Every Town - Craig, Alaska: The Unsolved Massacre on a Fishing Boat in 1982

Episode Date: August 5, 2020

Go to https://deadboltmysterysociety.com/ and use the promo code: deadbolt20 for 20% OFF your first order!Scary Mysteries Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiE86yS_VM7qjiICqRPmwLQ?view_as=subscriberContact US: [e-mail], Alaska: The Unsolved Massacre on a Fishing Boat in 1982Alaska, “The Last Frontier,” by almost any measure of coldness has the coldest and longest winters, the coldest summers, and the most number of freezing degree days. So just imagine the piercing coldness that blanketed Alaska on January 17, 1982 when “Cold Sunday” took place. It was a meteorological event wherein unprecedentedly cold air swept down from Canada, and plunged temperatures across much of the United States far below existing all-time record lows. Also in 1982, a man-made tragedy shocked Alaska that has become its worst cold case of massacre in history. In the tiny southeast Alaskan fishing village of Craig, eight individuals were killed by multiple gunshots, and left charred in an expensive fishing boat that was set ablaze by a still unknown perpetrator. Up to this day, it is still considered as Alaska’s most tragic unsolved mass homicide. Support the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults,

and everything in between. With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every town has a dark side. In this episode, we head to Craig Alaska, where we check out the Unsolved Massacre on a fishing boat that occurred in 1982.

Alaska, the last frontier, has the coldest and longest winters, the coldest summers, and the most number of freezing-degree days of the year in the U.S. So just imagine the piercing freeze that blanketed Alaska on January 17, 1982, when what is referred to as cold, Sunday took place. It was a meteorological event wherein unprecedentedly cold air swept down from Canada and plunged temperatures across much of the United States

far below existing all-time record lows. Also in 1982, a man-made tragedy that shocked Alaska and has become its worst cold-case massacre in history. In the tiny southeast Alaskan fishing village of Craig,

eight individuals were killed by multiple gunshots and left charred in an expensive fishing boat that was set ablaze by a still unknown perpetrator. Up to this day, it is still considered as Alaska's most tragic, unsolved mass homicide. I'm Andrew Fitzgerald, and this is every town. In this week's episode, let's re-examine the most brutal massacre of eight individuals, including two children, who had come from Washington and docked at Craig to go salmon fishing on their boat. named investor, but ended up dying in the most painful and inhumane way possible. Circumstantial evidence led to two trials of the prime suspect, but they were for not.

What truly transpired in the waters of Craig on September 5th through the 7th of 1982? And how did the prime suspect get away with the arson and gruesome murders of the Colthurst family and their crew that compelled local police to declare the Craig Fishing Boat Massacre a closed case. Let us first get to know the man who presumably was the killer's main target, Mark Colthurst. He grew up in Blaine, Waukem County in Washington, which was a town established by Blaine's pioneer residents as a seaport for the West Coast logging and fishing industries. For decades, the world's largest salmon cannery was operated by the Alaska, a Packers Association in Blaine.

At age 16, Mark inevitably got interested in fishing when his boss at the motorcycle shop he worked in invited him along to do some gillnett fishing in Bellingham 21 miles away from Blaine. He found the prospects of pulling salmon out of a net exciting and thus began his fishing career in his early 20s. Ambitious and hardworking, Mark did really well and soon became a well-respected boat captain.

Fishing, as the go-getter skipper said, it's been a goldmine for us. To prove this point, in a very productive week in 1979, Mark caught $105,000 worth of fish, which is equivalent to more than triple that amount today. In no time, Mark achieved one of his dreams, owning a 58-foot fishing boat worth over $850,000. Investor, as it was called, was one of the most. expensive and high-tech commercial fishing boats in the region. Mark also shared a happy family with his 28-year-old wife Irene and their two children, five-year-old daughter Kimberly, and four-year-old son, John. Success was written all over him at the age of 27 in 1982. But shortly after, Mark

celebrated his 28th birthday on September 5th that year. His bright future, along with his families, vanished in the thin air as their lives were taken by someone devoid of a conscience. Only God knows why, and we will perhaps never know the real reason. Much of Craig's economy relies on its commercial fishing industry. One of the most lucrative fishing ventures is during the three-month salmon season in the summer. In fact, during the decades of the 1970s and 1980s, when the salmon prices were at their highest, it was possible for a fishing boat skipper and his crew to earn half a million dollars for putting in long hours of hard work in those three months.

