In 1924, author Richard Connell published the short story The Most Dangerous Game. It tells the story of a rich nobleman, a Russian, who, for fun, has large predators transported to his islands, just to hunt them.
Ever since the book was published, the idea that the same thing could be done to people has captured the imagination of many. Catch it for fun. And that idea has been used in countless books, TV shows, and movies ever since.
Innocent entertainment? Not for everybody.
Robert Hansen in his youth
Manhunt
In the 1970s, baker Robert Hansen took the concept of the manhunt to the limit and beyond. His horrific hunt and murder of women continued for over a decade, filled with horror and terror for many women.
Nobody would have thought that the sympathetic but silent baker, whom everyone loved, was actually a monster with a terrible secret.
From the early 1970s through the 1980s, Hansen lured hookers and prostitutes into his home and forced them into his secluded home. There he tied them to a pole with handcuffs and chains, raped and tortured them, before releasing them, usually in their underwear or naked, into the freezing Alaskan night.
Hansen’s victims.
Hansen was smart in that he only tracked down women whose disappearance was unlikely. A large number of men come to work seasonally in Alaska, and with them also come many queens of the night who stop temporarily, earn a good living and let themselves disappear again.
One can only imagine the terror of the women running naked through the dark Alaskan night in the freezing cold, knowing they were nothing more than prey to a beautifully broken man.
The baker’s son
But unlike the Russian in the short story, Robert Hansen was not a nobleman. He was born in 1939 in Iowa, son of an American mother and a Danish father, also a baker.
His childhood was far from easy. His father made him work long hours at the bakery from morning till night and was quick to buckle up and spank his son if he felt he wasn’t working hard enough. Robert was left-handed, but his father tied his left hand and forced him to use his right. Whether due to abuse or otherwise, Robert developed a stutter that would follow him throughout his life.
He was a stubbornly shy and lonely teenager, not only because of his stutter, but also because of his naughtiness. So he was harassed by his peers.
Hansen was therefore still alone and began to hunt. Perhaps he managed to vent his frustration and exclusion by hunting and killing animals.
Robert Hansen was considered a great hunter
In search of a new life
When Robert was 18, he ran away from home and joined the Army Reserve, hoping to start a new and better life where no one knew him.
He made a decent name for himself, got a promotion, and even got married.
But Robert was never completely satisfied and always felt that he was treated less well than the others. When he was 21, he enlisted a young employee at a bakery to help him set off an arson attack, but the boy was quick to confess to the crime and name Robert as the instigator. Robert was arrested, kicked off the reservations, and divorced by his wife.
Robert served 20 months of a three-year sentence, but started stealing after his release. That meant a few extra short prison sentences. But between two trips to bars, he managed to meet a woman and marry her.
Robert at his plane.
Alaska
Finally, Robert found time for a change of scenery and in 1967, at the age of 28, he decided to settle in the suburbs of Anchorage, the capital of Alaska. It was possible to go further. He had two children with his wife and opened a bakery. He was considered quiet but friendly and frankly an excellent baker.
But sometimes a shadow fell on Robert’s good image. He was arrested twice in 1972, once for the attempted robbery and rape of a housewife and the other time for the rape of a prostitute. But as unbelievable as it may seem, he was released both times.
Robert was now convinced that he would get away with it, and the following year, 1973, he set about killing with vengeance.
He was arrested again in 1976, but this time for stealing a chainsaw. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but appealed and was acquitted.
So Robert went on his way, visiting strippers and brothels in Anchorage. But sometimes he didn’t let that be enough.
Cindy escaped but Robert too.
Cindy
In 1983, more than a decade after Robert moved to Alaska, 17-year-old Cindy Paulson was found running along a road. She was almost naked, barefoot and handcuffed, covered in blood and terrified.
The driver who hit Cindy drove her straight to the police where she told an incredible story. Cindy, who was a prostitute, said she was abducted by a man who lured her into his car, handcuffed her, pointed a gun at her and took her to an isolated house where he put a gun on her. chain around her neck and tied her to a post. .
The man repeatedly raped her and tortured Cindy. After a few days of bondage, he freed her and said he was going to take her to his fishing cabin, nearly 60 miles from Anchorage. Ropbert had his own plane which he kept not far from the house and when he tried to force her onto the plane, Cindy managed to push him away and take off. She lost her shoes in the incident, and they would later become important evidence.
Robert Hansen.
Bumpy and stuttered
Cindy had no trouble describing Robert Hansen, his pockmarked face and stuttering, immediately coming to mind. But the police hesitated to arrest him. Despite his repeated run-ins with the law, Robert was a respected and popular member of the community.
Robert admitted to police that he met Cindy, but claimed she tried to extort money from him. If he refused to pay, she would have lied. And when his friend claimed to have been with him at the same time, Cindy said there was an attempt to force him onto the plane, Robert was released.
But he was so certain something was wrong and the police began to suspect that a mass murderer was involved, as a large number of prostitutes and striptease dancers had disappeared without a trace. In addition, bodies began to be found.
When two bodies were found near Robert’s hunting cabin, he was immediately suspected. But the police had no proof.
Robert Hansen.
The FBI steps in
The Anchorage police then contacted the federal police, the FBI and criminologist John Douglas profiled a possible killer.
He said the killer was middle-aged, an avid hunter, with very low self-esteem and hated women because of how many people rejected him. He even said he thought it was likely that he stuttered.
It was an accurate description by Robert Hansen, who fortunately owned both an airplane and a hunting lodge not far from where the bodies were found.
Police obtained a search warrant and searched Robert’s home, hunting cabin, plane and car. And no one was ever going to forget what had been found, such was the horror.
Robert was highly prized for his archery as evidenced by the number of animal heads in his hut and house. But he had caught more than the animals of the forest. And also kept memories of their “hunting”.
It took 17 years to identify 17-year-old Robin Pelkey.
24X
Robert had kidnapped a number of women and taken them by plane or car to his home, deep in the Alaskan wilderness. If they were “obedient”, he would simply rape and mistreat them before pushing them away, threatening to kill them if they crossed paths with him. Those who survived almost all fled to Alaska.
But those who fought against him lost their lives.
He handed them over to a neighbor after mistreating them and said now they were free. But he wasted no time in looking for them, armed with a large hunting knife and a rifle. Sometimes he let them run for a few hours, sometimes a few days, before killing them. He had been in this trade for 12 years and in his house a hidden map was found where he had marked with an X where he had killed and buried the women.
There were 24 X’s on the card.
Souvenirs
In his report, Douglas had also stated that it was almost certain that the killer had memories of his murders, and this also turned out to be true as a large amount of jewelry was found in the basement of the house of Douglas. Robert. If they had all belonged to his victims. They also found a soundproof room.
Robert Hansen pleaded guilty to 17 murders and 30 rapes over a 30-year period in 1984 and was sentenced to life in prison plus 461 years without the possibility of parole. He died in prison in 2014.
Darla, Robert’s wife.
But what many may wonder is what was his wife Darla’s role in the crimes? Their marriage was never successful, Darla was a devout teacher but gave in early to convert her husband to the same faith path. As it turned out, the couple barely spoke to each other and even had separate finances. Over time, Darla spent more and more time with her family in Arkansas, giving her husband a free hand to do dark things around their home.
Maybe Darla suspected something and maybe not. She quickly divorced Robert when he was convicted, eventually moved out of Alaska, and she and the children likely changed their names as it is unclear what happened to them.
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