Murder and Mystery in the Last Frontier

Robin Barefield•murder-in-the-last-frontier.blubrry.net

True Crime

Listen to tales of true murder and mystery in Alaska.

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Episodes

The Killer Who Hibernated in Alaska

Retirees Robert and Dagmar Linton eagerly embarked on a long-planned camping trip in the Pacific Northwest, and they promised their children they would be careful. The Lintons did not express concerns about their journey, but Dagmar made sure their wills and affairs were in order before they left home. Was she just cautious, or did she have a premonition something terrible would befall them? Her son and daughter would always wonder if their mother had concerns, and they would never know what exa...

Feb 17, 2021•27 min

Who Murdered the Benolkens

Who brutally raped and murdered James and Anne Benolken in their Juneau apartment in 1982? Nearly four decades later, many questions remain unanswered. Emanuel Teller and Newton Lambert Sources Sources Starr, Douglas. 12-1-2013. Do police interrogation techniques produce false confessions?https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/12/09/the-interview-7 Episode 4: The Benolken Murders, the police investigation and Special Agent Malone Leo Helmar. Murder Alaska https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7LCJWK...

Jan 27, 2021•24 min

The Mystery of the “A” Boats

On Valentine’s Day 1983, two new, beautiful sister ships, the Americus and the Altair sank in the Bering Sea in calm water while on their way to the king crab grounds near the Pribilof Islands. Fourteen men lost their lives in the worst disaster in the history of U.S. commercial fishing. A massive investigation ensued to determine what happened to the boats and what could be done to make commercial fishing safer. Those lost: The Americus: George Nations Brent Boles Larry Littlefield Rich Awes Vi...

Jan 06, 2021•44 min

Who Murdered Joe?

The endless supply of larger-than-life characters in Alaska makes the state fertile ground for reality television shows and movies based on true stories. If you made a list of the strong, fascinating individuals in the history of this vast state, though, Joe Vogler would rank near the top. Picture a sharply dressed man, wearing a fedora, a bolo tie, and a plaid flannel shirt while he stands in front of a group of rowdy people and proclaims his controversial opinions in a booming voice. Joe Vogle...

Dec 11, 2020•24 min

Alaska Triangle

When doing a podcast about murder and mystery in Alaska, it is difficult to avoid the subject of "The Alaska Triangle." First named in 1972, the Alaska Triangle stretches from Anchorage in southcentral Alaska to Juneau in the southeast panhandle to Utkiagaviq (formerly Barrow) on Alaska's northern coast. Since 1988, more than 16,000 people have vanished from this area, and every year, approximately four people go missing per every 1000 Alaska residents. This rate is twice the national average. I...

Nov 23, 2020•43 min

The Unhappy Wife

Sitka, Alaska We all know married couples who seem to thrive on discord. These are the people we avoid joining for dinner and the ones in whose presence we squirm as they argue, yell, and threaten. We wonder why they got married, and if they divorce, we’re certain no one else would want either one of them. Still, I’ve met couples who not only manage to survive their contentious relationships but enjoy sparring with their partners. Marriage is hard, but most of us try, at least for a while, to ma...

Nov 06, 2020•25 min

Murder on Shuyak Island

On November 12th, 2015, Peter, the Island Air, mail-plane pilot, landed at Port William Wilderness Lodge on Shuyak Island. The lodge occupies an old cannery, and Peter found this stop memorable because instead of both of the lodge’s caretakers greeting him, as usual, only one caretaker, 44-year-old Steven Ridenour, met the plane. Peter wondered why the other caretaker, Steven McCaulley, 56, also did not arrive to help unload the freight. Since the tide was high, the plane could not pull up to th...

Oct 23, 2020•22 min

Abduction in Tazlina

Tazlina, Alaska, an unincorporated village located 187 miles (301 km) northeast of Anchorage, is nestled along the banks of the Copper River. In 1991, 241 people lived in Tazlina. Eleven-year-old Mandy Lemaire, her parents, and brothers had just moved to Tazlina from Anchorage a year earlier. Mandy’s parents felt Tazlina would be a safer place to raise their children and a place where their kids could learn to hunt and fish and enjoy the Alaska outdoors. Soon after moving to Tazlina, Mandy made ...

Sep 29, 2020•24 min

A Bloody Anchorage Night

It took a horrible murder for Alaska to revise its statutes for the criminally insane from some of the most lenient sentencing laws in the country to the strictest laws in the U.S. for the insanity defense. On the night of May 3, 1982, one veteran Anchorage police officer was quoted as saying, “This has got to be one of the grisliest nights I’ve ever seen.” Within an hour, seven people lost their lives. Three died in the Black Bull bar in the Muldoon section of Anchorage, and the other four were...

Sep 09, 2020•22 min

Who Murdered Bonnie Craig?

Bonnie Craig I can’t imagine the agony of losing a child for any reason, but how does a mother cope when she learns someone murdered her daughter, and she knows terror and pain must have marked the last moments of her child’s life? The book Justice for Bonnie deals with this issue. The well-written book profiles a mother’s fight to learn the truth about what happened to her daughter. Kenneth Dion Anchorage Daily News Sources: To read more about Bonnie Craig and her mother’s fight for justice, I ...

Aug 19, 2020•29 min

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