EP. 66 ALASKA - Mass Murder On Board The Investor: Alaska's Worst Unsolved Crime
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On Labor Day weekend in 1982, eight people were on board a boat in Craig, Alaska. Among the eight were the Coulthurst family. There was the captain of the ship, Mark, his pregnant wife, Irene, and their two young children, Kimberly and John. Also on the boat were four teenage crew members, Dean Moon, Chris Heyman, Jerome Keown, and Michael Stewart.

And as they all pulled up to the docks, everyone was ready to celebrate. You see, that day marked the end of a very successful fishing season. For weeks, the crew worked tirelessly on board the Investor,

one of the nicest fishing boats in all of Craig, Alaska. And the 77,000 pounds of salmon that they caught meant that everyone on board was set to make a lot of money. But as they docked the investor and went on land to celebrate their success, they had no idea of what was to come. A few days later, many of the townspeople noticed that the investor was away from the docks, anchored off at sea.

There had been no movement on the boat and no one had heard from the crew in days. And to their surprise, the Investor would suddenly erupt into a fiery blaze. Once first responders got control of the fire, they entered the vessel to assess the damage. And to their horror, there were no survivors. All eight people died on board the Investor that September day in 1982. But this tragedy was no accident.

It was a brutal and deliberate massacre, the largest massacre in Alaskan history. And although many people have their suspicions of who committed this heinous act, no one, to this day, has been brought to justice. This is the story of the Alaskan Unsolved Massacre. I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. Murder in America

Bye.

Mark Colthurst was born on September 5th, 1954 in Bellingham, Washington. And since he was a young boy, he always knew he wanted to be a fisherman. Something about being out amongst the water catching the ocean's creatures was not only something that he loved, but something he was really good at. Which was interesting because no one in his family ever fished. It was just a passion of his that he came to love.

In high school, Mark found an old gillnetter, which is a boat that uses vertical panels of netting to catch fish. The 18-foot-long boat was in pretty rough shape, but Mark restored it and named it Mark's Farkel. It was his first love, some would say, and he spent a lot of time on it, fishing in Bellingham Bay.

Now, renovating a fishing vessel is a lot of hard work, but that's just the kind of person Mark was. He was passionate and hardworking. He was also very entrepreneurial. Before he found his passion for fishing, friends and family said that when people in his neighborhood would have poker tournaments, Mark would make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and sell them to the hungry players.

He would also sometimes rent out his shoes to people at his school. Mark was a budding businessman at a very young age. And when he was 15 years old, he would get his very first job at a local motorcycle shop. And Mark loved this job because the owner was an avid fisherman. The two would often bond over their shared hobby, and he was the man who actually introduced Mark to commercial fishing.

Not long afterwards, he found and restored his boat, Mark's Farkle, and from then on, he was hooked. Mark knew, even in high school, that he would make a career out of fishing. He never even considered any other job, and he didn't have to. The fishing business paid good money, and Mark was so successful that he was able to save up $10,000 and get a loan for another boat that he had his eyes on.

This boat was two times the size of Mark's Farkel and it had a diesel engine. After purchasing the 36-foot gillnetter, he decided to name it the St. Mark after himself. This would be the first boat that Mark would take on his big fishing adventures. And slowly but surely, he was beginning to make a name for himself among his profession. But fishing wasn't Mark's only love. He also had a girlfriend named Irene Hudson.

The two met at Bellingham High School and quickly fell in love. Irene was described as a very loving and thoughtful girl who deeply cared about the people in her life. She was beautiful with long dark brown hair and wore hexagonal shaped glasses like many people did in the 1970s.

Under her 1972 yearbook picture, Irene wrote that her life's ambitions were, quote, to always wear a smile and still be riding horses when I'm 90 years old. In addition to her love for horses, Irene loved to sew and make stained glass and jewelry. She also had big dreams for her life. One of those dreams was to fall in love and start a family, and Mark Colthurst would go on to be the love of her life.

The two started dating when they were in high school and like many teenage couples, they had their fair share of rough patches. Before prom one year, the two broke up and Mark started dating someone else. Shortly after, he got into a pretty bad accident that landed him in the hospital. And something that they would go on to laugh about later on was that both Irene and his new girlfriend showed up to check on him. And after that, the two started dating again.

They were meant for each other and they were never going to let anything get in the way of their relationship after that. And they stayed true to that promise. Shortly after graduating high school, Mark and Irene would get married and she would end up joining Mark on all of his fishing adventures. Irene grew to love life at sea just like her husband and she was really good at operating the boats too. Eventually, they would go on to make a really good team.

Irene would steer the boat while Mark fished, and together they became very successful. In 1977, the couple would go on to have their first child, a daughter that they would name Kimberly. And two years later, in 1979, they would have a son named John. During these years, Irene had to stay home with the kids. After all, it isn't easy raising toddlers in general, let alone on board a boat.

And although Irene wanted to be there with her husband, it just wasn't possible at the time. But with Irene's absence, that meant Mark would have to hire some more hands on deck. Most of the people he hired were family or friends, but regardless of who it was, Mark was a stern boss. He was serious about his work and some crew members that he hired didn't live up to his standards. He was a natural leader who cared about his profession and he didn't put up with a lot.

If crew members were slacking, he didn't have any problem firing them, even if they were close friends or family members. And although some people found him to be tough, those exact qualities are what made him so successful. On some weeks during the fishing season, Mark would make upwards of $100,000 in one week.

which would be around $350,000 today. And this was all when he was in his mid-20s, which was a lot younger than many other people in his field. Mark would tell people that his dream was to retire by the time he was 50, and he was surely heading in that direction.

