The Kodiak, Alaska Coast Guard Murders
The double homicide I describe in this article occurred on a secure Coast Guard base near the town of Kodiak, Alaska on Kodiak Island, approximately 60 miles from where I live. This murder happened toward the end of the most brutal winter anyone on Kodiak can remember, and when the police did not quickly apprehend the killer, tempers flared, and citizens carried firearms wherever they went. Our mail plane pilot, reporting the news to us on his weekly stop, compared the residents in town to a powder keg ready to blow. When it was all over, many in law enforcement and the judicial system praised the investigation, but at the time it seemed as if no one was doing anything to look for and apprehend the killer.
The Setting:
Cold and miserable describe the winter of 2011/2012; it was one of the harshest winters on record in Alaska. On Kodiak Island, the temperatures in January averaged 9.1 degrees colder than normal, and for the period extending from October 2011 through May 2012, the temperatures dipped 4.7 degrees below average. Those temperature differences might not sound extreme, but I assure you, it was a cold, miserable winter! Our water lines froze in early December, which is not uncommon, but usually when the lines freeze, we can pump water through a hose into holding containers in the house, and when it’s too cold to use the pump, we can…
