Mountain Massacre

McCarthy, Alaska, is one of the smallest and most remote towns the show has covered. James places it in southeastern Alaska, six and a half hours' drive from Anchorage, with no road into town for much of the year and a hand-powered cable tram across the Kennecott River. The area had been used by Native people who collected copper from the creeks, and their permanent camp was on the Copper River at Tural near Chitina. Copper was discovered between the Kennecott Glacier and McCarthy Creek in 1900, and the Kennecott Mining Company built the company town of Kennecott. McCarthy grew beside it because alcohol and prostitution were forbidden in Kennecott, and it soon had a gymnasium, a hospital, a school, a bar and a brothel. The Copper River and Northwestern Railway reached McCarthy in 1911. By 1938 the copper was gone, the railway stopped running and the population collapsed. Hippies and pipeline workers arrived in the 1970s, the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park was designated in the 1980s, and by the time of the story about twenty-two people lived there, most of them wintering in isolation.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it His father was abusive and eventually left the family. this part of the story is covered for now He joined the Air Force after school, held a top security clearance and later worked as a computer programmer at Stanford University in the mid-1970s. In June 1979 he married Madeline D. Stovall, a librarian at Stanford. They spent their honeymoon at the Kennecott Lodge in Alaska and decided to move there. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

By 1983 his business was failing, his marriage was strained and he was increasingly angry about the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, which he blamed for bringing money and people into the state. He bought guns and at least two thousand rounds of ammunition, built a silencer covered in beaver fur, compiled a computer list of two hundred Alaska political and civic leaders, and practised shooting rabbits. His closest neighbour was Chris Richards, twenty-nine, who lived near the old Kennecott mine. On February 28th, 1983, the two men played a board game in Kennecott. this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed Richards invited him in for coffee. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it One bullet went through the lens of Richards's glasses and into his head; another hit his neck, another the back of his head and another grazed his arm. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed Wearing only socks, one slipper, a T-shirt and corduroy trousers, he struggled three-quarters of a mile through waist-deep snow to a neighbour's unoccupied cabin, where he found boots, a parka and snowshoes. He then went about a tenth of a mile to the cabin of Tim and Amy Nash.

The Nashes took Richards by snowmobile to the north end of the McCarthy airstrip, where they met the local pilot Gary Green. Tim Nash went to check on the Heglunds while Green warmed up his plane to fly Richards to the hospital in Glennallen. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The lodge was closed for the winter and nobody was hurt. He then went to the Heglund house, where Lester and Florence Heglund and their friend Maxine Edwards had gathered for mail day. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now Both fell. He walked to within fifty feet and fired another shot into each body, then went close and fired one into each head. He dragged the bodies behind a snowbank and piled snow on them. Harley King, sixty-one, was driving a snowcat twenty miles from Long Lake with Donna Byram, thirty-two, who was hoping to catch the mail plane. details of the account remain covered until revealed King crashed the snowcat, broke his leg and told Donna to save herself. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now He eventually gave up, took the Nashes' snowmobile and fled west along the old railroad road.

Troopers from Glennallen were alerted and came by helicopter. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The troopers already knew better. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed The bodies of the Heglunds and Maxine Edwards were found stacked on the bed, with a bloody fur-covered silencer on the nightstand. Harley King's body was left in the snow overnight and loaded onto a plane the next day.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it His bail was continued at $300,000. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now He later claimed that copper poisoning and fumes from preservatives and paint had caused his behaviour. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

Six of the town's twenty-two residents were dead, almost a third of McCarthy. this part of the story is covered for now Liz Gelineski lost the lodge, which she said was her life savings, and had no insurance. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The couple were caretaking Joe King's cabin. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed