S1: E29 – The Mountain Man Murders, Part 2

I never could quite make a decision as to whether he was a dangerous man or whether something snapped.

A quite Alaska man known for his ability to live off the grid, was accused of murdering his neighbors.

They found him in the creek, and they found her about a week later. She'd been shot in the head and there was evidence of sex, and they thought it was postmortem.

As the investigation heated up, the suspect took off.

He went on the run pretty quickly when it became obvious that he was the focus of their investigation.

A month later, the suspect was in custody and faced the fight of his life.

They just couldn't believe he did it. They fundamentally couldn't. The guy they knew wouldn't do something like that.

By the end of his trial, the tables would be turned and the defense lawyers would be the ones defending themselves.

He said, you have convicted an innocent man.

Today we're in Choultna, Alaska, for the conclusion of the Mountain in Man Murders. I'm slung Glass and this is American homicide. Just to note that this episode contains some graphic content. Please take care while.

Listening murders in cities and towns, you know that happen all the time, but a double murder in the middle of the wilderness is unique. It's different.

Maybe you've seen those videos where women of all ages are asked the same question, if.

You were stranded in the woods, would you rather be stranded with a random man or random bear?

The answers were overwhelmingly one sided.

And ninety percent of females are choosing to be stranded with the random bear over a random man.

I don't think there's anything scarier in the wilderness than a human out to kill someone.

Robin Bearfield authored Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier, a book about true crime in Alaska. Her book covers the murders of husband and wife Rick Berry and Debbie reehor over Memorial Day weekend in nineteen ninety seven. The couple was murdered near their cabin in the remote woods of Chulitna, Alaska.

Chu Litina is not a town, but it's a designated wilderness area. Most people who live in the wilderness are prepared to run into bears or angry moose or other animals that you need to watch out for, and you don't expect to run into a murderer in the Alaska wilderness. So I think that's one of the reasons that made this story such a big deal.

Located miles from the nearest road and an hour from the closest town, Chulitna is as off the grid as you can get.

People who live in the wilderness they do so because they want to be independent, They want to live on their own. They enjoy that freedom. So you're on your own much more up here, and it's frightening when you realize.

That at the time, there were only a dozen or so cabins in the area where Rick and Debbie lived.

In Alaska, neighbors are important, you know. It's you want people to live close enough to you so that you can help each other if you have a problem.

Rick and Debbie's nearest neighbor lived about a mile away. His name was Paul Stavignord.

Paul was a year round resident that was his home while Rick and Debbie came and went.

At the time, Paul Stavignort was forty six years old. He had long hair, a thick, bushy beard, and wore around wire rimmed glasses. Years earlier, Paul hurt his back working for the railroad. That injury forced him to quit his job. That's when he started making artwork, playing the flute and living and off the grid mountain man lifestyle.

And sometimes people living in a wilderness setting. Look at the people who come and go like that as outsiders, you know, they don't appreciate him, They resent them, And I think that probably was part of the problem with his relationship with Brick and Debbie. They suspected he stole things from their cabin and he seemed to have a real problem with them. Rick and Debbie's family knew this. Rick Anddebbie talked about it quite a bit.

Paul was the lead suspect in Rick and Debbie's murder. Upon searching his property, they found a journal that detailed an affair Paul was having with Debbie. So what was it? Were they enemies or lovers?

His family and friends described him as a kind man who was spiritual and was nonviolent. They did not believe he could have killed two people.

Not only that, but Paul had an alibi for the weekend Rick and Debbie were murdered.

He said he'd gone to Fairbanks for the weekend, and he even gave them the names of restaurants where he stopped, places where he stopped to get gased or stopped to get snacks, but he did not have any receipts.

Paul explained that he didn't have any receipts because his off the grid lifestyle meant he didn't have credit cards or checking account He only paid in cash.

And when the troopers followed up, nobody remembered seeing him at any of the places where he said he'd gone, so his alibi did not hold up.

After the police asked for a sample of his DNA, Paul Stavinyard went on the run and vanished into the wilderness.

The man hunt was a big deal and the troopers threw a lot of resources at it. I know a woman who had a cabin in Chulitn at the time, and she said it was crazy up there after all of this happened, because there were choppers flying overhead all the time. She felt like she was in a war zone. It was just crazy for a few weeks until they finally found him.

After four weeks on the run, Paul Stavignord turned himself in, but he wasn't alone. He had hired a lawyer and explained to the police that something in his past caused him to run unrelated to the murders of his neighbors.

He had had unfortunate experience with law enforcement prior to this event.

That's Paul's friend Keith Beja.

Crusting policemen was probably not his first reaction, so.

Let's talk about why. Growing up, Paul struggled with drug addiction and was expelled from high school. Over the course of two years, he was arrested five times for breaking into cabins, stealing a car, and other crimes. Author Robin Bearfield explains.

