Anchorage wakes to the knock that ends the hunt: October 27, 1983, troopers arrive at Hansen’s bakery, and an interrogation room papered with maps and faces waits for him. Search warrants turn his life inside out—an aerial map etched with 24 Xs, hidden firearms, and jewelry that speaks for the dead. Ballistics tell the rest: shell casings match the Ruger Mini-14, and those Xs resolve into graves in the wild.

From a 12-hour confession to a grim helicopter tour that yields new remains—including the victim dubbed “Horseshoe Harriet”—Obscura threads meticulous police work with the voices too long ignored. The gavel falls—461 years plus life—and the cold Alaskan air still carries the names of the missing.

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Anchorage’s pipeline boom promised prosperity, but under the neon and snow, someone was hunting. In this episode, we revisit the disappearances of young women—Megan Emerick, Mary Phil, Roxanne Eastland, and more—whose lives were too easily dismissed as the city looked the other way. Through survivor testimony, including Cindy Paulson’s harrowing escape, we chart the failures that let a predator thrive and the dogged investigators who refused to let the case go cold. Forensic breakthroughs and psychological profiling peel back the mask of Robert Hansen, the “Butcher Baker,” revealing calculation where others saw banality. Obscura’s trademark approach—unflinching, empathetic, and meticulously sourced—honors the victims while mapping the long, frozen road to justice.

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Anchorage during the oil boom promised quick money and fresh starts—but the wilderness kept its own secrets. In this episode, we trace the disappearances of young women drawn north by opportunity, and the investigators who fought isolation, scarce resources, and a chilling pattern surfacing in the tundra. At the center stands Robert Hansen, the seemingly ordinary baker whose long shadow fell over a city in rapid transformation. Through survivor voices, case files, and methodical police work, we reconstruct how the truth closed in—without losing sight of the lives behind the headlines. Dark, patient, and unflinching, this is Obscura at its most atmospheric.

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