It was an opportunity, Mark always welcomed, so in September of 1982, he sailed to Craig aboard the investor. He had a reliable fishing crew with him, composed of his 19-year-old cousin, Mark Stewart, Dean Moon and Jerome Keone, who were both 19 as well, and 18-year-old Chris Heyman. Since he was celebrating his 28th birthday during the trip, Mark brought along his wife, who was three months pregnant with their third child and their two kids. Luckily for him, Mark could very well mix business with quality family time. So on Sunday, September 5th, the eight-passenger fishing boat investor pulled onto the shores of Craig and unloaded its recent catch of pink salmon, weighing 77,000 pounds for a total of $33,000 from just a few days of fishing.

However, the cannery would not pay Mark for summer catches until the end of the season because the Alaska Department of Fishing Game had temporarily closed the commercial salmon season. Since it would reopen on the following day for the final salmon opening of 1982, Mark and his crew stayed in the fishing village that night. They pulled up to the North Cove dock and tied the investor behind two other boats named Decade and Defiant. So Mark's family and his crew had to climb across the decks of the two other boats for them to get back and forth to the dock. That evening, Mark celebrated his 28th birthday with his family at Ruth Ann's restaurant, a local eatery. People at the restaurant noted nothing unusual while the Colthurst quietly celebrated Mark's birthday.

except for one witness who said that John Peel, Mark's former crewman on a previous boat, stopped by and had a brief chat with the family. The Colterst left the restaurant at around 9.30 that evening and headed back to their boat. A crewman on one of the other boats docked to the North Cove even remembered little John Colterst taking a peep in and saying hi at him on their way back to the investor. Despite the stormy weather that night, which caused high winds and heavy seas, pounding the dock, the crewmen of the boat decade celebrated the end of the salmon season with a party. While the loud noise of their heavy revelry filled the dock, the crewmen of the boat's

decade and defiant were oblivious to a bloody massacre that was taking place right next door. On the following day, September 6th at around 6 in the morning, the crewman of the decade noticed that the investor was slowly sailing away from the dock, leaving its expensive tie-down lines on the deck of the decade. The crewman waved at a man on the investor's pilot house who acknowledged the decade crewman by waving back. The man was also seen by the decade skipper a few minutes later. They thought the 58-foot fishing boat was sailing back to Washington, but more than an hour later, a crewman of another boat saw the investor anchored on a secluded bay near Fish Egg Island, just on the other side of Craig Harbor. Later on that morning, everyone was busy,

preparing for the salmon opening, despite the heavy fog covering Craig. It obscured the investor from the sights of the other fishing boats, so the people aboard the investor were temporarily forgotten until the captain of the decade radioed Mark. He wanted to apologize to him and company for their loud party the previous night, but his call was never answered. All boats, more than a hundred of them, then headed out for the salmon opening,

except for the investor. As the fog thinned out on Tuesday morning, September 7th, the people around the area were surprised to see the investor still anchored in its exact spot near Fish Egg Island. They then started to wonder why Mark and his crew didn't join the rest of the fleet for the salmon fishing. On the same morning, someone had seen a young man in Craig by two and a half gallons of gasoline, he then climbed onto the investor's skiff with that fuel, and then sped out to the Colthurst fishing boat.