Paul's biggest run in with the police was when he was released from prison for a liquor store robbery. He and his two friends decided to rob the First National Bank of Anchorage and Seward.

In nineteen seventy one, Paul and two others pulled off one of the biggest bank robberies in Alaska's history.

They stole one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But they weren't very good criminals. They hadn't really planned their getaway very well, and they picked one of the worst places in Alaska to try to escape from because it's not remote, but there's only one road that goes into it. So the police chief easily arrested him and sent him back to prison.

Four years in prison was enough for Paul Stavignork to make some changes.

He decided he wanted to turn his life around, and he took a job with the Alaska Railroad inspecting the tracks. Married a waitress for the railroad, and they had two children, built a cabin in chew Litna. He loved the chew Litna area, and Paul became very interesting respective He became very spiritual, and he started to do art work.

That's when Paul adopted his sort of hippie lifestyle and threw himself into the arts.

He carved flutes and he also became fairly skilled at playing the flute, and he ended up recording three albums of flute music.

But playing the flute didn't pay the bills. His wife divorced him in the early nineteen nineties and told the court Paul didn't support her emotionally or financially. She got custody of their children and moved away. Paul remained in chou Lenna.

There wasn't two sides to Paul Stabnard, the peaceful, calm person that most people considered him now and then this guy who couldn't stay out of trouble when he was younger.

Two sides of Paul Stavignyard. That's what lawyers would have to argue over when he went on trial for the murders of Rick Berry and Debbie Reehort.

Suddenly the trial wasn't about us proving that it was him. It was he had a story to tell, and that changes the complexion entirely.

In nineteen ninety eight, Paul Stavignord went on trial. He was accused of killing his neighbors Rick Berry and Debbie reehor Over the course of eight weeks, the jury heard conflicting testimony from dozens of witnesses from both sides. Even Gavin Saha, the man who camped near rick Berry's dead body, testified. All of it left the jurors looking puzzled and confused and wondering who the real Paul Stavinord was.

He went on the run pretty quickly when it became obvious that he was the focus of their investigation, and he was able to stay on the run for quite a while.

Judge Eric Smith presided over the trial that had divided the small Alaskan town.

It hit the community pretty hard. I think the circumstances of it, the manner in which they were killed was also pretty shocking, and I know that mister Stavangerd's supporters were very affected by the whole story. They just couldn't believe he did it. You always wonder what's come of our community when something like this happens.

Prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the soft spoken defendant was capable of murdering his neighbors, but they were limited in what they could say.

We kept his criminal history out of the case, so the jury didn't know about his criminal history.

The time Paul stole a car inadmissible, the time Paul robbed a liquor store inadmissible, and the time Paul robbed a bank also inadmissible.

I found that mister Stavangerord's criminal history, especially the armed robbery and the escape, would tend to make the jury think he was a criminal and therefore make him more likely to have done what the state alleged he had done.

So prosecutors had to rely on DNA evidence found on Debi rehor that pointed back to Paul Stavignort.

The autopsy on this Reheor's body revealed there was evidence of sex. They found semen on her body, and they did a DNA test. The DNA did match with what was found on this rehor.

In their opening statement, the defense team surprised everyone when they admitted Paul did shoot Rick Beery, but they said he did not shoot Debbie Rehor, and they claimed the sex between Debbie and Paul was consensual.

All of this caused the courtroom to stir mister Stavangeord. He and his attorneys didn't say much of anything publicly until opening statements in the trial, so it was pretty dramatic.

The defense also called a half dozen witnesses who spoke Paul Stavinords peaceful and spiritual demeanor. But first they spent a lot of time attacking the character of one of the victims, Rick Berry.

They painted a picture of mister Berry as a very difficult, arrogant, angry man.

A handful of neighbors testified that Rick and Paul did not like one another and that they often clashed.

One of the run ins had to do with mister Berry believing that mister Stavangerd had taken some equipment from their cabin and confronted Stavangerd about it.

The defense also called a half dozen witnesses who spoke to Paul stavinorts peaceful and spiritual demeanor.

They did say that he had become this very mellow mountain man, that he lived a simple life, and that he was an artisan. He made this jewelry, and he was a flute player and kind of a very new agey kind of guy.

And then the defense pointed out that troopers found a lot in Rick and Debbie's cabin, one they believe was a gift from Paul.

They painted a picture of mister Stavangerd having very antagonistic relationships with mister Berry, but a very good relationship with miss Reehorr, And so they tried to persuade the jury that it would be a natural thing under those circumstances for miss Rehorn and mister Stavinger had to have this sexual relationship.

On the stand, Paul Stavignor took several deep breaths and spoke very slowly as he discussed how he cared for Debbie.

He's an articulate, intelligent man, and he was pretty calm and collected on the stand.

