WEBVTT - S1: E28 – The Mountain Man Murders, Part 1 0:00:01.680 --> 0:00:03.840 Most people who live in the wilderness are prepared to 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:09.040 run into wild animals, so they're watchful, but nobody expects 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:12.480 a human predator to be hiding behind a tree and 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:13.560 start shooting at you. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:17.360 When a man was found dead and his wife was missing, 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:21.240 the Alaskan wilderness turned into a dangerous game of catch 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:21.959 me if you can. 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:25.680 There are helicopters buzzing overhead every day for a. 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:29.080 Month, and the man hunt led investigators to a tent 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:32.200 right next to the victim's dead body. 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:35.720 For a guy who chose to camp right near the corpse. 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:38.519 He looked very suspicious. 0:00:38.240 --> 0:00:40.920 But did the police have the wrong suspect? 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.720 This just seemed like two big coincidence for the troopers 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:45.720 to swallow. 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:49.000 And by the time the police made an arrest, no 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:51.960 one knew who or what to believe. 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:57.080 Everywhere you look, this story had a strange but fascinating aspects. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:01.680 Today, we're North of the Border and Julitna, Alaska for 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.840 part one of the Mountain Man Murders. I'm Sloan Glass 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.440 and this is American homicide. And just to note that 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:13.560 this episode contains some graphic content. Please take care while listening. 0:01:15.880 --> 0:01:19.000 Rick Berry and de b Reehoer were newlyweds who lived 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.680 and worked just outside of Anchorage, Alaska, but on weekends 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.840 the two spent a lot of time at their cabin 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:27.039 in the remote woods of Chulitna. 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:31.680 Chulitna is not a town. It's a designated wilderness area 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:34.679 about one hundred and fifteen miles north of Anchorage or 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:38.280 forty miles north of the town of Talkitna. 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:42.600 True crime author Robin Bearfield wrote Murder and Mystery in 0:01:42.640 --> 0:01:43.560 the Last Frontier. 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:47.840 The Chulitna River runs through it, the Talkeitna Mountains are 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:52.040 near there, and it is just a very wild area. 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:54.960 There are no roads that run through Chulitna. 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:59.520 Living there is literally and figuratively off the grid. 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:03.760 Coming off the grid in Alaska means you are responsible 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:08.639 for your electricity. You're responsible for your sewer. You're responsible 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:13.000 for getting wood to keep warm, and for getting fuel 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.119 if you need fuel for a ATV or to run 0:02:16.160 --> 0:02:16.880 a generator. 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.560 Toltna is so far removed from the rest of Alaska 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:23.400 that there are only two ways to get there. One 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:26.360 is the more traditional route, the Parks Highway. 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.560 The Parks Highway is the highway that connects Anchorage to Fairbanks, 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:33.880 and you can drive along the highway and pull off 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.120 the road and then either hike or take an ATV 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.800 into your cabin. The other way to get into Chiulitna 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:42.960 is by the Alaska Railroad. 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:47.200 The Alaska Railroad not only runs freight trains but also 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:48.960 operates passenger trains. 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:55.360 The railroad runs a train on a particular schedule, it 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:59.040 varies from season to season, but it goes into this 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.320 area and it does what is known as a whistle 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:06.760 stop or a flag stop, which means that either the 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.040 train knows they have a passenger on board that wants 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.840 to get off at a certain stop, or the engineer 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:16.440 sees people standing beside the tracks and he stops there. 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.840 That train line not only is important for getting from 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.280 point A to point B, but it's also how locals 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:26.880 get their food and supplies. So that gives you an 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:31.280 idea of just how far remote Huletna is and how 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.080 different life is for people who live there. 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:36.800 The people who live there live off the grid. They 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.920 like their peace and quiet, and they're very self sufficient. 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:43.440 And that summed up brick Berry and Debbie Reehor. 