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Speaker 1: Anybody that has gotten to the point where he can

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Speaker 1: kill all these people, including a small child. There's very

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Speaker 1: little chance he'll give himself up. He's snapped, he's gone beyond,

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Speaker 1: and there's no coming back from where he is now,

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Speaker 1: no coming back.

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Speaker 2: The hunt for one of Alaska's worst serial killers turned

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Speaker 2: a quiet town into the wild wild West.

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Speaker 1: In a situation like this, it's clear to us that

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Speaker 1: this is not going to end well. If we see him,

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Speaker 1: and we're not going to walk out and say, hey,

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Speaker 1: how you doing. This is going to be a gunfight today.

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Speaker 2: We're just outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, for the haunting case

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Speaker 2: of End of the Road, the hunt for Michael Silka.

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Speaker 2: I'm slung glass and this is American homicide. Just to

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Speaker 2: note that this episode contained some graphic content. Please take

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Speaker 2: care while listening. On a spring day in nineteen eighty two,

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Speaker 2: Alaska State troopers stopped their patrol car outside a cabin

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Speaker 2: that belonged to Michael Silka.

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Speaker 1: I don't remember much of Silka's cabin, but it was

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Speaker 1: junkie like most of the other ones over there.

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Speaker 2: Sergeant Jim McCann was an Alaska State trooper.

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Speaker 1: Wasn't some cute little log cabin in the woods. It

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Speaker 1: was just a thrown together wood shack with a bunch

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Speaker 1: of garbage laying all around it.

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Speaker 2: Michael Silka's cabin sat in an area off the beaten

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Speaker 2: path just outside of Fairbanks.

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Speaker 1: There were these little cabins and people that had come

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Speaker 1: to Alaska and didn't have much money were staying in

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Speaker 1: those cabins.

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Speaker 2: The troopers were doing a well bean check on Michael Silka. Earlier,

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Speaker 2: they had received a report that he had been shot

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Speaker 2: and killed by his neighbor, Roger Colt.

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Speaker 1: That trooper went over and knocked on his cabin door.

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Speaker 1: He didn't answer the door.

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Speaker 2: That's when the troopers walked around Michael Solka's yard. Although

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Speaker 2: it was a warm late April, there was still snow

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Speaker 2: on the ground. Footprints in the snow led the troopers

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Speaker 2: to a three by six foot snow mount.

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Speaker 1: There were indeed blood spatters on that, but there's a

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Speaker 1: moose hide hanging there, and so I don't know it

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Speaker 1: could be blood from the moose.

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Speaker 2: One trooper poked at the mound of snow and then

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Speaker 2: grabbed a sample of the blood to send off for testing.

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Speaker 2: Both troopers then walked back to Michael Silka's front door.

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Speaker 1: They knocked again, and they heard someone moving around a

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Speaker 1: little bit inside the house, and eventually a voice said,

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Speaker 1: who's out there? He said, Alaska State trooper.

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Speaker 2: It went quiet for a second before the voice from

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Speaker 2: inside the cabin responded.

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Speaker 1: And he said, how many of you are there?

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Speaker 2: Both troopers looked at each other, puzzled. One of them

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Speaker 2: yelled back, there's two of us. Can you open the

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Speaker 2: door please. The cabin door slowly opened, and a man

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Speaker 2: with dark hair and a scraggly beard peeked outside.

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Speaker 1: And strangely enough, it's Michael Silka.

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Speaker 2: Much to the surprise of the troopers, the man identified

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Speaker 2: himself as twenty five year old Michael Silka, the person

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Speaker 2: they were told had been murdered by a neighbor.

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Speaker 1: We had no idea who Michael Silka was till all

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Speaker 1: this happened.

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Speaker 2: So Silka, who the troopers believed was killed by his neighbor,

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Speaker 2: Roger Colpe, was alive and Roger Colpe was missing.

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Speaker 1: Roger Coulp was a guy that disappeared a lot. He

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Speaker 1: was a heavy drinker, and heavy drinkers around here just

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Speaker 1: kind of wander around and during warm weather they lay

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Speaker 1: down and sleep in the woods. They do all sorts

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Speaker 1: of things.

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Speaker 2: The belief was Roger Culp would eventually turn up. He

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Speaker 2: always did.

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Speaker 1: It's not really all that suspicious for a guy like

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Speaker 1: Roger Culp to be gone from his for even a

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Speaker 1: day or two, so there aren't a lot of alarms

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Speaker 1: going on at this point.

