Town file
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska (Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 700, "The Hidden Murderer" (15 May 2026). Sophie Sergie was born on June 4, 1972, in Pitkas Point, a Yup'ik village of about seventy people on the lower Yukon River in western Alaska.
- Town
- Fairbanks
- County
- Fairbanks North Star Borough
- State
- Alaska
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 700
- Approximate location
- 64.837, -147.652
Episode 700 / 15 May 2026 / 73 min / express
The Hidden Murderer
"This is in Fairbanks, Alaska, which I've actually heard of; this is in eastern Alaska, and this is the borough, it's not a county, it's a borough, is Fairbanks North Star" about 0:04:41
The case: Murder of Sophie Sergie (April 1993). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2026
- Population
- 33,018
- Median household income
- $66,572
- Median home value
- $275,600
History, in brief
- In August 1901, E. T. Barnett founded a trading post on the south bank of the Chena River, and a gold discovery nearby sparked the Fairbanks gold rush. about 0:07:00
- In November 1903 residents voted to incorporate Fairbanks, and Barnett became the first mayor. about 0:07:17
- The population plunged during the First World War when able-bodied young miners were drafted. about 0:07:32
- The population rose again during the Great Depression as the price of gold increased and people came looking for gold. about 0:07:41
- In the 1940s and 1950s Fairbanks became a staging area for military depots during the Second World War and the Cold War, being close to Russia. about 0:07:48
- The discovery of the Prudhoe Bay oil field in 1968 made oil a big part of the local boom. about 0:08:00
- Until 1940 none of the streets in Fairbanks were paved. about 0:08:20
- A large-scale paving operation began in 1953, when the city paved 30 blocks of streets. about 0:08:29
- Fairbanks is mathematically the coldest city in the United States. about 0:08:45
The reviews read out
"Titled 'Plug in your vehicle!': you need block heaters and to plug your vehicle in for almost half the year, and at negative 40 you need a remote auto start and a grill cover to keep the heat in the radiator."about 0:09:02
2 stars
"Fairbanks is a dumpster fire just waiting to happen; it is not like it used to be, it used to be safe, and it is a town stuck in time, with black mould, asbestos and crime rates."about 0:10:33
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Palmer, Alaska228 miles
- Chugiak, Alaska246 miles
- McCarthy, Alaska277 miles
- Hope, Alaska280 miles
- Kodiak, Alaska511 miles
- Sitka, Alaska676 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.