But Mark was starting to feel like he had outgrown the town of Bellingham, Washington. It was his hometown, and he wanted to move he and his family somewhere with more opportunities to grow in the fishing industry. And eventually, he and Irene decide on moving to Blaine, Washington, a town on the Canadian border known for its fishing. And it was here where they settled down, purchased a property, and built their dream home.

For the next few years, Mark and his crew fished all along the western coast. And with every fishing season, he was becoming more and more successful. Because of this success, Mark went through several boats throughout his career. And each one was bigger and nicer than the last. But around the early 80s, Mark had his eyes set on his dream boat.

It was a 58-foot state-of-the-art fishing vessel worth $850,000, which is over $2.5 million today. It was the nicest, most advanced fishing boat out there, and it was made to carry tons of fish. It was so big, a crew of five to seven men usually had to operate it. It was fast, more efficient, and had new technology that most boats at the time didn't have.

Many even called it the quote Lamborghini of fishing boats. In addition, this boat was more family friendly than the last. It even had a washer and dryer and a lot more space for the children, meaning he could bring his wife and kids along and they could spend more time together during the fishing seasons. And when Mark finally made the purchase, it was a monumental point in his career, especially considering he was only in his 20s.

Now, he had to get a loan to buy the boat, but he wasn't worried about it because he knew it would have a great return on his investment. And for that reason, he decided to name the boat The Investor. Mark often told people, quote, The idea behind the name Investor is that we expect the boat to earn money, money that will invest in other areas, end quote.

After his purchase, Mark and the investor were featured in the well-known fishing magazine, Pacific Fisherman. It was a huge accomplishment and Mark had big dreams with all that he would achieve on the investor. And one of the main goals was to start fishing throughout Alaska.

Alaska was a gold mine for the fishing industry, and if you want to make the big bucks, that's where you have to go. Plus, Mark thought, it might be nice to start catching some new, more expensive fish like Alaskan salmon. The fishing season of 1982 was predicted to be their best season yet. Not only did Mark have the Investor, one of the best boats on the market, but his wife and two kids would be with him too.

Now, Irene was actually pregnant at the time with their third child, but she was adamant she was not going to miss out on another fishing season.

5-year-old Kimberly and 4-year-old John were also excited to join their dad out at sea. Along with the four members of the Colthurst family, there would be six crew members on board: Dean Moon, Chris Stewart, Chris Heyman, Jerome Keohm, Roy Tussing, and Leroy Fleming. And once everything was lined up and ready to go, the ten people boarded the Investor and took off towards Alaska for the season.

For the next few weeks, the crew worked tirelessly, catching as many fish as they could. The job wasn't easy. The nights were cold and the days were long, but regardless, they were having a successful season.

After weeks, the crew had caught around 77,000 pounds of Alaskan salmon. Labor Day weekend would eventually come, marking the end of the fishing season. So Mark and his crew had to crag Alaska to unload their fish and celebrate. They had even tied a broom to the investors' mast, which was a symbol that they had had a successful season. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. Life can be overwhelming and many people are burned out without even knowing it.

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Courtney and I love BetterHelp. If you want some help, BetterHelp is a great place to seek that out. Let's get back to today's show. As the investor pulled towards the docks in Craig, Alaska, there were many other fishing vessels docking as well. But the investor definitely stood out among the others. It was by far the biggest and nicest boat at the port. And there were a ton of boats there. About 115 to be exact.

You see, Craig is known for its fishing. The small town of only around 600 people would fill with thousands upon thousands of fishermen during the season.

Boats from all over would go out, gather their fish, and then head back to Craig to drop off their supply. Which was exactly what was happening that Sunday, September 5th, 1982. And as many people docked their boats, they went straight to the local bars. They either went to celebrate the success of their season, or to drink away the pain of a not so successful season.

But as for the people on board the investor, they were ecstatic. Their 77,000 pounds of salmon meant that they were going to receive around $33,000, which is around $100,000 today. And not only were they celebrating the end of a good season, but they were also celebrating because that day was Mark's 28th birthday.

After stepping off the boat, he and his family decided to go to the town's waterfront restaurant called Ruth Ann's, which was one of the better bars in town. And Mark even told his crew members that they had the night off to go and have fun, but he made sure to tell them to be back on board the Investor by noon the following day. Hours later, Mark and his family call it a night and head back to the boat to sleep.

while his crew members continued a party at the bars in Craig. The last known sighting of the crew was of Dean Moon and Jerome Keown, who had met up with a man named Don Holstrom. Don was a crew member of the boat dock directly next to the investor called the Libby 8.

It was a canary boat, and a number of its crew members were actually friends with some of the men on the Investor. Now, Dean and Jerome agreed to meet Don the following day at the bars, but they never showed.

Now, let's take a second to talk about the crew members aboard the Investor. There was Michael Stewart, Mark's cousin from his hometown of Bellington. Dean Moon, who had been working on Mark's crew for the past three fishing seasons. Dean's best friend, Jerome Keome, who was the skiff operator. And Chris Heyman, who Mark had met on a California fishing trip and was the son of the marina owner.

Now, those four guys are usually the names associated with this story. But there were two other crew members that actually left early. One was Border Patrol Officer Leroy Flaming, who worked as the cook on the Investor during the season. He and Mark were really good friends and he had been fishing with him for years. But Mark specifically wanted him present on the trip to intimidate the other crew members from using drugs, which apparently had been a problem in the past.

Now, he left early to attend a friend's retirement party, which is why you don't normally hear his name associated with this story. The other crew member who left early was Roy Tussing, who was the boat's engineer and operator. Roy had been a part of Mark's crew for the last seven years, and he left this trip early because of the "low morale" among the crew. Allegedly, during their trip out at sea, he and Mark got into an argument about the boat's hydraulic tank.

