discovered that Robert was secretly planning an escape from the Juneau prison. They found stamps in an aviation map hidden in his cell and surmised that Robert planned to sell the stamps for cash and steal a plane once he broke out. It became very clear that Robert didn't want to be near loved ones in Alaska. He wanted access to a plane for a quick getaway.

Robert was transferred to a maximum security facility near Seward, Alaska, and Dahla gave up on her husband.

She filed for divorce and moved her family down to the lower 48 to be near her parents.

On August 21st, 2014, Robert Hanssen passed away from natural causes at the age of 75, Sergeant Glen Floetry commented on his passing, saying, On this day we should remember his many victims and all of their families. As far as Hanssen is concerned, the world is better without him.

Most people embellish the story of the butcher baker of Alaska, there are wild tales of Robert kidnapping women, telling them to run, then hunting them down from his plane. While that's certainly an exciting narrative, it's simply not true.

The real story is far less exotic. It's a tale of classism, sexism and power struggles. People took the word of a middle class family man over disenfranchised sex workers because of their respective social statuses, and his word gave him the ability to do whatever he pleased.

Robert Hanssen wanted everyone to believe he was powerful and intriguing, but in reality he was weak and boring. The strongest people in his story are the women who spoke up when no one wanted to listen.

They are the real heroines. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with a new episode for more information on Robert Hanssen.

Amongst the many sources we used, we found Fair Game by Bernard Nucleo and Butcher, Baker by Walter Gilmore and Leland E. Hale.

Extremely helpful to our research.

You can find all episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from podcast for free on Spotify.

Will see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from podcast executive producers include Max and Ron Cuddler Sound Design by Michael Motian with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Carly Madden and Joshua Kern.

This episode of Serial Killers was written by L.A. Reid with writing assistants by Abigail Cannon, fact checking by Annibale and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood. Serial Killers stars Greg Polson and Vanessa Richardson.

Listeners, there's no better time than right now to open your heart to the hit Spotify original from podcast Blind Dating every Wednesday. Find out if personality alone is enough to make a love connection. Follow blind dating, free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.