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Speaker 2: Before leaving Michael Soka's cabin, the two troopers had some questions.

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Speaker 3: They found blood scared around Silka's cabin.

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Speaker 2: Alaska State Trooper Steve Heckman, and he.

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Speaker 3: Said, yeah, that's blood on the ground there. I was

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Speaker 3: skinning a moose. I was skinning out a moose height

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Speaker 3: or something in that. The blood was from that.

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Speaker 2: Michael Soka had butchered a moose and said he washed

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Speaker 2: the hikes for some of his hunter friends. Those hides

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Speaker 2: are used to make jackets, gloves, and even rope.

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Speaker 3: If you're in the bush, it would be a very

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Speaker 3: common thing.

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Speaker 2: The two troopers thanked Michael Soka for his time and

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Speaker 2: drove away. Michael Soka waited until they were completely out

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Speaker 2: of sight. Once they were gone, he closed the door.

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Speaker 2: In a cabin a couple doors down, a woman was

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Speaker 2: watching what she witnessed the previous day had left her

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Speaker 2: paralyzed with fear.

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Speaker 3: There was an exchange between Colp and Silka, and it

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Speaker 3: was just very uncomfortable.

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Speaker 2: The previous day, that female neighbor of Michael Soka was

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Speaker 2: outside chopping wood and talking with Roger Colp. The two

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Speaker 2: noticed Michael Soka walked past three different times carrying a

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Speaker 2: pile of guns to his car. On his final pass,

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Speaker 2: Silka stopped where his two neighbors were chopping wood, grabbed

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Speaker 2: a long stick, and angrily slammed it against the chopping block.

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Speaker 2: He yelled, this is how you do it, and then

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Speaker 2: walked back to his cabin. It was a strange and

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Speaker 2: scary outburst.

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Speaker 3: There was something about him that really bothered her.

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Speaker 2: It also upset Roger Colp, who followed Silka to his cabin.

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Speaker 2: A short time later. The woman chopping wood said she

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Speaker 2: heard gunshots coming from Silka's cabin.

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Speaker 3: Which is not an unusual thing to hear Banks Alaska.

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Speaker 3: You've been in a suburb, you'll hear that sort of

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Speaker 3: thing from time to time. So she didn't think too

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Speaker 3: much of it, except that Culp. She never saw him again.

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Speaker 2: When Roger Culp never turned up, that's when she guessed

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Speaker 2: those gunshots coming from Michael Silka's cabin. Was Silka shooting

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Speaker 2: and killing Colp. But she didn't have a phone and

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Speaker 2: couldn't call the police, so she locked her door and

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Speaker 2: claimed to be so scared that she couldn't leave her

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Speaker 2: cabin for days. I can imagine that she felt that

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Speaker 2: she was stuck out in the woods with a psychopath.

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Speaker 3: She eventually reported what she had seen.

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Speaker 2: It took her nine days to report what happened, and

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Speaker 2: by the time she did, the troopers realized their first

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Speaker 2: report was incorrect. It wasn't that Culp may have killed Silka,

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Speaker 2: it was that Silka may have killed Colp.

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Speaker 3: There was a lot of stuff that was going on,

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Speaker 3: but they got all messed up.

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Speaker 2: By the time the troopers returned to Michael Silka's cabin,

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Speaker 2: he was gone.

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Speaker 3: They never found Colp. They found blood scared around Silka's

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Speaker 3: cabin that was later identified as being human.

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Speaker 2: Blood, so that blood Silka said was from a moose

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Speaker 2: was in fact human blood. By that point, troopers believed

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Speaker 2: Michael Silka had murdered Roger Colp and left town.

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Speaker 3: Something really bad has happened, and he obviously knew we

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Speaker 3: were looking for him because he got out of Dodge.

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Speaker 2: When Alaska State troopers dug into Michael Silka, theyan covered

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Speaker 2: a ton. Keep in mind it's nineteen eighty four and

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Speaker 2: the world was less connected.

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Speaker 3: Silka had had a warrant out for his arrest in Illinois,

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Speaker 3: and nobody knew about that. It wasn't in the national

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Speaker 3: computer at that time.

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Speaker 2: In nineteen eighty three, Michael Silka skipped a court hearing

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Speaker 2: for a weapons violation back in Illinois. That led to

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Speaker 2: a warrant being put out for the twenty five year

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Speaker 2: old drifter.