And even though they left on good terms, Roy said that he called Mark an asshole and claimed that he became arrogant after purchasing the investor. And allegedly, Roy wasn't the only one who thought this. He had heard other fishermen in the area talking about Mark saying, "You better be careful. Mark would walk over graves to make a buck." Roy even warned Mark to be careful because the other fishermen were jealous of his success. But Mark didn't seem to mind, replying, "So what?"

He was on his own journey and those other people didn't matter to him. But once Roy and Leroy left early, the only people left on the Investor were Mark, Irene, their children, Kimberly and John, and the four crew members, Dean, Jerome, Chris, and Michael. And after Dean and Jerome met up with Don from the Libby 8 that night, on September 5th, no one would see anyone from the Investor alive again.

The next day, September 6th, the townspeople of Craig noticed something interesting. The Investor was no longer docked. Instead, it was anchored off in the distance next to Fish Egg Island. Again, there was no movement inside of the boat, just the slow sway of the vessel against the sea. And many people were wondering why the boat was no longer at the dock. It just didn't make sense as to why it would be anchored off.

By the next morning, September 7th, the townspeople noticed that it was very foggy that morning in Craig, so foggy that you could barely even see the boats in the water. But after a few hours, as the fog lifted, they saw that the Investor was still anchored off at sea in the distance. It had been a whole 24 hours and the boat still hadn't moved,

And then suddenly, everyone realized that the thick gray air wasn't fog, it was smoke. And before they knew it, a loud noise echoed throughout the air, followed by a huge cloud of fire. The investor had exploded into a fiery blaze, and it was spreading fast. Within minutes, the entire boat was engulfed in flames up to 30 feet high.

The people on the docks watching began to panic, and they quickly called the police. Many people even get into their own boats to try and put out the flames, but they couldn't even get close to it because the fire was burning so hot.

So they had to wait until first responders arrived. Trooper Bob Anderson was the first to arrive on scene and he was not equipped to handle this fire alone. So he used another boat nearby called the Casino to try and get as close to the investor as he could. But the captain of the Casino was worried because he had propane tanks on board. And with the intense heat coming from the burning boat, he feared his own boat would catch fire if they got any closer.

So next, Trooper Anderson asks a nearby skiff to carefully make their way around the boat to see if there are any signs of life. And there weren't. And although it was alarming to see the beautiful boat up in flames, many people assumed that no one was even on board the investor. After all, Mark and his family were supposed to be in Blaine, Washington by that point. And the boat had been anchored in that same spot for more than a day. And no one seemed to be on board.

So even though they were working tirelessly to put out the blaze, there was no real panic because they thought no one was on board. Now, based on the fire's intensity and how fast it spread, Trooper Anderson didn't think that this was an accident.

With it being the end of the fishing season, he figured it was possible that the owner had a bad season and decided to burn the boat himself to collect insurance. That wouldn't be the first time that that had happened, but he would have to figure all of that out later. As for now, his main priority was to control the fire. By this point, the boat, which was made of fiberglass walls, a luxury only found on the most expensive fishing boats, began to fall into itself. It was collapsing.

Hours later, first responders would finally get the fire under control. But there wasn't much left of the boat and they were afraid it was going to sink. So they end up pulling it to shore so they could start their investigation. By this point, the fire had become a huge spectacle in Craig, Alaska. Many people had rushed over to the port to see the damage of the beautiful vessel. Upon seeing the boat in flames, a journalist said the investor looked like a floating crematorium.

But no one had any idea how close he was to the truth. One of the first things that Trooper Anderson noticed upon stepping aboard the Investor was how there was slippery, melted fiberglass everywhere. Everything in sight was burned beyond repair, and the thick smell of smoke still lingered.

Trooper Anderson said that he didn't intend on being there very long. After all, arson investigators were on their way. But as he and the other volunteers that were with him walked through the gallery door, they saw something up ahead.

One of the volunteers would later describe it as "some warm gel-like substance, like you would see in the gelatin from a cherry pie filling." A very graphic description, but at first they all assumed it was the body of a dog, or maybe even a deer.

Anderson would later say, quote, it isn't very big. It looks like a deer lying on its side with its legs sticking straight out and totally unrecognizable with burnt tissue and some gut material hanging out, end quote. But then as he took a closer look, he was horrified. The figure in front of him wasn't an animal at all. It was the unrecognizable corpse of a small child

Anderson suddenly took a step back and looked to the right. There, on the ground, was another burned corpse. On the other side of the room, there were two more lying on top of one another.

They weren't as burned as the previous two, and it was obvious that it was a male lying on top of a female. Investigators didn't know it at the time, but those two bodies were Mark and Irene. And from what they could tell, it looked like he was hovering over her, protecting her from something, or someone. And they were right. After taking a closer look,

Trooper Anderson saw a hole inside of the brain of the male corpse. A bullet hole. Suddenly, the reality of the situation came crashing down. This was no accident. They were standing in the middle of a mass murder scene.

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Now, let's get back to today's show.

Trooper Anderson quickly radioed his superiors, but he was intentionally vague because he was worried someone else, maybe the media, would get a hold of the information prematurely. And if they did, the town of Craig would surely go into a frenzy. This was by far the worst crime scene their small town had ever seen, so they needed to be careful. Once crime scene investigators arrived, they removed the four bodies, which was not an easy task.

Because of the intense heat, they had practically melted to the floors And, disturbingly, as they attempted to lift the bodies up, many pieces of tissue would be left behind, stuck on the boat

Now, getting the bodies off the vessel was just as difficult. Because they were still on the water, they had to place them on pallet boards and lift them out with a crane. Afterwards, they secured them in body bags and transported them to the cannery dock at Columbia Ward Fisheries in Craig. It was a scene no one should ever have to see.