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.040 He had lived in Alaska his entire life, except for 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:51.320 two stints in the military in Vietnam, but he had 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.560 no desire to leave. He loved it here. Debbie was 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:57.080 good in the wilderness. She liked to hunt, she liked 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:00.400 to fish, she loved to get outdoors. So they made 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.440 a good pair, and their personalities offset each other. 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:07.400 Rick was type AI and Debbie was reserved and quiet. 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:11.480 After years of dating, Rick finally popped the question to 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:15.440 Debbie and the two forty somethings got married in nineteen 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:16.040 ninety five. 0:04:16.320 --> 0:04:21.240 Rick was a confirmed lifelong bachelor, but friends and families 0:04:21.240 --> 0:04:22.800 say they fell hard for each other. 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:29.120 The two loved spending long weekends at their cabin in Chulitna, 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:33.000 and just before Memorial Day weekend in nineteen ninety seven, 0:04:33.640 --> 0:04:36.799 that's what they did. Their plan was always the same. 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:40.119 Rick would drive up on Thursday to get the cabin ready, 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.680 and then after work on Friday, Debbie would drive up 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:47.400 a meeting and listen to this inventor from their home 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:50.640 and anchorage. The drive was a few hours normal. Then 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:52.920 they would park their cars at a lot along the 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:57.000 railroad tracks. From there, they'd hop on their ATVs for 0:04:57.080 --> 0:04:58.560 the final leg of the journey. 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:02.160 Rick and Debbie's CA happened was eight miles from the road, 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.080 so you know, it's quite a waste to travel after 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:06.720 you get out of your car. 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:10.080 Door to door. It was about a four hour track 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.680 for a long weekend of relaxation in the woods. But 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:17.920 something happened in Cheltna that Memorial Day weekend because Rick 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:21.440 and Debbie made it up there and then vanished. 0:05:23.880 --> 0:05:27.000 When Debbie didn't show up for work on the Tuesday 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:30.760 after Memorial Day, her boss became very concerned because that 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:33.680 was unlike Debbie. She was very dependable and if she 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:35.520 was going to be late for work or have to 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.360 miss work for some reason, she always called. 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.680 Rick also was a no show at work that Tuesday, 0:05:42.120 --> 0:05:44.520 and nobody could get in touch with either of them, 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:46.919 so Debbie's boss called Debbie's brother. 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:50.560 Debbie's brother was a little worried about them running into 0:05:50.640 --> 0:05:53.760 bears because they went missing right when the bears are 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:56.880 coming out of hibernation, so he was concerned about that. 0:05:57.080 --> 0:05:59.680 But Rick and Debbie were smart and knew how to 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.760 handle the outdoors, so it was unlikely that they were 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.080 going to do something to get themselves in trouble, so 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.440 he went to their cabin in chew Litna. When he arrived, 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.080 he did not find Rick or Debbie, but the cabin 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.520 was closed and the dogs were closed inside, and they'd 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:19.360 obviously been closed inside for several hours because they'd gone 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:20.640 to the bathroom on the floor. 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:25.200 Rick and Debbie's border colleagues appeared to be scared and hungry, 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.560 as if they'd been left alone for an extended period 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:31.640 of time, and there were some other things inside the 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:33.920 cabin that stood out to Debbie's brother. 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.640 He found a plate of cheese on the table, cheese 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:40.200 and crackers, and an open beer, and he said that 0:06:40.320 --> 0:06:43.240 was not like Rick or Debbie either, because they were 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:47.120 very good housekeepers, so he felt certain something was wrong. 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:49.280 As soon as he arrived at the cabin. 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:53.159 Rick and Debbie's ATVs were also missing, so he waited 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:57.680 around the cabin hoping the two would return, but they didn't. 0:06:57.880 --> 0:07:00.200 And the next morning he decided he'd go out look 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.560 around a little bit, so about two miles from the cabin, 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:07.839 he found Rick's ATV on the edge of a creek, 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:10.600 but there was no sign of Rick, and then he 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.200 was really worried, so he called the Alaska State Troopers 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.280 and said, I know it hasn't been forty eight hours, 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:21.520 but there's something wrong here, and the troopers responded immediately. 