American Homicide - S1: E30 – End of the Road: The Hunt for Michael Silka

Episode Date: May 15, 2025

A drifter snaps and goes on a chaotic murder spree that shatters a peaceful Alaska town. A costly confrontation takes an additional life.  Reach out to the American Homicide team by emailing us: [e-mail]. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart podcast. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I collect my roommates toenails and fingernails. Those were some callers from my call in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take phone calls from anonymous strangers as a fake gecko therapist and try to learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept,

but I promise it's very interesting. Check it out for yourself by searching for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my new true crime podcast, Murder on the Towpath, I'm taking you back to 1964, to the cold case of artist Mary Pinchot-Meyer. She had been shot twice in the head and in the back.

It turns out Mary was connected to a very powerful man. I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression. John F. Kennedy. Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed

to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley season one. Every time I hear about my dad is, oh, he's a killer, he's just straight evil. I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known. At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley season two on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Frye and Maria Tramarchi, hosts of Criminalia, as they uncover curious cases from the past. The legend of the highwayman suggests men dominated the field. But tell that to Lady Catherine Ferrer's, known as the Wicked Lady, who terrorized England in the mid 1600s. Her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death. Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Find more crime and cocktails on Criminalia.

Listen to Criminalia on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Anybody that has gotten to the point where he can kill all these people, including a small child, there's very little chance he'll give himself up. He's snapped, he's gone beyond, and there's no coming back from where he is now. No coming back. The hunt for one of Alaska's worst serial killers turned a quiet town into the wild, wild west. In a situation like this, it's clear to us that this is not going to end well. If we see him, and we're not going to walk out and say, hey, how you doing?

This is going to be a gunfight. Today, we're just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska for the haunting case of End of the Road, the Hunt for Michael Silka. I'm Sloane Glass, and this is American Homicide. Just a note that this episode contains some graphic content. Please take care while listening. On a spring day in 1984, two Alaska State Troopers stopped their patrol car outside a cabin that belonged to Michael Silka. I don't remember much of Silka's cabin, but it was junky like most of the other ones over there.

Sergeant Jim McCann was an Alaska State Trooper. It wasn't some cute little log cabin in the woods. It was just a thrown together wood shack with a bunch of garbage laying all around it. Michael Silka's cabin sat in an area off the beaten path just outside of Fairbanks. There were these little cabins and people that had come to Alaska and didn't have much money were staying in those cabins. The troopers were doing a well-being check on Michael Selka. Earlier they had received a report that he had been shot and killed by his neighbor, Roger Culp. That trooper went over and knocked on his cabin door. He didn't answer the door.

That's when the troopers walked around Michael Selka's yard. Although it was a warm late April day, There was still snow on the ground. Footprints in the snow led the troopers to a three by six foot snow mound. There were indeed blood spatters on that, but there's a moose hide hanging there and I don't know, it could be blood from the moose. One trooper poked at the mound of snow and then grabbed a sample of the blood to send off for testing. Both troopers then walked back to Michael Silka's front door.

They knocked again, and they heard someone moving around a little bit inside the house. And eventually, a voice said, who's out there? He said, Alaska State Trooper. It went quiet for a second before the voice from inside the cabin responded. And he said, how many of you are there? Both troopers looked at each other puzzled. One of them yelled back, there's two of us.

Can you open the door, please?" The cabin door slowly opened, and a man with dark hair and a scraggly beard peeked outside. And strangely enough, it's Michael Silka. Much to the surprise of the troopers, the man identified himself as 25-year-old Michael Silka, the person they were told had been murdered by a neighbor. We had no idea who Michael Silka was until all this happened. So Silka, who the troopers believed was killed by his neighbor Roger Culp, was alive and Roger Culp was missing. Roger Culp was a guy that disappeared a lot. He was a heavy drinker and heavy drinkers around here just kind of wander around, and during warm weather

they lay down and sleep in the woods. They do all sorts of things. The belief was Roger Culp would eventually turn up. He always did. It's not really all that suspicious for a guy like Roger Culp to be gone from his trailer for, even a day or two. So there aren't a lot of alarms going on at this point.

Before leaving Michael Silka's cabin, the two troopers had some questions. They found blood scattered around Silka's cabin. Alaska State Trooper Steve Heckman. And he said, yeah, that's blood on the ground there. I was skinning a moose. I was skinning out a moose hide or something. And the blood was from that.

