Town note
The area along the Palmer Highway had been home to the Dena'ina Athabascans for thousands of years.
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FILE 594 / 3 May 2025 / 71 MIN / express
we're going up to alaska this week... who chugiak... c-h-u-g-i-a-k alaska about 0:03:10
The area along the Palmer Highway had been home to the Dena'ina Athabascans for thousands of years.
about 0:05:07The settlement was named Chugiak in 1947 by non-native arrivals.
about 0:05:23The name is said to come from a Native word meaning 'place of many places'.
about 0:05:31Chugiak was first heavily settled in the 1950s, mainly by former military personnel who had been stationed in Alaska during the Second World War and stayed.
about 0:05:54The area along the Palmer Highway had been home to the Dena'ina Athabascans for thousands of years.
about 0:05:07The settlement was named Chugiak in 1947 by non-native arrivals.
about 0:05:23The name is said to come from a Native word meaning 'place of many places'.
about 0:05:31Chugiak was first heavily settled in the 1950s, mainly by former military personnel who had been stationed in Alaska during the Second World War and stayed.
about 0:05:54It grew as a suburban expansion of Anchorage.
about 0:06:08"6,563"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:03:43
"$143,312"
Comparison: "about $69,000 in the rest of the country". No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:04:03
"$417,563"
No direction stated.
As told in 2025 about 0:04:28
4.3 / 5 · average of 3
“A small-town neighbourhood and close community that bands together when needed; everyone knows everyone and looks out for each other.”about 0:06:18
“There are positives and negatives to small-town life, but plenty of activities, the favourite being a top-notch community band open to anyone.”about 0:06:44
“A suburb of Anchorage surrounded by ocean and mountains, good for skiing, hiking, kayaking, fishing and hunting; safe with many parks, little nightlife but Anchorage twenty minutes away.”about 0:07:11
Shortly after 9.30pm on 19 October 1990, three eighteen-year-olds from the Chugiak area north of Anchorage set out for a night in town. They were heading for the Big Timber Motel on Fifth Avenue, where they planned to rent a room, drink, smoke and watch MTV.
On the Glenn Highway a red Toyota MR2 passed them. The bullet went through the rear window and struck the passenger in the back of the head. He was Jeffrey Kane, twenty, a computer operator at Fort Richardson who was closing on a two-bedroom house and had a date with his girlfriend that night. He died instantly. The driver, Robert Chamberlain, also twenty, drove to the Kentucky Fried Chicken off the highway, where Kane's car was parked, and called for help.
Kerr was badly shaken and asked to be let out. The next day, 20 October, he told his boss at J.D.'s Barbecue in Eagle River what had happened. The boss put him in touch with a lawyer and the two went to the police station at 4.30pm.
The story did not end there.
The parcel was addressed to George Kerr, with 'State of Alaska' as the return address, and posted to the family home in Thunderbird Heights. On 17 September 1991 David Kerr, George's father, opened it, thinking it might need forwarding. It exploded, killing him instantly and blowing out the kitchen wall. His wife Michelle, thirty-four and George's stepmother, suffered massive facial, chest and neck injuries; she needed nearly a dozen operations, lost teeth and her senses of smell and taste, and had glass working its way out of her eyes for years.
A neighbour, Roy Kennedy, whose motorhome the same group had bombed in 1989, thought two bombs in one small area was too much of a coincidence and called the postal inspector. Federal agents pieced the plot together.
October 19, 1990 / the Glenn Highway near the Muldoon Avenue exit, Anchorage, Alaska
As told in the episode, on 3 May 2025.
Accused
Accused
September 17, 1991 / the Kerr home in Thunderbird Heights, Alaska
As told in the episode, on 3 May 2025.
Accused
Accused
Accused
Accused
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
crime scene
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