Ice Cold Killers

THE WILDS OF ALASKA

ARE A VAST AND UNTAMED FRONTIER.

ALASKA IS BEAUTIFUL AND DANGEROUS ALL AT THE SAME TIME,

AND IT CAN TURN ON YOU IN AN INSTANT.

AMID THE RUGGED WILDERNESS,

PEOPLE VANISH AT AN EERILY HIGH RATE.

PEOPLE WHO COME TO ALASKA ARE EITHER ESCAPISTS FOR ESCAPEES.

ONE BY ONE,

A MADMAN IS PREYING ON THE WOMEN OF ANCHORAGE.

THERE WAS RUMBLINGS ABOUT POSSIBLY A SERIAL KILLER

PREYING ON THE STREETS OF ANCHORAGE.

IT WAS LIKE A GHOST STORY.

HE ENJOYS THE COMPLETE HELPLESSNESS OF HIS VICTIMS.

HE WANTED TO HEAR THE TERROR IN HER VOICE.

POLICE ARE PULLED INTO A DEADLY GAME

TO TRY AND SOLVE ONE OF THE MOST INFAMOUS CASES IN AMERICA.

25 MILES NORTHEAST OF ANCHORAGE,

THE KNIK RIVER VALLEY IS A PREMIER HUNTING GROUND.

ON A BRISK SEPTEMBER AFTERNOON IN 1982,

TWO POLICE OFFICERS ON THEIR DAY OFF

ARE HUNTING FOR WILD GAME ALONG THE BANKS OF THE WINDING GORGE.

ALASKA'S DEFINITELY A HUNTER'S PARADISE.

FOR A HUNTER FROM THE LOWER 48,

THIS IS REALLY THE PINNACLE OF THEIR HUNTING CAREER.

AS DARKNESS FALLS WITHOUT A KILL,

THE MEN DECIDE TO HEAD HOME.

BUT WHILE HIKING BACK TO THEIR CAMPSITE...

...THEY MAKE A CHILLING DISCOVERY.

THEY KNEW ENOUGH NOT TO DISTURB THE SCENE OF THAT CRIME

AND BACKED AWAY AND GOT THE TROOPERS UP THERE.

ALASKA STATE TROOPERS ARRIVE IN FORCE.

THEY CORDON OFF THE AREA AND BEGIN EXCAVATING THE SCENE.

THE OFFICERS UNEARTH THE PARTIAL REMAINS OF A WOMAN

BURIED IN A SHALLOW GRAVE.

THEY ALSO FIND BONES SCATTERED ACROSS THE SURROUNDING AREA.

WELL, IF YOU HAVE SOME KIND OF AN ANIMAL OR A BEAR

THAT COMES INTO YOUR CRIME SCENE PRIOR TO YOU GETTING THERE,

THEY'RE LIABLE TO DRAG OFF MOST, IF NOT ALL,

OF YOUR EVIDENCE OF THE CRIME YOU'RE INVESTIGATING.

THERE IS NO I.D. ON THE WOMAN.

WAS SHE A HIKER WHO LOST HER WAY,

OR DID SHE UNKNOWINGLY WALK INTO THE PATH

OF SOMETHING MORE OMINOUS?

A LOT CAN KILL YOU IN ALASKA.

THE WILDLIFE CAN KILL YOU.

THE CLIMATE CAN KILL YOU.

YOUR OWN INCOMPETENCE CAN KILL YOU,

AND YOUR FELLOW MAN, WITHOUT A DOUBT.

INVESTIGATORS SIFT THROUGH THE SAND

LIKE ARCHEOLOGISTS, HOPING TO DISCOVER EVIDENCE

THAT MIGHT SHED SOME LIGHT ON THE CASE.

HOURS LATER, THEY FIND THEIR FIRST CLUE...

...THE SHELL CASING OF A SINGLE BULLET --

A.223 CALIBER USED IN HIGH-POWERED RIFLES.

BUT THIS IS NO HUNTING ACCIDENT.

TO POLICE, IT LOOKS LIKE AN EXECUTION.

HANDCUFFS AND ACE BANDAGES FOUND AMONG THE REMAINS

LEAD INVESTIGATORS TO SUSPECT

THE VICTIM HAD BEEN BOUND AND BLINDFOLDED

AT THE TIME OF DEATH.

AT AUTOPSY, THE CORONER DETERMINES

THE WOMAN DIED OF THREE GUNSHOT WOUNDS.

USING DENTAL RECORDS,

SHE IS IDENTIFIED AT 24-YEAR-OLD SHERRY MORROW,

A DANCER AT THE WILD CHERRY BAR

ON THE NOTORIOUSLY SEEDY SIDE OF ANCHORAGE

KNOWN AS 4th AVENUE.