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Speaker 3: And there was a caution that he was considered to

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Speaker 3: be dangerous.

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Speaker 2: So let's talk about Michael Silka. Silka grew up in

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Speaker 2: the suburbs of Chicago, but always dreamed of living outdoors.

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Speaker 1: He was the sort of guy that didn't hang with others.

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Speaker 1: He didn't do well with other people.

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Speaker 2: That's Sergeant Jim mccannnon.

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Speaker 1: Didn't have any close friends that I recall. Everyone thought

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Speaker 1: him a bit odd.

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Speaker 2: Chicago's Daily Harald newspaper reported that one former high school

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Speaker 2: classmate called Silka a troubled kid who was obsessed with guns.

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Speaker 2: One said he even went to school dressed like a hunter.

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Speaker 2: Another said You could just picture this guy growing up

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Speaker 2: to do something bad.

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Speaker 1: Michael Silka. He fashioned himself to some sort of mountain man, know,

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Speaker 1: some sort of guy that could go out and live

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Speaker 1: on his own.

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Speaker 2: After high school, Silka joined the army and was thrilled

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Speaker 2: to be stationed at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks.

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Speaker 1: His job was a helicopter mechanic. Some of the other

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Speaker 1: soldiers that worked with him, they described Michael Silka as

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Speaker 1: the guy that would always go off on his own.

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Speaker 1: They wouldn't see him for hours or maybe even days

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Speaker 1: if he could get away with it. He just take

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Speaker 1: a knife and a few things and then go out

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Speaker 1: into the woods and try and survive. And didn't get

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Speaker 1: along very well with his fellow soldiers. They thought him

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Speaker 1: rather strange.

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Speaker 2: Silka became an expert shooter in the army, but a

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Speaker 2: weapons incident led to his discharge. He then returned to

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Speaker 2: Illinois and quickly got into trouble for carrying a rifle

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Speaker 2: through town.

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Speaker 1: You know, he's got a criminal record, but they're not

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Speaker 1: really serious crimes, but they generally involved firearms.

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Speaker 2: By Silka's twenty fifth birthday, he had been picked up

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Speaker 2: up for a series of arrests for burglary, shoplifting, resisting arrest,

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Speaker 2: and unlawful use of a weapon.

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Speaker 1: Not that he used them against people, but that he

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Speaker 1: always had a firearm of one sword or another in

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Speaker 1: his possession near him.

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Speaker 2: With court appearances pending at home, Soka left Chicago and

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Speaker 2: drove north into Canada. That's where he was stopped by

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Speaker 2: the police. They found his truck loaded with camping gear

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Speaker 2: and firearms.

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Speaker 1: They were interested in him enough that they took him

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Speaker 1: to their local headquarters, interviewed him and photographed him, and

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Speaker 1: then let him go. No one ever communicated that to us.

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Speaker 2: Michael Silka then headed to Fairbanks, where miscommunication allowed him

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Speaker 2: to slip out of the reach of the police, and

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Speaker 2: the consequences would destroy an entire town. The oil boom

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Speaker 2: brought the first wave of people to Fairbanks during the

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Speaker 2: nineteen sixties, but there's also a completely different group of

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Speaker 2: people that are attracted to the area.

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Speaker 1: This is the end of the road. Basically, it's the

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Speaker 1: farthest north everything.

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Speaker 2: Sergeant Jim McCann was an Alaska State trooper stationed in Fairbanks.

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Speaker 1: I've got a lot of experience living here at the

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Speaker 1: end of the road. You know that attracts some of

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Speaker 1: the finest people and unfortunately, some of the worst. It's

202
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Speaker 1: where some people come to take their last shot at life,

203
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Speaker 1: or to live their dreams or their fantasies.

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Speaker 2: Every spring, Locals and Fairbanks spot the newest crop of

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Speaker 2: what they call end of the roads.

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Speaker 1: There's been a lot of bad people come to the

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Speaker 1: end of the road here and commit their crimes.

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Speaker 2: One such end of the roat was Michael Silka. After

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Speaker 2: high school, Silka joined the Army. I was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska,

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Speaker 2: which fit with his personality. Sandwiched in between his army stint,

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Speaker 2: the twenty five year old racked up a handful of

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Speaker 2: arrest in Illinois, mainly misdemeanor charges involving weapons.

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Speaker 1: I got into a situation where he didn't show up

214
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Speaker 1: for court there was a warrant issued for him.