Michael Silka had butchered a moose and said he washed the hides for some of his hunter friends. Those hides are used to make jackets, gloves, and even rope. If you're in the bush, it would be a very common thing. The two troopers thanked Michael Silka for his time and drove away. Michael Silka waited until they were completely out of sight. Once they were gone, he closed the door. In a cabin a couple doors down, a woman was watching. What she witnessed the previous day had left her paralyzed with fear. There was an exchange between Culp and Silke,

and it was just very uncomfortable. The previous day, that female neighbor of Michael Silke was outside chopping wood and talking with Roger Culp. The two noticed Michael Silke walk past three different times, carrying a pile of guns to his car. On his final pass, Silka stopped where his two neighbors were chopping wood, grabbed a long stick, and angrily slammed it against the chopping block. He yelled, this is how you do it, and then walked back to his cabin.

It was a strange and scary outburst. There was something about him that really bothered her. It also upset Roger Culp, who followed Silka to his cabin. A short time later, the woman chopping wood said she heard gunshots coming from Silka's cabin. Which is not an unusual thing to hear in Fairbanks, Alaska. You've been in a suburb, you'll hear that sort of thing from time to time.

So she didn't think too much of it, except that Culp, she never saw him again. When Roger Culp never turned up, that's when she guessed those gunshots coming from Michael Silka's cabin was Silka shooting and killing Culp. But she didn't have a phone and couldn't call the police. So she locked her door and claimed to be so scared

that she couldn't leave her cabin for days. I can imagine that she felt that she was stuck out in the woods with a psychopath. She eventually reported what she had seen. It took her nine days to report what happened. And by the time she did, the troopers realized their first report was incorrect. It wasn't that Culp may have killed Silke. It was that Silke may have killed Culp. There was a lot of stuff that was going on, but they got it all messed up.

By the time the troopers returned to Michael Silka's cabin, he was gone. They never found Culp. They found blood scattered around Silka's cabin that was later identified as being human blood. So that blood Silka said was from a moose was in fact human blood. By that point, troopers believed Michael Silke had murdered Roger Culp and left town. Something really bad has happened and he obviously knew we were looking for him because he got out of Dodge. When Alaska State Troopers dug into Michael Silka, they uncovered a ton.

Keep in mind, it's 1984, and the world was less connected. Silka had a warrant out for his arrest in Illinois, and nobody knew about that. It wasn't in the national computer at that time. In 1983, Michael Silka skipped a court hearing for a weapons violation back in Illinois. That led to a warrant being put out for the 25-year-old drifter. And there was a caution that he was considered to be dangerous. So let's talk about Michael Silka. Silka grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, but always dreamed of living outdoors.

He was the sort of guy that didn't hang with others. He didn't do well with other people. That's Sergeant Jim McCann. Didn't have any close friends that I recall. Everyone thought him a bit odd. Chicago's Daily Herald newspaper reported that one former high school classmate called Silka a troubled kid who was obsessed with guns.

One said he even went to school dressed like a hunter. Another said, you could just picture this guy growing up to do something bad. Michael Silka befashioned himself to some sort of mountain man, you know, some sort of guy that could go out and live on his own. After high school, Silka joined the army and was thrilled to be stationed at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks. His job was a helicopter mechanic. Some of the other soldiers that worked with him, they described Michael Silka as the guy that would always go off on his own. They wouldn't see him for hours or maybe even days if he could get away with it. He'd just take a knife and a few things and then go out into the woods and try and survive.

And didn't get along very well with his fellow soldiers. They thought him rather strange. Silka became an expert shooter in the Army, but a weapons incident led to his discharge. shooter in the Army, but a weapons incident led to his discharge. He then returned to Illinois and quickly got into trouble for carrying a rifle through town. You know, he's got a criminal record, but they're not really serious crimes, but they generally involve firearms. By Silka's 25th birthday, he had been picked up for a series of arrests for burglary, shoplifting, resisting arrest, and unlaw picked up for a series of arrests for burglary, shoplifting, resisting

arrest and unlawful use of a weapon. Not that he used them against people, but that he always had a firearm of one sort or another in his possession or near him. With court appearances pending at home, Soka left Chicago and drove north into Canada. That's where he was stopped by the police. They found his truck loaded with camping gear and firearms. They were interested in him enough that they took him to their local headquarters,

interviewed him and photographed him, and then let him go. No one ever communicated that to us. Michael Silka then headed to Fairbanksanks where miscommunication allowed him to slip out of the reach of the police. And the consequences would destroy an entire town. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I am talking to a felon right now and I cannot decide if I like him or not. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast,

Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot.

Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show. I live with my boyfriend, and I found his piss jar in our apartment. I collect my roommates' toenails and fingernails. I have very overbearing parents. Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house.

So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on in someone else's head, search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the one with the green guy on it. I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my podcast, Murder on the Towpath, I'm taking you back to the 1960s. Mary Pinchot Meyer was a painter who lived in Georgetown in Washington, D.C.

Every day she took a daily walk along the Toe Path near the E&O Canal. So when she was killed in a wealthy neighborhood... She had been shot twice in the head and in the back behind the heart. The police arrived in a heartbeat. Within 40 minutes, a man named Raymond Crump Jr. was arrested. He was found nearby, soaking wet, and he was black. Only one woman dared defend him, civil rights lawyer Dovey Roundtree. Join me as we unravel this story with a crazy twist,

because what most people didn't know is that Mary was connected to a very powerful man. I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression. John F. Kennedy. Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season One. I just knew him as a kid. Long silent voices from his past came forward. And he was just staring at me. And they had secrets of their own to share. Um, Gilbert King? I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott.

I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it. Every time I hear about my dad, it is, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil. I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known. If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed. I never expected to find myself in this place. Now I need to tell you how I got here. At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Bone Valley Season 2, Jeremy. Jeremy, I want to tell you something.

Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear the entire new season ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. There's a story behind every murder, but is there an ending? That's the question being asked by Murder True Crime Stories, the Crime House original podcast powered by PAVE Studios. I'm Carter Roy. Join me every Tuesday as I tell the story of a famous solved or unsolved murder. Each episode dives into the darkest corners of true crime, unraveling chilling narratives, examining compelling clues, and most importantly,

seeking the truth. What sets Murder True Crime Stories apart is the focus on humanizing the victims, and the effect their deaths had on their families, friends, and community. We'll always leave with the knowledge of why their stories need to be heard. New episodes release every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for Murder Colon True Crime Stories. The oil boom brought the first wave of people to Fairbanks during the 1960s. But there's also a completely different group of people that are attracted to the area. This is the end of the road, basically.

It's the farthest north, everything. Sergeant Jim McCann was an Alaska State Trooper stationed in Fairbanks. I've got a lot of experience living here at the end of the road. You know, that attracts some of the finest people and unfortunately some of the worst. It's where some people come to take their last shot at life or to live their dreams or their fantasies. Every spring, locals in Fairbanks spot the newest crop of what they call end-of-the-roders. There's been a lot of bad people come to the end of the road here

and commit their crimes. One such End of the Roader was Michael Silka. After high school, Silka joined the Army and was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska, which fit with his personality. Sandwiched in between his Army stint, the 25-year-old racked up a handful of arrests in Illinois, mainly misdemeanor charges involving weapons. I got into a situation where he didn't show up for court. There was a warrant issued for him.

Instead, Silka drove up to Fairbanks, where he later was suspected in the disappearance of his neighbor, Roger Cole. To make matters even harder for police, Silke then disappeared. And then on May 18th 1984, Sergeant McCann responded to a disturbing call. Our clerical staff called me and said, Sergeant McCann there's something going on in Manly Hot Springs. Manly Hot Springs is a small mining town, some 150 miles northwest of Fairbanks. What they told me was that everyone that had gone down to the landing in Manly Hot Springs seems to have disappeared.

At the time, only about 70 people live there, and each spring, locals head to the boat landing on the Tanana River to watch the ice break up. People just go down there to look, especially when you're living in a little place like Manly. There's not much else to look at. It's quite the sight to see, really, when the ice goes out. But everybody that went down to look at the river seems

to have disappeared. A woman reported that her husband and his friend went to the boat landing and never returned. A second person reported that a man, his pregnant wife, and their two-year-old son also went to the landing and didn't return. There was a whole family. A husband, a wife, and a two-year-old child. And then came a report that a third and fourth man were also missing. So for a town of 70 people to have seven people go missing. That's 10% of the population.