Trooper Anderson later stated that the sight of the little girl's burned body and the smell of her charred flesh were things that would haunt him for the rest of his life. But a huge problem that they ran into during their investigation was learning that eight people should have been on board the Investor. After carefully looking at the remains, they discovered that the bodies they recovered were that of five-year-old Kimberly Colthurst,

Mark's cousin, Michael Stewart, Irene Colhurst, who was pregnant at the time, and Mark Colhurst, who was found hovered over his wife's body. All four died from a .22 caliber handgun. Mark's sister, Lisa, told People Magazine Investigates' episode on this case called "Murder at Sea." - When I found out about my brother, I went into complete denial. I called my brother's house several times. Just so unreal. It can't be happening.

His other sister, Lori, said, I mean, my brother would have given you the shirt off his back.

And my sister-in-law, she was a doll. I mean, my God, who could have possibly wanted to do something like that? And the people of Craig were also terrified. Things like this didn't happen in their small town. And everyone was afraid that whoever was responsible for the murders was still lingering around town. Hard to believe. You know, it's really hard to believe.

It's left the whole fishing community in a state of shock. It's tragic. It's the most tragic thing that I can think of as long as I've been in the fishing business and the fact that I do fish with my wife and family and the kids are on board, I can relate to it. And another horrifying aspect of this crime was that four-year-old John Coldhurst was still unaccounted for, along with three other crew members, Dean Moon, Jerome Keown, and Chris Heyman.

But there was still a lot of evidence to sift through, so crime scene investigators continued to search for answers aboard the Investor. One discovery that was made had to do with the boat's pumping system in the engine room.

Strangely enough, all of the butterfly valves had been opened. Now, I didn't understand what this meant at first, but apparently, this is very dangerous for a fishing vessel. In fact, managing the boat's pumping system is such an important job due to the dangers that come with it.

that only the captain and the boat's chief engineer are supposed to open the valves. And the fact that they were all open led investigators to believe that someone had purposefully tried to sink the investor. But by the next day, when the perpetrators saw that the boat was still afloat, they decided to return to the boat and set it on fire.

Another interesting discovery was that the investor was supposed to have a skiff attached to it, which is a smaller boat that sat on top of a ramp, and I think it was there just in case of an emergency on board and everyone had to evacuate.

But interestingly enough, the investor's skiff was missing and the ramp that it was attached to was broken. But they were able to determine, however, that it hadn't been broken from the fire.

The evidence showed that someone had tried to remove the skiff, but it was clear that they didn't know how to operate the ramp, so it broke. Despite that, the perpetrator was still able to get it off the ramp and flee the scene. And slowly but surely, investigators were starting to piece together what had happened. First, they concluded that someone came on board Sunday night and shot everyone on the boat.

Then, the killer had to find a way to hide the bodies. The first idea that came to mind was sinking the boat, so they pulled it away from the docks late at night and opened up the boat's butterfly valves, thinking it would sink before everyone woke up the following morning.

But by Tuesday, when the ship was still afloat, the perpetrator started to panic realizing it was only a matter of time until people started asking questions. It was here when he went to plan B, setting the boat on fire. After dousing the investor in accelerant, the culprit ignited the flames and escaped off the skiff, breaking the ramp in the process.

And luckily, several witnesses would come forward confirming this theory.

On the morning of the fire, two people named Bruce Anderson and Jan Kittleson witnessed something that would provide a lead in the investigation. Moments after the boat burst into flames, many people started heading towards the fire in their own boats. Bruce went to do the same thing to see if he could help out in any way, but he soon realized that he had no gas. He went on to say, quote, The fire had just been announced, and it seemed like everyone else was headed toward the fire, except the skiff. The

The skiff was headed in the opposite direction, toward the dock, and the guy in it seemed like he could care less about the fire." When the man and the skiff got close enough to them, Jan yelled out, "Hey, is there anyone on board?" And the man responded, "Yeah, there is," before tying his boat up to the dock and disappearing. Now, Bruce and Jan assumed that this guy was speeding off to go get help, but that wasn't the case.

Now, investigators' main priority is to find out who this mysterious man is, but the description given was pretty generic. The witnesses said that the man was around 20 years old with blonde hair, glasses, and was wearing a baseball hat with an emblem on it, kind of like the emblems that the Alaska Pipeline or California Fish and Game Department employees wear.

And it should be noted that Bruce and Jan were locals, and because Craig, Alaska is so small, they knew almost everyone in town. But they were positive that they had never seen this man before. And to raise their suspicions even further, two more witnesses came forward claiming to have seen the same man in the skiff. Their names were Sue Dominovsky and Paul Page.

They worked at the cannery dock where the suspect docked the skiff. Sue said that after seeing the fire, she approached the man and asked him about the burning ship, but he seemed to be in shock, and he even told her that she could use his skiff if she wanted to go get help. And he even told Sue that she could use his skiff if she wanted to go help.

Which was strange because people don't usually just offer up their boats to strangers. These witnesses had the same description of the man as the first two witnesses. He was in his late teens, early 20s, blonde, wearing a baseball hat and glasses.

Another man named Jim Robinson, who was owner of the Only Town gas station, Craig Otto, claimed to have seen the suspect too. He said that the man, matching the suspect's description, had stopped by to get gas on either Monday, the day before the fire, or Tuesday, the day of the fire.

Robinson said he remembered the man either wore a blue or black hat, was young, and may have been wearing glasses. But beyond that, he could not remember much because there were always young men coming to the gas station to fill up on gasoline. So now, investigators have a little more to work with. The only problem was, now that Labor Day weekend was over, most of the fishermen in the area had already left and headed home.

Investigators were worried that whoever may have done this may have already left Craig, Alaska and could be thousands of miles away, but they kept looking regardless. - Now investigators did eventually find the investor skiff that the suspect used to flee.