215
00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:24,120
Speaker 2: Instead, Silka drove up to Fairbanks, where he later was

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Speaker 2: suspected in the disappearance of his neighbor, Roger Cole. To

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Speaker 2: make matters even harder for police, Silka then disappeared and

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Speaker 2: then on May eighteenth, nineteen eighty four, Sergeant mccannn responded

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Speaker 2: to a disturbing.

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Speaker 1: Call our clerical staff called me and said, Sergeant mccahn,

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Speaker 1: there's something going on in Manly Hot Springs.

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Speaker 2: Manly Hont Springs is a small mining town some one

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Speaker 2: hundred and fifty miles northwest of Fairbanks.

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Speaker 1: What they told me it was that everyone that had

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Speaker 1: gone down to the landing in Manly Hot Springs seems

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Speaker 1: to have disappeared.

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Speaker 2: At the time, only about seventy people lived there, and

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Speaker 2: each spring, locals head to the boat landing on the

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Speaker 2: Tananaw River to watch the ice break up.

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Speaker 1: People just go down there to look, especially when you're

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Speaker 1: living in a little place like Manly but not much

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Speaker 1: else to look at. It's quite the sight to see,

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Speaker 1: really when the ice goes out. But everybody that went

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Speaker 1: down to look at the river seems to have disappeared.

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Speaker 2: A woman reported that her husband and his friend went

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Speaker 2: to the boat landing and never returned. A second person

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Speaker 2: reported that a man, his pregnant wife, and their two

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Speaker 2: year old son also went to the landing and didn't return.

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Speaker 1: There was a whole family, a husband, a wife, and

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Speaker 1: a two year old child.

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Speaker 2: And then came a report that a third and fourth

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Speaker 2: man were also missing. So for a town of seventy

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Speaker 2: people to have seven people go missing. That's ten percent

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Speaker 2: of the population.

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Speaker 1: It was bizarre to think that that had happened. I

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Speaker 1: took action at that point.

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Speaker 2: Sergeant McCann flew out there by helicopter and began searching

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Speaker 2: for clues. At the boat.

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Speaker 1: Launch, I found one forty four magnum cartridge case, and

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Speaker 1: I saw a number of dark spots on the ground

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Speaker 1: in the dirt that I knew could be blood.

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Speaker 2: A nearby tree and a boat parked at the launch

253
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Speaker 2: were both splattered with blood. Along the river bank, troopers

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Speaker 2: noticed drag marks and more blood.

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Speaker 1: Clearly bodies had been brought up to the edge of

256
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Speaker 1: the river and pushed off into the river.

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Speaker 2: A handful of cars were parked at the boat launch,

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Speaker 2: including a beat up Dodge Sedan with an Illinois license

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Speaker 2: plate that belonged to Michael Silka.

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Speaker 1: And when I saw Michael Silk's license plate there, it

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Speaker 1: was certainly alarming. We did some looking at Silka's car,

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Speaker 1: and we saw a lot of his provisions, some reloading

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Speaker 1: equipment and that sort of thing. It concerned me enough

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Speaker 1: that I thought he's going to come back down that

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Speaker 1: river to get his provisions.

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Speaker 2: Sergeant McCann and his team spent the night waiting and

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Speaker 2: hoping Michael Silka and the seven missing people would return.

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Speaker 1: I have no facts at that point to tell me

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Speaker 1: that these people have been murdered, but I've been to

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Speaker 1: these rodeos before. We know what happened. Now it's really

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Speaker 1: confirming that this guy named Michael Silka killed everyone that

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Speaker 1: came down to that landing.

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Speaker 2: The following more more investigators join the search. Here's Alaska

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Speaker 2: State Trooper Steve Heckman.

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Speaker 3: It was a horrible situation, and the fact that there

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Speaker 3: were a little kid and a woman involved in it

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Speaker 3: made it even worse. In my mind, you have to

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Speaker 3: say to yourself, who does something like this? You know,

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Speaker 3: there's no motive that would make any sense whatsoever to me,

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Speaker 3: at least personally. I could never find a motive in

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Speaker 3: something like that that I would care to even try

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Speaker 3: to understand.

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Speaker 2: Trooper Heckman joined a team of divers that comb the

284
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Speaker 2: dangerous Tananall River.

285
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Speaker 3: I knew the current was going to be strong, which

286
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Speaker 3: it was. I knew the visibility would probably be zero,

287
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Speaker 3: which it was.