He said that on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend in nineteen ninety seven, he was out on a walk and bumped into Debbie.

Mister Stavanger had claimed that he met miss Reehorr on kind of a grassy knoll above the creek and they had sex together, So the DNA match came from the consensual sex that he claimed he had with miss Rehear.

But afterwards everything changed.

And I think he was playing his flute for her when mister Berry showed up on his four wheeler and got very upset and started shooting.

According to Paul Savignyorn's testimony, Rick Beery yelled, I'm going to blow your head off, pulled out his gun and fired at Paul. But Rick missed and struck and killed his wife, Debbie.

He accidentally shot his wife in the head, and mister stavangerd returned fire and shot mister Berry in the head.

He was shooting at me, and.

I believe that I was going to be killed.

That was the voice of Paul Savignorn on the witness stand describing what happened.

It seems like an awful coincidence that she would actually have been hit by a stray.

Bullet District Attorney Bill A.

Stell His scenario was that they were having can sensual sex. That when they heard the approach of a four wheeler, he stood up to see who it was, which one wonders why would one stand up where somebody can see you, And that Rick Barry saw him and shot at him and accidentally killed Deborah, And that he shot Rick Berry in self defense at some number of yards with a cheap little twenty two pistol, standing there naked it was implausible.

During cross examination, Paul Stavignort said his story was so outrageous that he didn't think anyone would believe him.

The details about his relationship were totally at odds with everybody in Deborah's acquaintance, her family, her coworkers, her friends. None of what he described was believable to them, that she was behaved in that way.

Paul Stavignord testified that afterwards he felt sadness, terror, hopelessness, shame, guilt, and remorse, so he panicked and said he got rid of the evidence. He picked up bullet casings and burned his clothes. Even with his bad back, he said he managed to drag Debbie's body under some tree limbs. He said Rick's bonnie had floated away to a deep hole in a creek and that's where he left it.

His story was inconsistent with what he said.

First, Paul agreed and admitted he lied to troopers and even to his friends. Here's more from Judge Eric Smith, who presided over the trial.

Mister Stavanger lied a lot. The prosecution relied quite heavily, and the fact that he.

Lied, Paul Stavanord said, one lie led to another, and that's when he realized he was in too deep, and in order to keep his story straight, he wrote down what happened.

He had a journal, and in the part of the journal he had written out notes, and it appeared it was like he was writing down the story he was going to tell the troopers about where he was and what he did.

Durors had to decide who was the real Paul Stavignord, a loner who snapped and killed his neighbors, Rick Bery and Debbie Reehor or a peaceful flute plane mountain man who killed Rick Bury in self defense.

It was a hotly contested case and there was a lot of emotion running through it.

Judge Eric Smith presided over the case.

So the whole notion of mister Stavanger being this peaceful guy and mister Barry this angry guy, was very essential to their case.

Paul Stavinord testified that Rick Bery caught him having an affair with his wife and then took out his gun and fired at him, but the bullet hit Debbie by mistake. Paul said he returned fire and killed Rick in self defense.

They played into this sort of mellow guy in the wilderness, and the flute was a key piece of the picture they painted.

According to Paul, he played his flute for Debbie just before the two of them had sex, and that's when things in the courtroom got even more weird. Paul's lawyer asked the judge to allow Paul to play this song he performed for Debbie.

So the flute playing would play into the effort they were trying to make of him as a peaceful man, and they were certainly allowed to make that argument, just as the defense was allowed, up to a point to make the argument that mister Berry was a violent man because it was a defense case.

Ultimately, none of the jurors got to hear Paul play his flute, although he did have his courtroom performance.

I decided that that was of utterly no relevance to the jury, but the attorney insisted that he played the flute for the record. So at the end of the trial day one day, I excuse the jury sent them home and then had him play the flute. And I will tell you he's a very He was really good. He was really good.

Relatives of Rick and Debbie were furious that Paul was allowed to play the flute. It probably felt really inconsequential and performative, so they got up and walked out of the courtroom. Meanwhile, Paul supporters sat and listened.

The environment was pence and the tension was palpable.

Assistant District Attorney Billi stee out.

The families of Rick Berry and Wi Rehorr were there throughout and they were living through the nightmare. And on the other side were the people that were there to support stave in Geord because they believed in him.

During closing arguments, prosecutors admitted they didn't know the exact reason why Paul Stavinord killed Debi rehor and Rick Berry, but they were certain he did it.

He just decided that he was going to take things, not just from Rick Berry's cabin, but take his wife, take his life, and take everything he had.

After two long months, it was up to the jurists to decide who the real Paul Stavinord was.

Well, you're always nervous because you have to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt.

And keep in mind, the jury never heard about Paul Stavignort's previous crimes, including his nineteen seventy one bank heist.

They weren't familiar with the fact that he was a bank robber, that he had had the violent passed.