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:27.000 Rick Bery served two tours in Vietnam, so this wasn't 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:30.360 someone the troopers expected to get lost in the woods 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:35.760 or attacked by wildlife. A search crew including fifteen Alaska 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:39.920 State troopers and multiple tracking dogs fanned out around Chulitna, 0:07:40.400 --> 0:07:44.080 but finding Rick and Debbie was a challenge. It was 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.760 summertime in Alaska, meaning the forest was thick, the ground 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:52.960 was muddy, and the air was filled with mosquitoes. So 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:56.520 troopers also took to the sky and sent two search 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.760 helicopters to the area, and that's when they located Rick. 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:04.760 The troopers found Rick fairly quickly as soon as they 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.880 began looking. He wasn't far from his ATV. He was 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.160 in the creek in a deep hole. 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.440 On the Thursday after Memorial Day, troopers found Rick Fury's 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.680 body in a creek some two hundred yards away from 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.760 his ATV and two miles from his cabin. 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.320 And he had been shot once in the head, execution style. 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:29.600 It was a gruesome and puzzling discovery for troopers. Murders 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:35.760 rarely happened in the Alaska wilderness, especially an execution style murder, 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.240 and that's when the focus shifted to Rick's wife, Debbie. 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:44.480 They didn't find Debbie's body or her ATV, so she 0:08:44.640 --> 0:08:48.160 immediately became a suspect in the case. To the troopers, 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.960 that looked like this could have been a love spat 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.360 that went off the rails and she shot him and 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:54.040 then took off. 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:57.520 But no one wanted to believe that Debbie Rehort, the 0:08:57.600 --> 0:09:02.000 person her coworkers called sweetheart, would do any harm towards Rick. 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.680 If anything, it might have been the other way around. 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:09.760 Rick was a big guy who could have a hot temper. 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:15.280 He lost his temper fairly easily, and he didn't hold 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:17.160 back from telling people what he thought. 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:22.520 People described Rick as stubborn and gruff and said he 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:26.960 sometimes questioned authority. In fact, that's how he got in 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.040 trouble with the Feds back in the eighties. 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:31.960 He tried the butt heads with the irs and it 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:34.120 didn't work out so well for him, so he did 0:09:34.160 --> 0:09:37.760 about eleven months in jail, not too long after he 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:41.680 and Debbie were beginning to date. But she hung in 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:43.640 there with him and waited for him to get out 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.319 of jail, and they moved on with their lives. 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:50.199 The mystery over what happened to Rick and Debbie that memorial. 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:54.360 They weekend baffle troopers and people who lived in the area. 0:09:54.840 --> 0:09:56.880 I think this is a big story in Alaska and 0:09:56.960 --> 0:10:00.280 elsewhere because this is an unusual way to die in 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:04.719 the wilderness. You don't expect somebody in the Alaska wilderness 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:08.080 to be shot by another human execution style. 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:11.840 As search crews continued to comb through the miles of 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:16.240 forest in the area looking for Debbie, investigators searched for clues. 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:20.359 They focused heavily on the railroad tracks that cut through Chulitna. 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:25.160 The railroad has their own police force who patrol those tracks. 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:28.280 There were no reports of anything suspicious. 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:33.160 There were electrical workers working along the railroad tracks in 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:36.640 the area. They were installing fiber optic cable, and the 0:10:36.679 --> 0:10:39.479 troopers questioned them and they said there was a campsite 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:43.559 in the area near where they found Rick's body. 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:47.520 And those workers reported hearing gunshots coming from that area. 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.360 The campsite was kind of a mess that looked like 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:54.720 it had been used fairly recently, and whoever was staying 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:58.520 there had made a makeshift flag flying a pair of 0:10:58.559 --> 0:10:59.600 women's underwear. 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:03.360 So we have a mysterious campsite near the creek where 0:11:03.440 --> 0:11:07.120 Rick's dead body turned up. And not only that, but 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:11.000 there is also the bizarre detail of a pair of 0:11:11.080 --> 0:11:15.680 women's underwear hanging on a tree branch. What's that about? 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:31.240 Alaska State troopers also had a lot of questions. The 0:11:31.320 --> 0:11:35.840 seasons in Alaska are extreme. After a harsh winter, things 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:39.120 quickly change during the months of May. That's when Alaska 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:43.960 merges from its hibernation. Warmer temperatures arrive, the ground begins 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:47.640 to thaw, and daylight extends well past bedtime. 