288
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Speaker 2: The glacier fed tanan All River was nearly a mile

289
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Speaker 2: wide and so full of silt that it could easily

290
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Speaker 2: drag you underwater.

291
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Speaker 3: You can be the world's best swimmer, but unless you

292
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,080
Speaker 3: have a floatation device on or something, you're going to

293
00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,520
Speaker 3: go under, you're going to go under fast.

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Speaker 2: If these seven people were disposed of in the river,

295
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Speaker 2: he knew the odds of finding their bodies were slim

296
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Speaker 2: to none.

297
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Speaker 3: We were hopeful, but our expectations weren't great. Even one

298
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:21,159
Speaker 3: would have been a victory for us, But there again,

299
00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:22,800
Speaker 3: we didn't find a thing.

300
00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:25,119
Speaker 1: You hope that these people are going to show up

301
00:17:25,160 --> 00:17:29,080
Speaker 1: someplace else, that they got on a boat and went

302
00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:33,040
Speaker 1: down river, But I didn't think so.

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Speaker 2: The following morning, Sergeant Jim McCann received his first lead.

304
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Speaker 1: I had received information that Selka had or may have

305
00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:45,200
Speaker 1: had a silver canoe, a silver grumm and canoe.

306
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Speaker 2: Those sleek canoes were popular in the seventies and eighties,

307
00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:52,800
Speaker 2: and the easiest way for troopers to find that canoe

308
00:17:53,520 --> 00:17:54,160
Speaker 2: was by air.

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Speaker 1: I gave instructions to the pilot what we're looking for.

310
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Speaker 1: That this guy, Michael Selka, may have murdered all these

311
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Speaker 1: people could be on the river in a silver grumm

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00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:09,879
Speaker 1: and canoe. So when I got undo the helicopter, I

313
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:14,600
Speaker 1: sat in the back with my sixteen machine gun just

314
00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:15,080
Speaker 1: in case.

315
00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:19,480
Speaker 2: Sergeant McCann and two Special Emergency Reaction Teams took to

316
00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:23,400
Speaker 2: the sky and a pair of helicopters in search of Silka.

317
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Speaker 1: As the leader of the Special Emergency Reaction Team our

318
00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:30,640
Speaker 1: swap team, I made it very clear to our members

319
00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:35,800
Speaker 1: that this isn't Vietnam. We're not flying around in helicopters

320
00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:40,280
Speaker 1: seeing stuff and shooting were law enforcement. We'll only return

321
00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:42,320
Speaker 1: fire if we were fired upon.

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Speaker 2: From the sky. The two teams very quickly spotted a campsite.

323
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Speaker 1: A couple of our fishing wildlife pilots reported seeing a tent,

324
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Speaker 1: a man standing outside the tent, and a silver grumm

325
00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:01,080
Speaker 1: and canoe beached right near the camp.

326
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Speaker 2: The helicopter found a place to land, and three troopers

327
00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:09,560
Speaker 2: made their way through the thick forests to the surrounding campsite.

328
00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,440
Speaker 2: With their guns drawn, they shouted to whoever was inside

329
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Speaker 2: the tent to show themselves. To their surprise, two men emerged.

330
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Speaker 1: There are two bear hunters, and they're not Michael Filke.

331
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Speaker 2: Before the troopers and two bear hunters could catch their

332
00:19:27,880 --> 00:19:30,400
Speaker 2: collective breath, another call.

333
00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:36,359
Speaker 1: Came in almost simultaneously. Another trooper spotted a silver grumbing

334
00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:38,800
Speaker 1: canoe with a single individual going upriver.

335
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Speaker 2: With their description from this call, it had to be Silka.

336
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Speaker 1: In a situation like this, it's clear to us that

337
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Speaker 1: this is not going to end well. The chances of

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00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:57,439
Speaker 1: apprehending Michael Filke were slim to none. Now, anybody that

339
00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,119
Speaker 1: has come to the end of the road and and

340
00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,120
Speaker 1: then gotten to the point where he can kill all

341
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:08,160
Speaker 1: these people, including a small child, there's very little chance

342
00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:11,919
Speaker 1: he'll give himself up, that he'll allow us to apprehend

343
00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:14,800
Speaker 1: him to take him into custody. This is going to

344
00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:20,399
Speaker 1: be a gunfight, and we hope that it only ends

345
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,040
Speaker 1: poorly for Silka, not for us.