THERE'S ASSAULTS, ROBBERIES,

BURGLARIES, ALL KINDS OF STUFF.

THERE'S DRUGS.

IT'S A BIG DRUG AREA --

PROBABLY OUR BIGGEST HIGH-CRIME AREA OF THE TOWN.

THERE'S BEEN SEVERAL HOMICIDES SINCE I'VE BEEN ON

IN THE PAST 31/2 YEARS.

IT WAS JUST ONE LONG SERIES OF BARS AND STRIP CLUBS,

SEEDY HOTELS THAT YOU COULD RENT BY THE HOUR.

THERE WAS CARS ALL OVER THE PLACE

STOPPING, PICKING GIRLS UP.

SHERRY WAS DRAWN TO THE WILDS OF ALASKA

BY THE LUCRATIVE PROMISE OF THE TRANS-ALASKA PIPELINE.

IT WAS SORT OF A PERFECT STORM,

AND IT WAS JUST WILD AND WOOLY WITH THE CONSTRUCTION GOING ON,

ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE MOVING IN.

WE HAD AN AWFUL LOT OF MONEY FLOWING AROUND,

BECAUSE THE OIL WAS FLOWING.

LURED BY EASY MONEY, SHERRY WOULD UP ON 4th AVENUE,

A PART OF TOWN WHERE MEN WHO WORKED THE PIPELINE

LIKED TO SPEND THEIR CASH AND BLOW OFF STEAM.

IT WAS ROUGHNECKS, G.I.s,

PROSTITUTES, PIMPS, AND THE SMELL OF MONEY.

AND THEY HAD THE TRIANGLE TRADE GOING,

AND THAT WAS THE PIMPS AND THE BAR OWNERS

RUNNING THE GIRLS FROM THE WEST COAST TO ALASKA TO HAWAII.

SO YOU HAD THIS CONSTANT TURNOVER

OF YOUNG GIRLS OUT THERE ON THE STREET.

IT MADE IT EASY TO DISAPPEAR IN THE CROWD.

POLICE PORE THROUGH THE STACKS

OF MISSING-PERSONS REPORTS OF OTHER GIRLS

WHO WORKED 4th AVENUE AND DISAPPEARED.

IT'S NO BIG DEAL WHEN THEY DISAPPEAR.

THE POLICE GET A LITTLE NERVOUS ABOUT IT,

BUT UNLESS THEY HAVE SOME EVIDENCE

THAT A CRIME WAS COMMITTED,

THEY WOULD TEND, AT THAT TIME,

TO ASSUME THAT THE PERSON JUST LEFT TOWN.

BEFORE THE DISCOVERY OF SHERRY MORROW'S BODY,

NONE OF THE MISSING-PERSONS REPORTS SEEMED TO BE LINKED,

NOR DID THEY SEEM TO SUGGEST MURDER.

BUT MORROW'S DEATH IS ENOUGH TO FORCE INVESTIGATORS

TO TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THE COLD CASE FILES.

TWO YEARS BEFORE MORROW'S BODY WAS FOUND...

...CONSTRUCTION WORKERS DIGGING NEAR EKLUTNA ROAD,

ALONG THE KNIK RIVER, MAKE A STARTLING DISCOVERY.

EKLUTNA'S A PRETTY REMOTE AREA.

THERE WAS ONE ROAD THAT WENT UP TOWARD THE VALLEY.

BUT YOU COULD WALK 200 YARDS OFF THE ROAD,

AND YOU WERE IN WILDERNESS -- REAL WILDERNESS.

HEY, GARY! COME OVER HERE!

THERE, THE MEN DISCOVER THE PARTIAL REMAINS

OF A WOMAN BURIED IN A SHALLOW GRAVE.

THE SCENE HAS BEEN SO DECIMATED BY ANIMALS

THAT POLICE CAN'T FIND ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO MAKE AN I.D.

AND IF IT'S AN OLD SCENE, IT'S BEEN THERE A WHILE,

THERE'S THE ELEMENTS, THE CHANGING TEMPERATURES,

THE THAWING AND FREEZING,

POSSIBLE PREDATION ON A GRAVE.

AND WITH THOSE THINGS IN MIND,

YOU'RE GONNA LOSE A LOT OF EVIDENCE.

YOU JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT.

YOU JUST HAVE TO EXPAND YOUR SEARCH

AND FIND THE EVIDENCE THAT'S GONE MISSING.

SOMETIMES THAT'S POSSIBLE. SOMETIMES THAT'S NOT.