It was bizarre to think that that had happened. I took action at that point. Sergeant McCann flew out there by helicopter and began searching for clues at the boat launch. I found one.44 Magnum cartridge case and I saw a number of dark spots on the ground in the dirt that I knew could be blood. A nearby tree and a boat parked at the launch were both splattered with blood. Along the riverbank, troopers

noticed drag marks and more blood. Clearly bodies had been brought up to the edge of the river and pushed off into the river. A handful of cars were parked at the boat launch including a beat-up Dodge sedan with an Illinois license plate that belonged to Michael Silka. And when I saw Michael Silka's license plate there, it was certainly alarming. We did some looking at Silka's car. We saw a lot of his provisions, some reloading equipment and that sort of thing. It concerned me enough that I thought he's going to come back down that river to get his provisions." Sergeant McCann and his team spent the night waiting and hoping Michael Silka and the seven

missing people would return. I have no facts at that point to tell me that these people had been murdered. But I've been to these rodeos before. We know what happened. Now it's really confirming that this guy named Michael Silka killed everyone that came down to that landing. The following morning, more investigators joined the search. Here's Alaska State Trooper Steve Heckman.

It was a horrible situation and the fact that there were a little kid and a woman involved in it made it even worse in my mind. You have to say to yourself, who does something like this? You know, there's no motive that would make any sense whatsoever to me, at least personally. I could never find a motive in something like that that I would care to even try to understand. Trooper Heckman joined a team of divers that combed the dangerous Tanana River. I knew the current was going to be strong, which it was.

I knew the visibility would probably be zero, which it was. The glacier-fed Tanana River was nearly a mile wide and so full of silt that it could easily drag you underwater. You can be the world's best swimmer, but unless you have a flotation device on or something, you're going to go under, and you're going to go under fast. If these seven people were disposed of in the river, he knew the odds of finding their bodies were slim to none. We were hopeful, but our expectations weren't great.

Even one would have been a victory for us. But there again, we didn't find a thing. You hope that these people are going to show up someplace else, that they got on a boat and went downriver. But I didn't think so. The following morning, Sergeant Jim McCann received his first lead. I had received information that Silke had

or may have had a silver canoe, a silver grumman canoe. Those sleet canoes were popular in the 70s and 80s. And the easiest way for troopers to find that canoe was by air. I gave instructions to the pilot what we're looking for, that this guy, Michael Selka, may have murdered all these people, could be on the river in a silver-grumming canoe. So when I got under the helicopter, I sat in the back with my M16 machine gun, just in case. Sergeant McCann and two Special Emergency Reaction teams took to the sky in a pair of helicopters in search of Silke.

As the leader of the Special Emergency Reaction team, our SWAT team, I made it very clear to our members that this isn't Vietnam. We're not flying around in helicopters seeing stuff and shooting. We're law enforcement. We'll only return fire if we're fired upon. From the sky the two teams very quickly spotted a campsite. A couple of our fish and wildlife pilots reported seeing a tent, a man standing outside the tent, and a silver grumman canoe beached right near the camp. The helicopter found a place to land and three troopers made their way through the thick forest to the surrounding campsite. With their guns drawn, they shouted to whoever was inside the tent to show themselves.

To their surprise, two men emerged. They're two bear hunters and they're not Michael Silka. Before the troopers and two bear hunters could catch their collective breath, another call came in. Almost simultaneously, another trooper spotted a silver-grumming canoe with a single individual going upriver. With their description from this call, it had to be Silka. In a situation like this, it's clear to us that this is not going to end well. The chances of apprehending Michael Filka were slim to none.

Now, anybody that has come to the end of the road and then gotten to the point where he can kill all these people, including a small child, there's very little chance he'll give himself up, that he'll allow us to apprehend him, to take him into custody. This is gonna be a gunfight, and we hope that it only ends poorly for Silke, not for us. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly.

I am talking to a felon right now and I cannot decide if I like him or not. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains

and learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot. Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show. I live with my boyfriend, and I found his pizjar in our apartment. I collect my roommates' toenails and fingernails. I have very overbearing parents. Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house. So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on

in someone else's head, search for therapy gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the one with the green guy on it. I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my podcast, Murder on the Towpath, I'm taking you back to the 1960s. Mary Pinchot-Meyer was a painter who lived in Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Every day she took a daily walk along the towpath near the E&O Canal. So when she was killed in a wealthy neighborhood... She had been shot twice in the head and in the back behind the heart. The police arrived in a heartbeat.

Within 40 minutes, a man named Raymond Crump, Jr. was arrested. He was found nearby, soaking wet, and he was black. Only one woman dared defend him, civil rights lawyer Dovey Roundtree. Join me as we unravel this story with a crazy twist, because what most people didn't know

is that Mary was connected to a very powerful man. I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression. John F. Kennedy. Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season 1. I just knew him as a kid. Long, silent voices from his past came forward. And he was just staring at me. And they had secrets of their own to share. Um, Gilbert King? I'm the son of Jeremy Lynn Scott.