Since nothing was visibly out of place, the people around Craig didn't suspect anything, and so no one bothered to check on the investor. But then, by 4 p.m., something unexpected was brewing up and caught everyone's attention. The crew of the fishing boat casino noticed smoke rising from the investor, so they headed towards it after informing the authorities. As the casino was approaching the burning boat,

its skipper saw the investors seen skiff speeding off towards Craig. The captain of the casino almost rammed against the investor's skiff so that its unknown operator would halt. He then asked him what was happening and was told that there were people on the burning boat before he sped away. Upon reaching the docks of Craig, the unidentified skiff operator, even spoke with three individuals before disappearing into the town's fog. Had the local troopers apprehended and questioned this person, they would have had their biggest lead in solving the case, but frustratingly that didn't happen, which was a regrettable lapse on the part of the authorities.

Even more unfortunate was the inability of the casinos concerned crewmen and the police troopers to contain the fire at sea. The investor was consumed by hot flames, making it difficult and too dangerous for the casino to even approach. approach it. Alaska State Trooper Bob Anderson was the first law enforcer to respond and arrive at the scene. He had to make a May Day call because no one in Craig was well equipped with resources to handle a huge fire in the middle of the ocean. Much needed help arrived, but it was a couple hours later as Craig's Coast Guard had to airlift additional water pumps to fight the fire.

Detecting that the blaze spread too quickly, Trooper Anderson, reported that it was a case of arson, so a sergeant sent an arson investigator to the scene. By 7.30 that evening, the fire was finally under control, making it possible for Trooper Anderson and the rescue volunteers to inspect the boat. They found the investor was burned down to the top edge of its hull

and was also tilted on an angle of 20 degrees. When Anderson and his teen boarded the scorched boat, they then found the charge of the charge. remains of four people who were later identified as Mark Colthurst, his wife Irene, their daughter Kimberly, and Mark's cousin, Mike Stewart. They all suffered multiple gunshot wounds from what police believed was a 22 caliber pistol or rifle, and all of them were presumed dead when the boat was set on fire. After their bodies had been removed from the wreckage, the fire flared up again and burned down the rest of the cabin. It took more than a day to fully extinguished. It took more than a day to

fully extinguished that fire. When the arson investigator re-examined what was left of the boat, he found more bones and tooth fragments. Among those were identified as belonging to Jerome Keone's remains. Sadly, it was never determined if the rest of the bone fragments belonged to either Chris Heyman or Dean Moon. Since neither of them was ever seen again after the incident, they were presumed dead by the authorities.

Thus, Chris and Dean were stricken off, the possible killers. More heart-wrenching was the fact that investigators believed Mark and Irene's young son was totally consumed by the fire since no remains of him were ever found. The investigators determined that all eight passengers of the investor have been murdered on the night of September 5, 1982. The biggest wonder, though, for 37 years now is how the person responsible for their senseless deaths has not been rightfully determined yet.

Many believe the investigation of the crime scene was inadequate and inefficient, especially during the crucial first 48 hours of the incident. First, it took almost two days to fully extinguish the fire that wrecked the investor. By then, substantial forensic evidence was no longer accurately available. Thus, even the troopers themselves were unsure of the number of casualties. Then, the responding officer examined briefly the skiff seen leaving the burning boat, but decided the rain would have washed away any fingerprints, so he didn't even bother to impound the boat and look at it more closely.

The authorities moved the case forward with no solid evidence except for the eyewitness's description of the man who had been seen buying the gasoline, bringing it to the fishing boat, and speeding back to Craig on that skiff. The eyewitnesses said the suspicious man was around 20 to 21 years old, weighing 150 to 160 pounds, sporting light brown or blonde hair, wearing a pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap emblazoned with a logo. The eyewitnesses had trouble estimating the man's height because he was seated while operating the skiff.