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:51.960 There's ice on the lake. The next week the ice 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.400 is gone, and the following week the leaves are out. 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.400 Bill Astell was the assistant District attorney in Palmer, Alaska. 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:03.080 Spring comes in May end. By Memorial Day, it's eighteen 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:08.559 hours of daylight and summer is underway. Most people around 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:12.240 Memorial Day will take an extra day off and have 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:16.240 a three or four day weekend and get things ready 0:12:16.280 --> 0:12:16.720 for summer. 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.200 And that's what husband and wife Rick Berry and Debbie 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:23.720 Rehort did over Memorial Day weekend in nineteen ninety seven. 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.280 They headed to their cabin in the rural Alaskan area 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:29.800 of Chulitna, but they never returned. 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:34.080 Their four wheelers were gone and they had just seemingly disappeared. 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:37.920 An exhaustive search through the remote area by foot was 0:12:37.960 --> 0:12:41.520 followed by an aerial search, and that's when a helicopter 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:43.120 pilot noticed something. 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:49.480 When the troopers are out there with the helicopter, the 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:54.160 helicopter pilot is getting ready to leave and does one 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:56.640 more circle and out of the corner of his eye, 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:01.560 he catches a glint of sunlight off something a beaver pond, 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:07.880 and that's where Rickberry's body was found. He was killed 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:11.520 with a shot to the head from a twenty two rifle, 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:17.120 and it appears that his body would have floated down stream, 0:13:17.559 --> 0:13:20.200 settled to the bottom, and probably would not have been 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:23.400 found but for the coincidental sighting. 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.679 The forty eight year old had taken a single bullet 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:31.920 to the head, execution style. Meanwhile, Rick's wife, Debbie was 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:33.000 nowhere to be found. 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:39.400 He's dead, she's missing. She becomes another suspect because it 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:44.559 could be some sort of a domestic dispute situation, and 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:48.480 they're pulling out all the stops at this point to 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:53.400 bring more investigative resources to search about for her or 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.920 for any clue as to where she might have gone. 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.160 Since Chulitna didn't have a police force of their own, 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:04.679 the Alaska State Troopers handled the investigation, but getting statements 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:07.960 wasn't easy because there were only a dozen or so 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:09.200 cabins in the area. 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:13.800 There was very sparsely populated, and the people that had 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:18.640 cabins there tended to be recreational cabins or there were retirees, 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:22.640 but very few full time residents. 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:26.720 With so few people in the area, investigators then turned 0:14:26.760 --> 0:14:31.360 to local railroad employees for help, because those railroad tracks 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:35.040 were how most people made their way in and out 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:35.880 of Chulitna. 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:41.880 They learned in interviewing the railroad personnel that somebody had 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:47.400 seen somebody walking in the area carrying a rifle and 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:51.600 it turned out to be a person that was going fishing, 0:14:52.200 --> 0:14:57.800 and they found traces of his campsite and his use 0:14:57.840 --> 0:14:59.560 of a twenty two firearm. 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.240 And here's the crazy part. This person had set up 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:08.320 camp right where they found Rick's body. Enter twenty one 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:12.560 year old Gavin Saha. He came forward to investigators and 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:16.840 told them how over Memorial Day weekend he was backpacking 0:15:16.880 --> 0:15:18.960 along the railroad tracks through Tulitna. 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:24.280 Gavin Saha had been walking in the area carrying a 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:30.320 rifle and had been shooting his twenty two twenty two 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:31.960 rifle was the murder weapon. 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:36.080 This was a huge lead. Gavin Saha owned the same 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.600 type of gun as the murder weapon, not to mention, 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:43.960 he had camped virtually right next to Rick's dead body. 