The press nicknamed Robert Hansen, the well respected, normal in everyone’s eyes, owner of a bakery, the “Butcher Baker”. He killed, possibly up to 17 women, between 1971 and 1983 in and around Anchorage, Alaska. The 2013 movie, Frozen Ground, is the telling of the story, of his capture and conviction in 1983, by Scott Walker. Scott was writing a fictional story about a hunter when someone said that it was a true story and turned him toward the Robert Hansen killings.
Scott would find Glenn Flothe, the Alaskan State Patrol Detective who handled the real case and spent time with him getting the whole story. He also found Cindy Paulson, the 17 year old prostitute who actually got away from the killer and would be played in the movie by Vanessa Hudgens.
He got Vanessa and Cindy together and for a week they talked and got to know each other. Nicholas Cage was cast to sort of be Glenn Flothe, but also an amalgamation of all the officers that worked on the case.
Flothe was the one though that believed that all the bodies being found over the years were the work of one killer. Hansen already had a record and had been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder.
He had been in jail for stealing a chain saw, burning down a school bus garage, several incidents of petty theft and abducting and raping a housewife and then a prostitute.
He was re-married and had two children. Hansen was also known for his hunting skills, setting several state records. He would abduct his victims, keep them in sexual captivity for a while before flying them to a remote spot and hunting them and shooting with his Ruger Mini-14 and then stabbing with a knife. Cindy had gotten away when he was putting her in the plane.
She told the police everything that they needed to know, but because she was a prostitute and Hansen was a well respected baker and member of the town, the case was dropped. It was Flothe that believed she was right , but convincing everyone, like the district attorney, more interested in getting re-elected, was a hard task in front of him. They finally got search warrants and found guns and maps, with X’s marked on them.
They did get Hansen to confess and he was convicted of 4 of the murders and the kidnapping and rape of Cindy Paulson. Hansen took the officers to many of X’s and helped them recover the bodies. He was sentenced to 461 years in jail, with no chance of parole.
Hansen died in prison, August 21, 2014. Scott Walker wanted to make this movie about the victims so, even though Hansen wanted to talk to him, he never meet with him.
The 17 victims were between 16 and 41 years old and he is suspected of raping possibly 23 more. The known victims are Megan Emerick, Mary Thill, Horseshoe Harriett, Eklutna Annie, Roxanne Eastland,
Joanna Messina, Lisa Futrell, Sherry Morrow, Andrea Altiery, Sue Luna, DeLynn Frey, Paula Goulding, Malai Larsen, Teresa Watson, Angela Feddern, Tamera Pederson, Celia Van Zanten and the only survivor Cindy Paulson. Their pictures were displayed at the conclusion of the movie