Although Craig is a small town with approximately 600 people, it is teeming with commercial fishermen from other people. parts of Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and other places during the summer. It's impossible for Craig residents to distinctly remember all their visitors, because they all look similar in their bulky and waterproof orange fishing gear and tightly cinched hoods. It's indeed a difficult task for the authorities to immediately recognize and arrest the suspected man, especially if he only set foot on Craig for the salmon fishing opening that September of 82. But nevertheless, Nevertheless, the investigators theorized that the homicide started shortly after the Colthurst

returned to their boat after Mark's birthday dinner because Irene was wearing the same clothes she dawned at the restaurant. They believed that the four victims were shot one or two at a time, and the killer stayed on the boat the entire night. As for the investor found near Fish Egg Island the next day, the killer might have anchored in the deep water, opened the boat's Seacocks, and expected it to sink, but it didn't. That's when the culprit thought of burning the boat using fuel, according to investigators. For more than a year, they ran out of luck chasing leads, but when the artist's rendering of the suspicious man,

based on witnesses' descriptions came out, one person was pointed at by several fishermen who recognized the sketch. John Peel, a 23-year-old Bellingham-Washington man, who had once crewed for Mark Colterse from 1980 to 1981. Finally, then, in 1984, police arrested Peel in Bellingham and charged him with first-degree murder of the eight slain passengers and first-degree arson as well. But it was not until March of 1986 that Peel's first trial commenced

with the prosecution entirely depending on circumstantial evidence based on the accounts of witnesses. One man testified that he was taking a nap, not dreaming, a month after the murders when a neighbor's target practice triggered him to remember the screams and shots coming from the investor on the night of September 5, 1982. A skipper who knew Peel said he had seen him board the investor that same night, while another witness said he sold Peel gasoline hours before the fire.

Others talked about the soured reliance. relationship between the men. Although Mark was admired and emulated by his young crewman, he was also cocky and temperamental, which got him into fights. The prosecution argued that Peel was infuriated when Colterr sacked him the previous year due to his alleged drinking and drug abuse. Outraged, Peel took revenge by shooting everyone on that boat. He then set the investor on fire to cover up for his crime. But Peel's defense team squashed him. the prosecutions, contentions with their no-holds-barred strategy. Headed by lawyer Philip Weidner, who's known for his theatrics and success with juries in Alaska,

the defense team highlighted the inconsistencies and the eyewitness testimonies. They pointed out that some of the witnesses had changed their stories or vaguely remembered the events from four years ago. Moreover, they accused the prosecution of mismanagement and lying to witnesses. The defense team also suggested that a drug deal, gone awry, resulted in the murders, and that either Chris Heyman or Dean Moon were the culprits, since their remains were never identified. They succeeded in raising confusion and skepticism among the jury members. After six months of testimony and six days of deliberations, the juries declared a deadlock.

But that wasn't the end of the case. Peel was brought back to court for a retrial in 1988, and this time the defense arrested its case without calling any witnesses. I didn't put a case on because there was no need to dignify this case by putting on witnesses, Attorney Weidener said. After three months, the jury reached a verdict. John Peel was not guilty of eight counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson, and the deaths aboard the fishing boat investor. The jurors agreed not to talk to the press, but journalists reported they voted 7 to 5 for acquittal.

As for his exoneration, Peel said, It's terrible being an innocent man accused of a crime. I just thank God it's over. Justice did work this time. The investigation and the two trials cost the state of Alaska $2.7 million. In 1990, Peel filed a $177 million civil suit against the state for wrongful prosecution, but eventually settled for a reported $900,000. Despite Peel's acquittal, state officials insist that he committed the murders.

In the past 37 years, no one else has ever been charged with a massacre aboard the investor. After two decades of silence, Peel said in an exclusive interview in 2017, Somebody out there knows what happened, but I'm not going to waste any more of my life on it. Unfortunately, police are no longer looking for the killer. The case is closed, says Tim Despin, spokesman for the Alaska State Troopers. With no one interested to pursue the case with new evidence, the investor massacre has remained Alaska's coldest case. This episode of the Everytown podcast is being sponsored by our friends over at the Deadbolt Mystery.

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And for more creepy stories, make sure to check out our other podcast and YouTube channel called Scary Mysteries. Tune in next week for another episode filled with scary, strange, and mysterious stories about every town out there. And who knows, maybe your town will be next.