LOOKS LIKE AN EARRING.

THE VICTIM IS DUBBED EKLUTNA ANNIE BY POLICE.

THEY DIDN'T KNOW WHO SHE WAS.

THERE WAS NO WAY TO TIE HER TO ANYBODY.

THERE WAS NO MISSING REPORT THAT MATCHED HER.

SHE WAS AN UNKNOWN.

DESPERATE FOR ANSWERS,

POLICE TURN TO A FORENSIC ARTIST FOR HELP.

USING ANNIE'S SKULL AS A GUIDE,

THE ARTIST SHAPES A CLAY MOLD

TO REVEAL ANNIE'S FACIAL FEATURES.

POLICE THEN TAKE PHOTOS

AND DISTRIBUTE THE IMAGE THROUGHOUT THE AREA.

A CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATOR SCOURS THE SCENE FOR CLUES

AND TURNS UP A SINGLE PIECE OF EVIDENCE

IDENTICAL TO THAT FOUND IN THE MORROW CASE.

AFTER THEY PULLED THE BODY OUT,

HE TOOK A SCREEN AND WAS PANNING FOR BULLETS,

BASICALLY, JUST LIKE YOU PAN FOR GOLD.

HE WAS SIFTING THROUGH ALL THE SAND AND MUD AND RIVER

UNTIL HE CAME UP WITH A BULLET FRAGMENT

AND AN EMPTY CARTRIDGE FROM A.223 RIFLE.

BUT NO ONE EVER COMES FORWARD

WITH ANY INFORMATION ON THE IDENTITY OF EKLUTNA ANNIE.

NOBODY CARED ABOUT HER,

AND THAT WOULD BE TYPICAL IN A PROSTITUTION TRADE.

BUT NOW, WITH TWO BODIES HIDDEN IN THE WILDERNESS,

MURDERED BY A SIMILAR HUNTING RIFLE,

POLICE ARE FACED WITH A TERRIBLE POSSIBILITY --

SOMEONE IS HUNTING WOMEN IN THE WILDS OF ALASKA.

WHEN THE DECAYING BODIES OF WOMEN

BEGIN APPEARING IN THE WILDS OF ALASKA,

POLICE FEAR THEY ARE DEALING WITH A BRUTAL KILLER

WHO HAS SET HIS SIGHTS ON THE WOMEN OF ANCHORAGE.

THE MYSTERIOUS MURDER

OF SHERRY MORROW, AN EXOTIC DANCER,

PROMPTS POLICE TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK

AT WHO MIGHT HAVE WANTED THE YOUNG WOMAN DEAD.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU WORKED HERE?

SHERRY'S COWORKERS REMEMBER

SHE WAS APPROACHED BY A STRANGER THAT NIGHT...

...A MAN WHO OFFERED TO PAY HER $300 TO POSE FOR PHOTOS.

THE DANCERS REMEMBER SHERRY WAS BRIMMING WITH EXCITEMENT

ABOUT HER FIRST MODELING JOB.

BUT THEY CAN'T PROVIDE POLICE A NAME

OR ANY FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE MYSTERY MAN.

SHERRY LEFT TO MEET THE MAN THE FOLLOWING NIGHT AS PLANNED

AND WAS NEVER SEEN ALIVE AGAIN.

HER ROOMMATE REPORTED HER MISSING.

AND THERE WAS AN INVESTIGATION,

BUT THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE THAT SHE HAD DONE ANYTHING.

IN FACT, SHE MIGHT HAVE LEFT TOWN.

BUT SHERRY'S COWORKERS FEAR THE WORST.

THERE WERE A LOT OF GIRLS THAT WERE DISAPPEARING.

AND THE POLICE WERE VERY NERVOUS ABOUT IT,

BUT THEY DIDN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO GO ON.

THERE WERE NO WITNESSES. NOBODY WOULD SAY ANYTHING.

MOST OF THESE WOMEN WERE VERY MUCH LIVING ON THE FRINGE.

OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS,

FIVE OTHER MISSING-PERSONS CASES HAD BEEN REPORTED.

ALL INVOLVED TOPLESS DANCERS OR YOUNG PROSTITUTES.

AND EACH REMAINED UNSOLVED.

I MEAN, YOU'RE CHASING GHOSTS.

AND IN 90% OF THE CASES, THE GIRLS WERE TRANSIENT.

AND IF SOMEBODY GOT REPORTED MISSING, IT WAS LIKE,

"HEY, GO LOOK FOR THEM DOWN IN PORTLAND,"

OR "THEY'RE OVER IN HONOLULU,"

OR "THEY'RE IN LOS ANGELES, DANCING.