It was docked right at the port. They even found a plastic nozzle from a gasoline container inside. But unfortunately, they didn't take it into evidence until days after the fire. And by that point, it had already rained, washing away any evidence that would have been inside. This was a huge mistake in the investigation.

But back at the crime scene, investigators are still looking through the debris to see if they can find the remains of the other four victims. But they were having a hard time. You see, arson investigators concluded that leaded gas was used as an accelerant for the fire.

And that type of gas is even more dangerous than regular gas because it burns more intensely. This also means that the other four bodies could still possibly be among the debris, but because the fire burned at such high temperatures, there wasn't much left of their remains. But regardless, they continued to search.

They did so by using these screens to sift through the ash. One person would gather a bucket of debris, dump it on the screen, and then they would shake all the ash through. Whatever was left would be sitting on top. After hours of doing this, they eventually find bone fragments and some teeth. Now all they could do was send it back to the lab and see if they could make some identifications. But that would take some time.

In the meantime, investigators work tirelessly to figure out who could have done this. Who was so angry with Mark Coulthurst that they would have killed him, his entire family, and all of his crew members? And like with any investigation, they start by looking at the people closest to them. And particularly, they look at Mark's two crew members that left early.

Leroy Fleming, and Roy Tussing. If you remember, Roy and Mark kind of had an argument before he left. Could that have been a motive to kill everyone? Investigators weren't so sure. But eventually, Mark and Leroy were ruled out as suspects. Roy did admit to investigators that a lot of the fishermen in the area were jealous of Mark and his success.

Not only did he have the best boat in all of Craig, but he also caught the most salmon. His 77,000 pounds were supposed to make him a lot of money. Did someone find out about that and kill him? There were rumors going around that Mark had $33,000 on board the Investor from his earnings that season. Maybe someone snuck on board and killed him for the money.

But investigators quickly found this to be untrue. For one, Mark never took cash payments for his fishing loads. And two, on the night of the murders, when he was out celebrating with his family, he had asked someone for a $100 loan for the dinner tap. So he definitely didn't have a load of cash on his boat if he was having to borrow money.

Now, back at the coroner's office, after sifting through a ton of teeth and bone fragments, they were finally able to identify a fifth victim. Down by the stairs leading up to the investors' galley, investigators found the partial remains of Jerome Keowne.

The autopsy revealed that someone had shot him at least once in the arm, most likely when he raised his arms up, trying to protect himself from the bullets. As for the other partial remains that were found, the coroner was still trying to figure out who was who.

According to Leroy Flamming, the crew member that left early, he said that Chris Heyman always slept on the left side of the boat, which gave investigators some identifying clues because they had found bones, a watch band, and a molar in that area, and they were eventually able to link them to Chris Heyman. Now, the only victims still unaccounted for were Dean Moon and four-year-old John Colthurst,

And a little bit of a spoiler alert, they were never able to find the four-year-old's remains. According to Leroy Flamming, John would often sleep in a daybed in the investor's wheelhouse. And, unfortunately, that's where the fire had hit the hardest. It's believed that the temperatures got so high in that room that John Colthurst's body just completely combusted, meaning no remains would ever be recovered.

And after learning this information, the only person left to be identified was Dean Moon. And we'll get back to him in a little bit. But as for now, let's talk about the police department's discovery on Wednesday, the day after the fire. Tensions were high in Craig, Alaska after the town learned about the tragedy that occurred on board the Investor. And because of this high tension, the bars in town were a little more busy than usual.

One man that went into the Hill Bar to grab a few drinks was Craig's rescue operator, a man named Jerry Mackey. He had spent the day working with investigators on the case, so he was well aware of the description of the suspect on the skiff. And what do you know, as he sits at the bar enjoying his drink, he looks over and sees a young man with blonde hair, glasses, wearing a baseball cap.

The young man notices Mackie looking at him and the two share a few awkward glances. Something about him seemed off, almost like he was nervous. Mackie felt in his gut that he needed to call his superiors and let them know about the man inside of the bar, especially since he matched the description of the suspect.

And as soon as they got the call, the Craig Police Department immediately took action by bringing two of their eyewitnesses to the bar, Bruce Anderson and Jan Kittleson. The investigators told the couple to step inside, take a look around, and see if they see the man that was driving the skiff. But interestingly enough, after both Bruce and Jan scanned the bar,

They came out saying that the man they spoke to that day wasn't there. But Captain Kolovoski, the one operating this investigation, was not about to let the man inside of the bar go free without talking to him first. So he goes inside, introduces himself, and asks the young man to step outside. And of course, he does. Once outside, Captain Kolovoski asks for his ID.

and the man hands over a Washington driver's license. He was 24-year-old John Peel, a man that would become a huge part of this investigation. And the authorities were very upfront with John from the get-go, telling him that he matched the description of the man fleeing from the investor. And surprisingly, John admitted right then and there that he actually knew Mark Coulthurst pretty well.

In fact, he had been a crew member of Mark's on a previous boat called "The Kit". Now, this information really sparked the investigator's interest. Not only did he match the description, but he had a connection to the victims. In addition, John was working as a deckhand on the boat docked directly next to the investor, a boat called the Libby 8.

When detectives asked him what he was doing that night, John said he was sleeping on board. He was also adamant that he had nothing to do with their murders. And since the eyewitnesses couldn't identify him as the man in the skiff, authorities had no other choice but to let him go. And although this was a letdown, investigators were confident that they had just found their killer. All they had to do now was prove it.