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:48.120 The troopers felt like they were making progress, but Gavin 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:51.000 denied having any idea he set up his tent near 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:57.480 a murder scene. The troopers pushed back because at that 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.440 time of the year in Alaska, the sun merely dips 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:03.760 below the horizon and then comes back up. That means 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.840 there's light for most of the day. So the fact 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:09.880 that Gavin didn't notice he set up his camp right 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.040 next to Rick's dead body. 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:17.040 It was just inconceivable, and so he became sort of 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:21.240 the prime suspect as they were sorting out what actually happened. 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:24.800 One thing to remember is Gavin was the one who 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:25.840 went to the police. 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:29.600 There is a young man who came forward to us 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:32.480 and said, you know, I was out in that area. 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:34.920 I was camping and fishing and so forth. 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:38.480 Captain Don Savage was part of the team of Alaskan 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:40.840 State troopers who investigated. 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:43.600 He was camped right along the railroad tracks. I think 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:46.280 it was within a couple of hundred yards of where 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:49.120 Rick was found. And it's four wheeler is. 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:53.960 How keep in mind, Chulitna is not easily accessible unless 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:58.320 you came by train or ATV, neither of which this suspected. 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:03.000 His mom aparently dropped him off somewhere so he could 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.640 hike up in the railroad tracks, and that's where he 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.480 was camping, and he had a twenty two rifle with him, 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:11.200 and we knew that a murder weapon had been twenty two. 0:17:11.880 --> 0:17:15.720 Gavin explained that during his hiking excursion, he quickly found 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.160 himself in over his head. He mistakenly left his map 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:22.280 at home and got lost. A day and a half 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.760 into his track, Gavin said he stumbled upon a four wheeler. 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:30.480 Troopers believe it belonged to Debbie. It was partially submerged 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:32.760 in a creek and looked to be stuck in the mud. 0:17:33.600 --> 0:17:37.119 Off the back of it, he noticed a backpack. After 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.560 fishing the bag off the four wheeler, Gavin found a purse, 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:43.639 some clothes, and some other things. Inside the bag. 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.800 He had found the pepsi and some chewing gum. 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.359 I believe Gavin told troopers he took that two liter 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:52.600 bottle of pepsi and. 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:56.320 Gum, but he denied taking anything else, and he denied 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:57.719 seeing Rick's body. 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.960 For every question to troopers asked, Gavin had a reasonable answer, 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.720 and that's when they zeroed in on Gavitt's campsite. 0:18:07.160 --> 0:18:13.320 His campsite was, I guess, notoriously messy, and for whatever reason, 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:18.720 he had a pair of red underwear along with him. 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.639 Flying on a tree branch above Gavin's campsite was a 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:26.359 pair of women's underwear. The underwear waved in the wind, 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:30.399 kind of like a flag. But Gavin told investigators he 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:32.639 had an explanation for that as well. 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.639 He had gone out there to hike and fish, and 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:40.480 he had brought this pair of his girlfriends or ex 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:42.920 girlfriend's panties along with him. 0:18:43.359 --> 0:18:47.200 For whatever reason, they thought it would be humorous to 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:49.720 put that out there so that passengers on the train 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:50.880 could see the red. 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:52.040 Underwear as they went by. 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:54.840 So we have a young man who set up camp 0:18:54.920 --> 0:18:57.480 near a dead body he claimed he didn't know was there, 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:00.359 and a pair of women's underwear that he u as 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:04.359 a flag at the campsite. Keep in mind the victim's wife, 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:06.400 Debbie was still missing. 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:10.240 It's almost too cwfered at this point in time. 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:15.520 But Gavin Saha told investigators he didn't know Rick Berry 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:20.119 or Debbie Reehort, and more importantly, he had nothing to 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:23.440 do with Rick's murder. He was all circumstantial. 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.720 He said, it was the wrong place at the wrong time. 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.320 That's assistant Da Billi Stell. 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:33.480 And that didn't add up and didn't make sense with 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:34.879 the other things he had said. 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.840 So what would have been Gavin's motive to kill the 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:42.639 troopers didn't know and we're still questioning him. When a 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:48.520 disturbing update rolled in, investigators had finally located Debbie and 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:49.800 the news wasn't good. 