Celia Beth van Zanten
On December 22nd, 1971 "Beth" left her house in Anchorage, Alaska to go to a local store for some soda, she never returned.
Her body would be discovered 3 days later revealing she had been gagged, her hands tied behind her back and she had been sexually assaulted. He cause of death....she froze to death. From examining the scene, it appeared as if she may have escaped from her captor and fell down a hill, but with her hands tied, she was unable to make it back up the hill and the Alaskan December temperatures took what was left of her life.
Alaskan authorities had no real leads in the case, but it has always been assumed that since the early 70's the Alaskan Butcher Baker Robert Hansen was working the area of Anchorage, he was most likely the suspect. He has denied this many times, and the manor in which Beth was assaulted did not really fit his history of crimes, suspicion has always loomed in this case. Except for one small piece of evidence, anyone who knows the case of the Butcher Baker, knows he documented his crime scenes on a map he kept hidden in his attic. This map has become well known as investigators used it to convince him to admit to his crimes. Robert had placed an X where Beth's body was recovered.
Stay tuned as we look into this case further.