Three days passed before the jury handed Judge Eric Smith their verdict.

Mister Stavangord was convicted of murdering the first degree for killing mister Berry, and murder in the first degree for killing this reehorror.

The jury found Paul Stavinord guilty on the two biggest charges, but acquitted him of sexual assault. One of the jurors told a local reporter that he found Paul Stavignord to be evasive and unbelievable on the stand. On his sentencing day, Paul Stavignord had the opportunity to address the court.

It was called the Right of elocution, and I was very curious what his allocution was going to be. So when I asked him if he wanted to say anything, he said, and I believe this is all. He said, You have convicted an innocent man. I kind of expected, given the nature of the tragedy, that he would have shown some remorse or some sorrow or some recognition about what an awful thing that had happened. And he didn't. And I sentenced him to ninety nine years on each count.

The judge wanted to make sure Paul Savignard would never experience freedom again. Even ninety nine years concurrently would make that true. But Judge Smith wanted to make a point.

I don't think there was any other appropriate.

Sentence, Assistant Da Billistell.

I think there was a foregone conclusion that you would get the maximum sentence on each count because it was it was just malice, a forethought. I believe Judge Smith in his remarks, made him very clear that they all suffered and that the sentence should reflect that.

But this case didn't end there.

In my opinion, this is a travesty.

Of justice that suppost friend Keith Beja.

I read somewhere that the initial vote the jury was nine to three, so there were some of the jurors who weren't convinced that first degree murderer was the appropriate charge.

A local newspaper report backed up that story, but ultimately the jury voted unanimously to convict Paul. However, the case had a new development about the murder weapon, which could change everything.

Well after the trial and the conviction, Paul went to the judge with the allegation that he had used a rifle, not a pistol, to return fire. The prosecution focused on this Jennings pistol, which incidentally is a low quality pistol, as the murder weapon. Paul had told him he had a rifle that day, the Marlin rifle. That was the weapon that he returned fire with, not that junk pistol.

In other words, Paul claimed he used a rifle to shoot and kill Rick Berry, but as lawyer said, he used a pistol. So which weapon was the murder weapon?

His attorneys, you know, gave him bad advice about testifying about.

His use of a pistol, making things even more confusing. During the trial, the prosecutors argued the murder weapon still had not been found.

None of that made any sense to me.

After his conviction, Paul Stavenord's attorney asked to withdraw from the case. They cited a total breakdown in their attorney client relationship. Then Paul petitioned the court for hearing where he would tell the court where to find the rifle.

And he drew a diagram of where the rifle could be recovered, and the diagram was given to the troopers. The troopers went there and did recover the rifle.

All of that turned the case upside down and led to more hearings.

After mister Stavangard was convicted, he made a claim that he had been ineffectively assisted by his attorneys.

Judge Eric Smith listened as Paul attacked his defense team.

But simply mister Stavangard requested a new trial because he argued that his attorneys made him lie. I had an extended evidentiary hearing to determine whether, in fact, the attorneys had provided an effective assistance of Council.

Two years after Paul Stavignord was convicted, the two defense attorneys who originally represented Paul stood in front of Judge Smith. They defended themselves against allegations that they ignored evidence and forced Paul to lie on the stand. His former lawyers fought back and told Judge Smith they weren't the problem. It was Paul's persistent dishonesty, and Paul's new lawyer wanted a do over.

They filed a motion for new trial, arguing that his attorneys had convinced him to make this story up, and I denied that motion. I found that his attorneys had done a fully adequate job. He had highly competent attorneys at all stages, as both the two they representative initially and then the Public Defender Agency when they took it over.

But still Judge Smith said his decision was a close call. Today, Paul Stavignard remains in prison, and all these years later, people still wonder what really happened over Memorial Day nineteen ninety seven. Was Paul Stavigard a cold blooded murderer or did the finding of that rifle mean an entirely different story had unfolded in the Woods. Here's Paul's friend, Keith Beha.

That appeal was denied, and that's the end of it. What's happened has happened, and you know that can't be changed. Paul's a friend, has been a friend, still is a friend. I'd like to see him released, and if somehow that could happen, I'd do everything I could to help him get situated in a positive situation.

Here's author Robin Bearfield.

Paul Stavinard is probably what people think of when they think of a loner living in the Alaska wilderness. I think it was a case of Paul Stavignord probably spending too much time in the wilderness with his own thoughts, and I think it was just a matter of him snapping. And this would not be the first time or the last time in Alaska that a loner snapped and started killing people.

Next time on American Homicide, we'll share one of those stories of a loner who terrorized another tiny Alaskan town. I'm slow Glass joined me as we head to Manly Hot Springs for the case of Michael Silka. That's next time on American Homicide. You can contact the American Homicide Team by emailing us at American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com. That's American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com.