Alaska serial murderer Robert Hansen, also known as the "Butcher Baker", dies on Thursday at Alaska Regional Hospital. According to Alaska Department of Corrections spokesperson Sherrie Daigle, the convicted murderer has been experiencing a decline in his health for the past year. At the time of his death, Hansen was in the middle of serving his 461-year sentence. Initially detained at the Seward state prison, the convicted serial killer was transferred to the Anchorage Correctional Center on May 11, 2014. The decision to move him was rooted from his need to receive medical attention. Information gathered from the Alaska State Troopers reveal, however, that Hansen's file submitted with the agency had a "do not resuscitate" order.  

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Hansen was imprisoned in 1984 after his own confession to the murder of 17 women, most of whom were topless dancers and prostitutes. He admitted to have killed all these women within a 12-year span and raped approximately 30 women during the same period. In the trial, Hansen was only convicted for the murder of four women as a result of a deal he made with the investigators. In the agreement with the authorities, he was to confess the said murders in exchange for not going to trial 17 times. This deal was also made to spare Hansen the publicity the court hearings would have caused him and his family.

In 2006, Hansen was again put under the spotlight as he responded negatively to the request of The Associated Press for an interview. In a typo-riddled letter sent from Alaska's Spring Creek Correction Center in Seward, the "Butcher Baker" told the would-be interviewers, "I do not care so much for myself, but you journalist (sic) have hurt my family so very much." Despite his adamant refusal to seek privacy, however, Hansen's heinous crimes were publicized even more in a movie titled "The Frozen Ground". The film, which was released in 2013, featured Nicolas Cage as the Alaska State Trooper assigned to investigate the killings. John Cusack was the actor casted to play the role of Hansen in the movie.

Investigators disclosed that prior to choosing strippers and prostitutes as victims for his brutality, Hansen raped and murdered any woman who caught his eye. He later on learned that victimizing strippers and prostitutes would provide him better chances of concealing his crimes as these women are more difficult to track and less likely to be missed. Reports reveal that the "Butcher Baker" would take these women to remote places outside the city, where he would rape and force them to submit to his sexual fantasies. Based on his own confessions, those who complied with his demands were set free afterwards and given warnings to not report the incident to the authorities. Those who refused would be raped and subjected to sexual assault just the same. The difference was that these women would then be released to the "wilderness", where Hansen would hunt them with his rifle.

In his confession, Hansen told authorities that one of his favored spots to rape and murder his victims was the Knik River, which was found in the northeast of Anchorage. To date, only 12 of the 17 women Hansen admitted to murdering have been found.

TagsAlaska, Robert Hansen, Butcher Baker, Rape, Murder, Anchorage Correctional Center, Alaska Department of Corrections, Sherrie Daigle, Nicolas Cage, John Cusack, The Frozen Ground, Spring Creek Correction Center, Seward, Knik River