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Speaker 2: On a spring day in nineteen eighty four, Sergeant Jim

347
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Speaker 2: mccannn got a call that something was happening in the

348
00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:41,400
Speaker 2: small town of Manly Hot Springs, Alaska. Seven people had

349
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Speaker 2: disappeared near a boat landing in town. None of them returned.

350
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Speaker 2: Part at the boat landing was a car belonging to

351
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Speaker 2: Michael Silka, who had already been on Sergeant Jim McCann's radar.

352
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Speaker 1: So at this point, clearly we can assume that Michael

353
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Speaker 1: Zilka is it's not just a murderer, but he's a

354
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Speaker 1: mass murderer.

355
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Speaker 2: They also suspected Silka killed his neighbor, Roger Colp, who

356
00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:15,840
Speaker 2: was last seen going into Silka's cabin three weeks earlier.

357
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Speaker 1: We don't know that we'd never found Roger Colpe's body,

358
00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:23,720
Speaker 1: but it's logical that he would have done that and

359
00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:26,720
Speaker 1: probably took him right across the road and dumped him

360
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Speaker 1: in the Tanana River.

361
00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:32,480
Speaker 2: With Roger Colp and seven others also presumed to be dead,

362
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Speaker 2: two helicopters filled with specially trained teams of Alaska State

363
00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:40,440
Speaker 2: Troopers went to apprehend Michael Silka.

364
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Speaker 1: We have a not only a murderer, but somebody who

365
00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:50,320
Speaker 1: is has made his decisions. He is committed to going

366
00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:54,719
Speaker 1: out the hard way. He snapped. He's gone beyond and

367
00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,679
Speaker 1: there's no coming back from where he is now, no

368
00:21:57,800 --> 00:21:58,440
Speaker 1: coming back.

369
00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:02,400
Speaker 2: Two sets of helicopters closed in on a person believed

370
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:06,160
Speaker 2: to be Michael Silka. He was spotted in an aluminum

371
00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,639
Speaker 2: canoe about twenty five miles away.

372
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Speaker 1: I can't imagine he's going to throw his hands up

373
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Speaker 1: and say I give up.

374
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,800
Speaker 2: Silka's boat encountered a down tree across the river that

375
00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,640
Speaker 2: prevented him from passing, so he docked his boat alongside

376
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Speaker 2: that tree.

377
00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:26,560
Speaker 4: We see somebody in a boat who turns out to

378
00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:27,639
Speaker 4: be Michael Silka.

379
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Speaker 2: Lieutenant John Myers was on the helicopter with Sergeant McCann.

380
00:22:32,800 --> 00:22:35,480
Speaker 4: We had heard the stories about how good he could shoot,

381
00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:39,320
Speaker 4: so we know we're probably looking for a well armed,

382
00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:43,760
Speaker 4: good shooting murderer who had no conscience.

383
00:22:44,520 --> 00:22:48,440
Speaker 2: With both helicopters hovering, Michael Silka ducked out of sight

384
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:49,959
Speaker 2: between three birch trees.

385
00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:55,879
Speaker 4: The pilot just kind of swooped down whether the people

386
00:22:55,920 --> 00:23:00,240
Speaker 4: in helicopter could get a better look, and then a

387
00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:01,720
Speaker 4: firefight broke out.

388
00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:05,400
Speaker 2: Within seconds, bullets were flying in each direction.

389
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Speaker 4: We could see that Michael Silka was shooting. We knew

390
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,320
Speaker 4: that our people were shooting. In fact, we could see

391
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:14,600
Speaker 4: bullets splashing around him.

392
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:16,000
Speaker 2: But there was a problem.

393
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:19,520
Speaker 4: Imagine yourself in any kind of a situation where you

394
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:24,960
Speaker 4: have the knowledge, the equipment, the training to do something

395
00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:28,800
Speaker 4: really important and you can't do it.

396
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:30,520
Speaker 3: That's where I was.

397
00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:34,920
Speaker 2: This had to be chaotic and the chances of friendly

398
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:36,280
Speaker 2: fire were high.

399
00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:41,199
Speaker 4: Now I'm standing there with a fully automatic rifle in

400
00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:45,800
Speaker 4: my hands, and I mean even if I wanted to

401
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,120
Speaker 4: and tried, I couldn't do it.

402
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:52,680
Speaker 2: The two were left to helplessly watch what unfolded below them.