Over the next few months, investigators worked tirelessly to try and connect John Peel to the murders aboard the Investor, and they came up with some interesting findings. For one, John Peel had actually dated Mark Coulthurst's sister, Lisa, years prior. Lisa told investigators that she and John's relationship wasn't anything serious. They

they had met in high school went on a few dates but they were also casually seeing other people lisa also acknowledged that while john was popular he wasn't very likable

But during their brief relationship, John never met her brother Mark, and in 1980, he hired him onto his crew. When investigators asked John why he stopped working for Mark, John says there wasn't any particular reason, they just kind of parted ways. So investigators talk with Lisa, Mark's sister.

She says that eventually she and John broke up, but they continued to stay in touch. In fact, after Lisa found out that her brother had been murdered, she immediately called John for more information because she knew he would be in Craig for the fishing season. But this was before cell phones, so she had to call his parents' house. John's brother Robert ended up answering the phone, and he told her that John hadn't returned home yet, but they were expecting to hear from him soon.

But she never got a response. There was a point where Lisa thought that John was stalling, that he didn't want to talk to her. Finally, by the end of the week, John told Lisa that he didn't have any information. He did say that he saw the children, Kimberly and John, on the boat. He gave John a push on the rope swing that weekend, but that was the last he ever saw of them. Now, if you remember, the coroner was able to identify six victims on board the Investor.

The only people still unaccounted for were John Coulthurst, Mark and Irene's 4-year-old son, and Dean Moon. And based on the evidence at the scene, crime scene investigators suspected that their bodies may have just completely combusted in the fire. But interestingly enough, six months after the murders, investigators would get word that Dean Moon had been spotted on a fishing dock in San Francisco.

And for the first time, they have another suspect other than John Peel. Now investigators go to San Francisco to try and locate Dean, but they never find him. They also send investigators over to John's family to interrogate them.

They thought that maybe Dean had gone into hiding and that they were keeping his whereabouts a secret. Dean's sister, Ava Goodman, would later tell People Investigates, "The police interviewed me about my relationship with my brother, what his personality was like, who he was, did he have any friends, did he do this, did he do that. For someone to say that my brother could be responsible for this was truly the most hurtful thing ever.

End quote. And this would go on to be another mistake in this investigation. Because eventually, the pathologist found a jawbone among the investor's debris. And the jawbone was a match to Dean Moon. Now all of their victims have been identified except for John Coulthurst. And they obviously knew that the four-year-old couldn't have been responsible. So they turn their attention back to John Peel.

But one year after the murders, the case was still cold. Investigators didn't have one single trace of physical evidence that could link John to the murders. And their eyewitnesses couldn't identify him as the man in the skiff. So all they could really do was interview people that were close to John. And they specifically wanted to talk to the crew members on the Libby 8th.

Like we mentioned, the Libby 8 was literally docked next to the investor So they start by talking to the captain of Libby 8, a man named Larry Demert Jr. Now, at first, Larry was a little tight-lipped about what he saw that night

He would later say his reasoning was because he really didn't like the police But eventually, he would come forward and say that on the night of the murders, at around 10:00 p.m. he was walking back to the docks after hanging out with his girlfriend when he saw something that caught his eye Up in the distance, he saw John Peel step off the Libby 8 and walk onto the Investor Larry said he didn't think anything of it and he just went to bed

But strangely, later that night, he was awoken by the sound of loud popping noises. So he looked out the porthole window and he saw a dark figure leaving the investor.

Larry goes on to tell investigators that the next day, he went to go check on his gun that he always keeps on board in the wheelhouse, but surprisingly, it was missing. According to him, the gun was a .22 caliber, the same kind of gun that was used in the murders. Then, miraculously, a few days later, the gun reappeared back in its original spot.

And to investigators, this was huge. Now, why Larry didn't come forward right away, we don't know. And that definitely makes a lot of people suspicious of his story. Authorities end up taking the .22 caliber for a ballistics test, but the results are inconclusive, meaning there's still no physical evidence against John Peel.

Investigators also talked to another crew member on the Libby 8, a man named Brian Palinkas. He tells them that John Peel actually invited Dean Cook and Jerome Keown onto the Libby 8 that night of the murders. Apparently, John Peel was selling them some weed. Now, investigators confront John about this and he admits to selling Dean and Jerome weed that night.

Which doesn't look good for him since he didn't admit that before. Investigators also find out that this wasn't the only lie John had told them.

Remember how John worked for Mark on a previous boat? Well, John told investigators that they ended on good terms and that there weren't any issues between the two of them. But this wasn't true. Apparently, while John worked on Mark's boat, he would always show up drunk or stoned. And Mark didn't want that kind of behavior on his boat. Like we mentioned, Mark took his job very seriously and he never put up with that kind of stuff.

So he ended up firing John. Mark's sister Lori would later tell People Investigates, "There's people that will tell you that Mark was a bit of a jerk to work for, because he was a real hard worker. He expected them to give as much as he gave. He was the captain of the ship. There's no doubt about that." And come to find out, John's termination wasn't very smooth. It was more of a falling out. Apparently, Mark had barred John from the boat.

which means he wasn't allowed to ever step foot on it again. And according to boat people, barring someone from your boat is a very big deal and John was pretty upset about it. But was he angry enough to kill eight people years after his termination? Investigators still didn't have enough proof to bring it to trial.

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PrettyLitter.com, code STATE. We love the product. You will all love the product. Now, let's get back to today's show. The chief investigator has told the families that he won't retire until the case is solved. The trooper indicated Alaska's governor wants it resolved because not only has it made fishermen nervous, but has left a black mark on the state of Alaska.

Now, soon enough, the media went crazy with this story. It was Alaska's biggest mass murder, and everyone was shocked that it was still unsolved. And many people around town were convinced that John Peel was responsible. They were convinced even more so when he failed a polygraph. At this point, everybody knew his name. They even knew his face.