I was no longer just telling the story. I was part of it. Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil. I was becoming the bridge between a killer and the son he'd never known. If the cops and everything would have done their job properly, my dad would have been in jail. I would have never existed. I never expected to find myself in this place. Now, I need to tell you how I got here.

At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Bone Valley Season 2. Jeremy. Jeremy, I want to tell you something. Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And to hear the entire new season ad free with exclusive content, subscribe to Lava for Good Plus on Apple Podcasts. There's a story behind every murder, but is there an ending? That's the question being asked by Murder True Crime Stories, the Crime House original podcast powered by Pave Studios. I'm Carter Roy. Join me every Tuesday

as I tell the story of a famous solved or unsolved murder. Each episode dives into the darkest corners of true crime, unraveling chilling narratives, examining compelling clues, and most importantly, seeking the truth. What sets Murder True Crime Stories apart is the focus on humanizing the victims, and the effect their deaths had on their families, friends, and community. We'll always leave with the knowledge of why their stories need to be heard. New episodes release every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for Murder Colon True Crime Stories.

On a spring day in 1984, Sergeant Jim McCann got a call that something was happening in the small town of Manly Hot Springs, Alaska. Seven people had disappeared near a boat landing in town. None of them returned. Parked at the boat landing was a car belonging to Michael Silka, who had already been on Sergeant Jim McCann's radar. So at this point, clearly, we can assume that Michael Silka is not just a murderer, but he's a mass murderer. They also suspected Silka killed his neighbor, Roger Culp, who was last seen going into Silka's cabin three weeks earlier.

We don't know that. We never found Roger Culp's body, but it's logical that he would have done that. And probably took him right across the road and dumped him in the Tanana River. With Roger Culp and seven others also presumed to be dead, two helicopters filled with specially trained teams of Alaska State troopers went to apprehend Michael Silka. We have a, not only a murderer,

but somebody who has made his decisions. He is committed to going out the hard way. He's snapped, he's gone beyond, and there's no coming back from where he is now. No coming back. Two sets of helicopters closed in on a person believed to be Michael Silka. He was spotted in an aluminum canoe about 25 miles away. I can't imagine he's going to throw his hands up and say, I give up.

Silka's boat encountered a downed tree across the river that prevented him from passing. So he docked his boat alongside that tree. We see somebody in a boat who turns out to be Michael Silka. Lieutenant John Myers was on the helicopter with Sergeant McCann. We had heard the stories about how good he could shoot. So we know we're probably looking for a well-armed, good-shooting murderer who had no conscience. With both helicopters hovering, Michael Silka docked out of sight between three birch trees.

The pilot just kind of swooped down where the people in the helicopter could get a better look and then a firefight broke out. Within seconds, bullets were flying in each direction. We could see that Michael Silke was shooting. We knew that our people were shooting. In fact, we could see bullets splashing around him. But there was a problem. Imagine yourself in any kind of a situation where you have the knowledge, the equipment, the training,

to do something really important and you can't do it. That's where I was. This had to be chaotic, and the chances of friendly fire were high. You know, I'm standing there with a fully automatic rifle in my hands, and I mean, even if I wanted to and tried, I couldn't do it. The two were left to helplessly watch what unfolded below them. Silke was acting furtively, looking up at them and acting very agitated, concerned. He was doing his best to escape. On the riverbank below, Silka was trying to conceal himself from the trooper's vision. Then I heard what is perhaps one of the worst things I ever heard with our pilot going 1079 AST. That means a dead trooper.

A trooper in the other helicopter was hit by one of Michael Silka's bullets. My friend Troy Duncan was murdered. His head was gone. And the helicopter itself was blood spattered and bone fragments and it was a horrible scene. My partner and I were just shocked. I mean totally shocked. With one trooper dead, that helicopter then left the scene and raced to a local hospital. That left Sergeant McCann and Lieutenant Myers to find Michael Silka. We couldn't see Silka anymore, so in the meantime, we're circling around and now we didn't know

if Silka was dead, wounded, or ran, but we knew he probably was hit. And then we locate him, he was in the water. Michael Silka was down. In a fierce gunfight that had lasted less than a minute, troopers shot and killed Michael Silka just seconds after he killed one of their own, Trooper Troy Duncan. I mean, Troy was a remarkable person. Everybody liked him, everybody trusted him, everybody was hurt by his death.