403
00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:57,080
Speaker 1: Silka was acting furtively, looking up at them and acting

404
00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:03,320
Speaker 1: very agitated, concerned. He was doing his best to escape.

405
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:07,760
Speaker 2: On the riverbank below, Silka was trying to conceal himself

406
00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:08,920
Speaker 2: from the trooper's vision.

407
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,280
Speaker 1: Then I heard what is perhaps one of the worst

408
00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:16,399
Speaker 1: things I ever heard. Was our pilot going ten seventy

409
00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:21,680
Speaker 1: nine ast. That means a dead trooper.

410
00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:26,960
Speaker 2: A trooper in the other helicopter was hit by one

411
00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:29,080
Speaker 2: of Michael Silka's bullets.

412
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:36,600
Speaker 1: My friend Droy Duncan was murdered, his head was gone,

413
00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:41,680
Speaker 1: and the helicopter itself was blood spattered and bone fragments,

414
00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:46,479
Speaker 1: and it was a horrible scene. My partner and I

415
00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:52,160
Speaker 1: were just shocked, I mean totally shocked.

416
00:24:53,440 --> 00:24:57,400
Speaker 2: With one trooper dead. That helicopter then left the scene

417
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:01,360
Speaker 2: and raced to a local hospital. That left Sergeant McCann

418
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:04,840
Speaker 2: and Lieutenant Myers to find Michael Silka.

419
00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:09,920
Speaker 4: We couldn't see Silka anymore, so in the meantime, we're

420
00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,480
Speaker 4: circling around it, and now we didn't know if Silka

421
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:17,199
Speaker 4: was dead, wounded, or ran, but we knew he was.

422
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:22,080
Speaker 4: He probably was hit and then we located him.

423
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:23,320
Speaker 1: He was in the water.

424
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:28,360
Speaker 2: Michael Silka was down in a fierce gunfight that had

425
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:32,840
Speaker 2: lasted less than a minute. Trooper shot and killed Michael

426
00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,960
Speaker 2: Silka just seconds after he killed one of their own,

427
00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:39,360
Speaker 2: Trooper Troy Duncan.

428
00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 4: I mean, Troy was a remarkable person. Everybody liked him,

429
00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:51,720
Speaker 4: everybody trusted him. Everybody was hurt by his death. But

430
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:54,639
Speaker 4: the fact is everybody did what they were supposed to

431
00:25:54,680 --> 00:25:59,800
Speaker 4: do and we lost one and a really good person,

432
00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:01,320
Speaker 4: good man.

433
00:26:02,840 --> 00:26:05,800
Speaker 2: The thirty four year old ex marine had a wife

434
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:10,480
Speaker 2: and two children. His remains were flown to Texas, where

435
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:14,120
Speaker 2: he was buried next to his mother. Here's Sergeant Jim

436
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:14,920
Speaker 2: mccannon again.

437
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 1: I can still see Troy Duncan's face, his smile. Just

438
00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,960
Speaker 1: a big old X marine, you know, and a likable guy,

439
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:34,440
Speaker 1: good trooper murdered. People don't understand what law enforcement officers

440
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:36,880
Speaker 1: go through, what they carry with them for the rest

441
00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:37,880
Speaker 1: of their lives.

442
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,720
Speaker 2: After a long investigation, troopers concluded what happened at the

443
00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:47,040
Speaker 2: docks in May of nineteen eighty four, and the details

444
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:52,920
Speaker 2: are really unbelievable. Michael Silka shot and killed a first

445
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:56,600
Speaker 2: victim at the boat launch. He then threw the victim's

446
00:26:56,640 --> 00:27:01,680
Speaker 2: body into the river. From there he killed everyone else

447
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:06,360
Speaker 2: in sight. His motive baffled Lieutenant Myers.

448
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:12,399
Speaker 4: What makes you decide to kill everybody to see? How

449
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:15,040
Speaker 4: do you get that way? I don't have a clue.

450
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,520
Speaker 4: If really, I don't know. He was committed to dying.

451
00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:21,879
Speaker 1: He was committed to killing as many troopers as he

452
00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:26,760
Speaker 1: could before he went out, and he fired three shots rapidly,

453
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:32,240
Speaker 1: you know, one taking Trooper Troy Duncan right in the

454
00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,960
Speaker 1: middle of his face. These things certainly stayed with me.

455
00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:40,439
Speaker 2: Troopers believe Michael Silka was able to fire off three

456
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:43,000
Speaker 2: shots before he was killed, and.