Which makes the next part of our story a little suspicious After the story blew up, a man came forward telling police that on the day of the murders he saw a man in a skiff pull up to the docks Why he didn't come forward earlier, we don't know But investigators are excited because they want this case solved So they do a photo line up and what do you know, the man identifies John Peel And to investigators, that was all they needed to bring John to trial

And on September 10th, 1984, two years after the murders, they placed him under arrest for eight counts of murder. Now, there was absolutely no physical evidence that proved John was responsible. The only thing the state had was eyewitness testimony.

So, everyone knew this wasn't going to be an easy trial. Alaska State Troopers have been looking at Peele for quite a few months when they felt they had enough evidence and arrest warrant was issued and Peele was taken into custody without incident. John Peele's arraignment was in January of 1985. And to everyone's shock, he showed up to court wearing a ski mask. His reasoning was that his trial was big news.

And he didn't want to show the world his face because he thought that it would influence his trial. John was facing a lot of prison time. Eight counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to 800 years in prison. It is billed as one of the biggest mass murders in the Northwest and tonight Bellingham native John Peel is finally on trial.

John Peel's trial began on January 13th, 1986 and would last for six months. The prosecution argued that John killed everyone on board the Investor that night because he wanted revenge against Mark for firing him years prior. And while prosecutors were confident that they had their man, the evidence presented in court was pretty weak. Sure, John somewhat looked like the composite sketch of the man in the skiff,

But at the same time, the sketch was pretty generic. It's also reasonable to assume that John may have harbored some anger against Mark for firing him. But the defense argued that this claim was ridiculous. They said that John wasn't mad at Mark anymore. And even if he was, you don't just go and kill eight people. The defense also questioned the credibility of the state's witnesses.

For instance, Larry DeMert Jr., the captain of the Libby 8, claimed to have seen John on the investor on the night of the murders. But on this stand, Larry changes his story. Now he claims to have heard a woman screaming that night and when he looked out the window, he said he saw John on the dock with a rifle. Larry claimed that he was so scared he went and locked himself in a room.

Here is a direct quote from that testimony. I think I heard a woman scream. Immediately after that, I heard popping sounds like a generator backfiring. I wasn't sure. I was real scared. I had never been that scared in my life. It was like there was danger in the air, evil in the air. It was real thick. I saw John Peel standing on the dock. It looked like he might have had a rifle in his hand.

Now, this is a very different story than what he first told investigators, and John Peel's defense made sure to point out these inconsistencies. Larry also claimed that he had been able to identify the figure on the dock as John Peel because of the sweatshirt and hat he was wearing, two items of clothing that Jonathan often wore while working aboard the ship.

But when the defense team cross-examines Larry, they expose the fact that he had been suffering from an intense Valium addiction at the time, and that any testimony he had to offer to the jurors had to be taken with a grain of salt, as the drugs could have interfered with his memory.

And with that, the state's key eyewitness lost a lot of credibility. Since the start of this trial last January, defense attorneys have attempted to discredit a case which prosecutors concede is largely circumstantial. There are no witnesses to the actual crime and the physical evidence is incomplete. The defense also told the jury that John had no prior criminal record. A lot of people even said he was a great person.

A member of the Colthurst family even stated in court that John was "a real pleasant guy." One of John's friends stated, "Why, he didn't even have the nerve to punch anyone. I'd believe the killer was my mother before I'd believe it was him." So, with almost zero physical evidence linking John to the Investor murders, how did the authorities manage to convince a grand jury to proceed with the indictment and subsequent trial?

Well, actually, that's where a bit of sloppy police work comes into play. You see, the police at the time claimed that John had already confessed to the crime. They declared that they had a copy of a transcript of their conversation with John at the station, and that during this conversation he had admitted to the murders. Allegedly, the transcript stated that John had told authorities, quote,

But in reality, Jonathan's legal team claimed that that wasn't what John had told the police and that he had actually said, Malpractice on the part of the authorities would taint the legal proceedings. It

It turned out the prosecutors had withheld potentially exonerating evidence from the grand jury in order to secure an indictment. The Alaskan prosecutors also had been accused multiple times by Jonathan's legal team of threatening witnesses into testifying. And because the state didn't have any physical evidence, all they could do was bring forward eyewitnesses. Some claimed that John had been acting suspiciously on the night of the murders.

One witness stated that they had seen John on a skiff in the water that night. Another witness, named Jim Robinson, stated that he saw John Peel purchase gasoline a few hours before the murders. But John's defense tore into every single one of these witnesses, casting a lot of doubt, so much doubt, in fact, that by July of 1986, the jury wasn't able to reach a verdict.

John Peel's trial ended in a hung jury, but he wasn't out of the woods just yet. A hung jury means that they can try him again, and they would. His second trial would be two years later in 1988, and this time the prosecution brought forward two more witnesses. The witnesses were brothers who claimed to be friends with John, and they said that one day while they were out fishing,

John admitted to them that he was indeed the one who killed the eight people on the Investor. They even stated that after John told them this, he gave them a creepy little smile. But once again, John's defense team pointed out that one of the brothers had recently gotten in trouble with the law and that he agreed to testify in the trial in exchange for authorities dropping a felony charge to a misdemeanor.

And this showed that the testimony wasn't credible. And after three months, the trial comes to an end and the jury takes four days to deliberate. Their verdict: not guilty. There just wasn't enough evidence for a conviction. Thank God it's over and justice did work this time. Dean Moon's sister Ava would later say, quote, "When he was declared not guilty, you're incredibly let down. You were sad.

And then you realize of all things that it doesn't change anything. It doesn't change that my brother's gone. It doesn't change my parents' agony. So you gotta pick up and move on.

After both trials, John tried to return to a normal life, but obviously it was hard. There were still authorities and members of the general public that believed wholeheartedly that indeed John had been the one who pulled the trigger on that fateful night in 1982. And that sentiment would never truly go away.

Shortly after he had been acquitted of the crimes, John appeared on the television program A Current Affair to talk about the murders, the trial, and his acquittal. When a reporter for the program questioned him on what it would take to have his name cleared, John responded,

for them to solve the case around two years after he had been acquitted of the charges john and his legal team fired a 177 million dollar civil suit against the state of alaska and the prosecution team

Almost seven years later, he reportedly settled with them for around $900,000. For years after the murders and his acquittal, John Wood remained silent. He purposefully stayed out of the public eye, and he lived a quiet life. But suddenly, in 2017, he reappeared in an interview with People magazine, telling them that "somebody out there knows what happened."

In the interview and subsequent television special, John begged for the real killer to come forward and finally tell the truth of the matter. But still to this day, there are no real answers in this case. Due to double jeopardy, John Peel can never be tried again for the murders on board the Investor in 1982.

Over two million dollars were spent during the course of his trials, making it the most expensive trial in Alaska's history. And although the case is still unsolved, in the eyes of the law, it's considered tried and closed. And sadly, I don't think there will ever be any answers to this story. It would be nearly impossible to gather new evidence, especially since the crime scene itself

is now hundreds of feet underwater. The investor accidentally sunk six miles from Craig while being towed to Washington State. That boat, or what's left of it, has to hold some sort of secret. There has to be someone out there who knows the truth behind this story. Maybe a friend of the killer who swore to secrecy. A family member who helped them evade justice.

But someone out there knows who's responsible for the murder of eight people. In 2016, Mark's sisters, Lisa and Lori, tried to find closure by reaching out to John Peel himself. Lisa told People Investigates that she told John, quote, I feel very strongly that you have information that you're not giving me and that in some way you were involved. He looked me straight in the eye and said I didn't do it.

So I asked him, "Okay John, so who do you think murdered them?" And he said, "I don't have anybody I could think of." And right then and there I was like, "No, no. Maybe he didn't pull the trigger, but I think he had a very big part in it." The sisters left that day telling him that if he ever had anything to tell them, to please let them know. "We are waiting," they said.

But still, to this day, they haven't gotten those answers. And I don't know if they ever will. But as we were wrapping this story up, we came across some information that sparked our interest. Maybe the truth is there. Remember Jim Robinson, the owner of the gas station in Craig, Alaska, who claimed to have seen John Peel filling up a gas can on the day of the murders? Well, it turns out that Jim wasn't really...

Jim. His real name was Kenneth Harvey Robertson, and he was a convicted arsonist who had fled a felony charge, moved to Craig, Alaska, and changed his name. No one in the town of Craig knew that Jim Robertson was actually Kenneth Robertson, not even the state trooper that lived next door to Kenneth or the members of the prosecution team.

But you see, Kenneth had a pretty checkered and suspicious history. In 1979, a few years before the murders, Kenneth set fire to a car in Arizona that belonged to his ex-wife's boyfriend. After he was arrested on arson charges, the authorities in Arizona discovered that Kenneth had purchased a 12-gauge shotgun and had sawed off the barrel.

Turns out he had been planning on murdering his wife's family. Kenneth had a pretty extensive rap sheet, which included arrests for embezzlement, passing bad checks, and violent assaults. At various points in his life, he had threatened the women he was romantically involved with by claiming he would hurt or kill them with firearms and explosives. He had also been a suspect in a murder investigation in Oklahoma at one point.

While he was being held in jail, Kenneth even started a large fire in his jail cell and refused to extinguish it. After being convicted of arson of an unoccupied structure, Kenneth served time in a minimum security prison before eventually being transferred out of the prison and into a halfway house on a work release program.

But it was this very halfway house that Kenneth escaped from one night and fled to Alaska to begin a new life as Jim Robinson. Jim would go on to testify in John Peel's trial, and no one at the time even knew that he was a convicted arsonist with a violent history on the run from the law himself. And the truth behind Jim Robinson wasn't discovered until years after the trial had ended, when two of his employees died, exposing his true identity.

So, could Kenneth Robertson be the real killer? We're in no way saying that he is. But it's odd that in a town as small as Craig, a violent arsonist could fly under the radar after the biggest mass murder in Alaskan history. It seems that, at the end of the day, the real truth behind whatever happened to those victims went up in flames with the Investor on that fateful night so many decades ago.

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Hey everybody, it's Colin here. And Courtney. Thank you again for joining us for this week's episode of Murder in America. Courtney, you did an amazing job writing this story. What are your thoughts on this case at the end of the day? I think it's tragic that we never really got any answers and I don't really know where I stand at the end of the day on whether or not I believe John Peel is guilty or not. What do you think?

I think it's interesting. There's so many bizarre circumstances to this story, but the truth, like we said, I don't think will ever be known. I want to thank all of our new patrons this week. Robert Birdtail, Robert McAdam, Joshua Bragg, Sarah Lessig, Gracie Cardoza, Juan Pena, Erica Portillo, David Oles, Brooke Maples, Jonica Kearney, Kelly Gegg, All Things Spooky, Hallie Now, Abigail Scott,

Wow. Those are a lot of names. Yeah.

Yeah, if you want to hear our episodes ad-free, go follow us on Patreon. Yeah, we post an ad-free version of every episode right when it's aired on all streaming platforms. So if you want that ad-free version, you can head to Patreon. It helps us out and we love talking to y'all.

Follow us on Instagram at Murder in America and follow our Facebook group and comment and let us know what you think about this case. Do you think John Peel is innocent or guilty? But yeah, thank y'all for bearing with us. The next few weeks, the next month is a crazy time in our life. Sorry about the inconsistent release schedule, but we'll be back on it soon. And we'll see you next week. Thanks for listening, everyone. We love you guys.