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:57.960 She was shot and her body just dragged off into 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:02.800 the woods and with grass and sticks. When they found 0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:05.240 her body, it was clear that they had both been 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:09.080 killed by shots to the head and appeared that they 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.840 were both likely killed at the same time in the 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:12.520 same place. 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.200 Nearly a week after Rick's body turned up in a creek, 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:21.040 troopers found Debbie's body along that same creek, and just 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.960 like her husband, Debbie had taken a fatal gunshot to 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:30.480 the head, and that's where the similarities ended. Here's Captain 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:31.760 Don Savage. Again. 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:36.400 She was found in the brush. She was naked from 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:40.399 the waist down, which is not normal for it if 0:20:40.440 --> 0:20:44.120 you're traveling or any of those circumstances in a remote 0:20:44.119 --> 0:20:49.440 area like that, So that raised some concerns about sexual assault. 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:54.000 Debbie's body was turned over to the medical examiner, who 0:20:54.040 --> 0:20:59.560 confirmed the trooper's worst fears. Debbie had been sexually assaulted. 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.600 Determination as I recall us, it was quite likely that 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:07.159 it was postmortem that she had that sexual contact. 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:24.440 On the same weekend Rick Berry and Debbie Reehor were murdered, 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:28.600 a young Higer named Gavin Saha set up his campsite 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:30.959 a few yards away from Rick's body. 0:21:31.520 --> 0:21:35.520 He was in the place at the time and could 0:21:35.640 --> 0:21:38.120 easily have been the perpetrator. 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:41.399 That's Assistant District Attorney Bill Stell. 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:45.760 Gavin Saha had some things in his past that made 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:47.840 the troopers pay attention to him. 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:51.600 Twenty one year old Gavin Saha was the trooper's main suspect, 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:56.240 and then investigators were still processing the discovery of Debbie Rehor. 0:21:56.920 --> 0:22:00.080 Troopers found her body along the same creek that they 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:04.040 had found her husband. Debbie had contusions and abrasions on 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:06.680 her legs and was naked from the waist down. 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:12.280 There were bullet wounds and signs of sexual assault, and 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:15.240 it was a very tragic situation. 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.800 Gavin's fingerprints were also all over a backpack that contained 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:24.160 Debbie's wallet and clothing, but Gavin denied killing Rick and Debbie. 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:32.080 She was raped, shot, and her body just dragged off 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:37.080 into the woods and she was left there, partially undressed, 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:42.840 covered with grass and sticks. They found the DNA. 0:22:43.720 --> 0:22:46.200 Did that DNA belong to Gavin Saha? 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:50.360 They went and asked him for a DNA sample and 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:54.119 got his DNA. It didn't match. 0:22:55.640 --> 0:23:01.080 Even with all that circumstantial evidence, Gavin was cleared. It 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:03.800 was a major blow to the investigation that was about 0:23:03.840 --> 0:23:06.760 to get some help from a national TV program. 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:12.720 Now from our Washington Crime Center, John woolfsh. 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:15.800 Good evening, Our first case tonight is outrageous. 0:23:16.040 --> 0:23:17.560 It's about a man who worked. 0:23:17.280 --> 0:23:19.440 Hard with a killer and a rapist on the loose 0:23:19.480 --> 0:23:23.320 in the Alaskan wilderness, and the original suspect cleared. The 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:27.520 television show America's Most Wanted got involved. The show sent 0:23:27.560 --> 0:23:30.520 a team to start filming near to Litna. By then, 0:23:30.960 --> 0:23:34.760 the Alaska State Troopers had turned their attention towards someone else. 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:38.760 Rick and Debby's nearest neighbor, about a mile away from 0:23:38.800 --> 0:23:40.960 their cabin, was Paul Stavinard. 0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:45.080 Author Robin Bearfield wrote about the case, and I will 0:23:45.119 --> 0:23:48.200 mention that you'll hear Paul's last name pronounced a couple 0:23:48.320 --> 0:23:52.680 different ways. For the sake of simplicity, we'll call him Stavinyard. 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:56.520 Paul Stavinord was just kind of a backwoods man who 0:23:56.560 --> 0:24:00.880 had a big bushy beard, long hair, wire rim glasses. 0:24:01.440 --> 0:24:05.439 Unlike Rickendebbie, Paul Stavinard lived in his true Litna cabin 0:24:05.720 --> 0:24:09.280 year round. He had spent twenty years working for the 0:24:09.280 --> 0:24:12.800 Alaska Railroad, but hurt his back. That's when he quit 0:24:12.840 --> 0:24:15.080 his job and focused on his artwork. 0:24:15.640 --> 0:24:20.000 He liked to make little pewter animals, and he carved 0:24:20.160 --> 0:24:23.600 intracut flutes. And he not only carved these flutes, but 0:24:23.720 --> 0:24:26.919 he played the flute very well, and he wrote flute music. 0:24:26.960 --> 0:24:29.680 And he had done three albums of flute music as 0:24:29.680 --> 0:24:32.879 a matter of fact. And he seemed like a peaceful, 0:24:33.119 --> 0:24:34.360