But the fact is, everybody did what they were supposed to do, and we lost one. And a really good person. Good man. The 34-year-old ex-Marine had a wife and two children. His remains were flown to Texas where he was buried next to his mother. Here's Sergeant Jim McCann again. I can still see Troy Duncan's face, his smile, just a big old ex-marine, you know, and a likable guy, good trooper, murdered. People don't understand what law enforcement officers go through, what they carry with them for the rest of their lives. After a long investigation, troopers concluded what happened at the docks in May of 1984. And the details are really unbelievable.

Michael Silta shot and killed a first victim at the boat launch. He then threw the victim's body into the river. From there, he killed everyone else in sight. His motive baffled Lieutenant Myers. What makes you decide to kill everybody you see? How do you get that way? I don't have a clue. Really, I don't know.

He was committed to dying. He was committed to killing as many troopers as he could before he went out. And he fired three shots rapidly. You know, one taking trooper Troy Duncan right in the middle of his face. These things certainly stayed with me. Troopers believe Michael Silka was able to fire off three shots before he was killed. The other two, when I examined the helicopter later, they were right next to the hydraulic

lines that kept that helicopter in the air. And some would say that he was trying to take down the helicopter. The troopers believe Michael Silka snapped. Over the next few weeks, planes flew back and forth over the river in search of the victims. The Tennant River has a tendency to swallow up bodies. It's a dangerous river, and these people could be any place. A month later, only four of the seven bodies were recovered, including one body that turned up 75 miles downstream.

None of the other victims' bodies were ever found, including Roger Culp. For those in Manly Hot Springs, It's not the peaceful little place that it used to be. You know, before this, I mean, I could drive into Manly and I just, people wave at you. It's not the same. These things have a way to resurface in your mind. That memory of these things never dies. Further investigation led troopers to connect Silka to a murder in North Dakota, a pair of killings in Canada, and the murder of two others in Manly Hot Springs.

With no known motive, Michael Silka left behind a million unanswered questions. With no one to give them answers, the grieving small town took out their frustration on a physical representation of Silke. The car probably should have been impounded, but in one respect, maybe it was a good thing we left it there. They beat it with hammers, they set it on fire, and then they drove over it with a bulldozer, and they then they pushed it in the river. I mean, I think that was kind of their way to show some finality to the whole thing. That was something that they just felt they needed to do. Gave them some way way to show their emotions.

Next time on American Homicide, just days after a college student moves into her new apartment, she disappears. I'm Sloane Glass. We'll be in Anchorage, Alaska for our final two episodes this season of American Homicide. You can contact the American Homicide team by emailing us at americanhomicidepod.gmail.com. That's americanhomicidepod.gmail.com. American Homicide is hosted and written by me, Sloane Glass, and is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts.

The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Todd Gantz. The series is also written and produced by Todd Gantz, with additional writing by Ben Federman and Andrea Gunning. Our associate producer is Kristen Malkuri. Our iHeart team is Allie Perry and Jessica Kreinchak. Audio editing, mixing, and mastering by Nico Arruca. American Homicide's theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of Noiser, music library provided by MyMusic.

Follow American Homicide on Apple Podcasts and please rate and review American Homicide. Your five-star review goes a long way towards helping others find this show. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly. I collect my roommates' toenails and fingernails.

Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take phone calls from anonymous strangers as a fake gecko therapist and try to learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's very interesting. Check it out for yourself by searching for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Soledad O'Brien, and on my new true crime podcast, Murder on the Tow Path, I'm taking you back to 1964 to the cold case of artist Mary Pinchomire. She had been shot twice in the head and in the back. It turns out Mary was connected to a very powerful man. I pledge you that we shall neither commit nor provoke aggression. John F. Kennedy. Listen to Murder on the Toe Path with Soledad O'Brien

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Something unexpected happened after Jeremy Scott confessed to killing Michelle Schofield in Bone Valley Season 1. Every time I hear about my dad, it's, oh, he's a killer. He's just straight evil. I was becoming the bridge between Jeremy Scott and the son he'd never known. At the end of the day, I'm literally a son of a killer. Listen to new episodes of Bone Valley Season 2 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Explore the winding halls of historical true crime with Holly Fry and Maria Tramarchi,

hosts of Criminalia, as they uncover curious cases from the past. The legend of the highwayman suggests men dominated the field, but tell that to Lady Catherine Farrers, known as the Wicked Lady, who terrorized England in the mid-1600s. Her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death. Highwaymen are in the hot seat this season. Find more crime and cocktails on Criminalia. Listen to Criminalia on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.