457
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:45,760
Speaker 1: The other two when I examined the helicopter later, they

458
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,080
Speaker 1: were right next to the hydraulic lines that kept that

459
00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:53,360
Speaker 1: helicopter in the air, And some would say that he

460
00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:56,560
Speaker 1: was trying to take down the helicopter.

461
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:02,360
Speaker 2: The troopers believe Michael Silka snapped. Over the next few weeks,

462
00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:06,520
Speaker 2: planes flew back and forth over the river in search

463
00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:07,840
Speaker 2: of the victims.

464
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,160
Speaker 1: The Tanana River has a tendency to swallow up bodies.

465
00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:17,280
Speaker 1: It's a dangerous river. And these people could be any place.

466
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:22,119
Speaker 2: A month later, only four of the seven bodies were recovered,

467
00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:27,480
Speaker 2: including one body that turned up seventy five miles downstream.

468
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:32,959
Speaker 2: None of the other victims' bodies were ever found, including

469
00:28:33,119 --> 00:28:37,680
Speaker 2: Roger Colp. For those in Manly Hot Springs, it's not.

470
00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 1: The peaceful little place that it used to be, you

471
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:44,080
Speaker 1: know before this. I mean I could drive into Manly

472
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:48,760
Speaker 1: and I just people wave at j It's not the same.

473
00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:51,960
Speaker 1: These things have a way to resurface in your mind,

474
00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:54,920
Speaker 1: that memory of these things never dies.

475
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:02,200
Speaker 2: Further investigation led troopers to next Silka to a murder

476
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:06,760
Speaker 2: in North Dakota, a pair of killings in Canada, and

477
00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:11,920
Speaker 2: the murder of two others in Manly Hot Springs. With

478
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:17,000
Speaker 2: no known motive, Michael Silka left behind a million unanswered

479
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:21,800
Speaker 2: questions with no one to give them answers. The grieving

480
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:26,200
Speaker 2: small town took out their frustration on a physical representation

481
00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:27,000
Speaker 2: of Selka.

482
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:32,640
Speaker 3: The car probably should have been impounded, but in one respect,

483
00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:34,520
Speaker 3: maybe it was a good thing. We left it there.

484
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:39,520
Speaker 3: They beat it with hammers, they set it on fire,

485
00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:43,000
Speaker 3: and then they drove over it with a bulldozer, and

486
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,560
Speaker 3: then they pushed it in the river. I mean, I

487
00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,640
Speaker 3: think that was kind of their way to show some

488
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 3: finality to the whole thing. That was something that they

489
00:29:52,640 --> 00:29:57,800
Speaker 3: just felt they needed to do. Gave them some way

490
00:29:57,560 --> 00:29:59,560
Speaker 3: to show their emotions.

491
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:11,400
Speaker 2: Next time on American Homicide, just days after our college

492
00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 2: student moves into her new apartment, she disappears. I'm Sloane Glass.

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00:30:17,240 --> 00:30:20,720
Speaker 2: We'll be in Angriagje, Alaska for our final two episodes

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00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:35,000
Speaker 2: this season of American Homicide. You can contact the American

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00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 2: Homicide team by emailing us at American Homicide Pod at

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00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:44,480
Speaker 2: gmail dot com. That's American Homicide Pod at gmail dot com.

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00:30:44,840 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 2: American Homicide is hosted and written by me Sloane Glass

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00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:52,600
Speaker 2: and is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of

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00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:57,320
Speaker 2: Glass Entertainment Group, in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show

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00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:01,920
Speaker 2: is executive produced by Nancy Glass, and the series is

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00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 2: also written and produced by Todd Gans, with additional writing

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00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:09,560
Speaker 2: by Ben Fetterman and Andrea Gunning. Our associate producer is

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00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:14,560
Speaker 2: Kristin Melcurie. Our ihearteam is Ali Perry and Jessica Crimechack.

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00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:20,480
Speaker 2: Audio editing, mixing and mastering by Nico Aarruca. American Homicide

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00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:24,440
Speaker 2: Theme song was composed by Oliver Baines of Neiser Music

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00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:28,880
Speaker 2: Library provided by my Music. Follow American Homicide on Apple

507
00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 2: Podcasts and please rate and review American Homicide. Your five

508
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,480
Speaker 2: star review goes a long way towards helping others find

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00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:41,040
Speaker 2: this show. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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00:31:41,440 --> 00:32:04,640
Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts