Within These Walls

For nearly seven years I've lived with some of Alaska's most notorious, convicted murderers such as Kirby Anthoney, Manfried West, Donald McDonald, and the infamous Robert Hansen. Society loathes murderers and rapists and yet they're so intrigued by these crimes that they thirst for all the gruesome details. Many authors of true crime will attempt to captivate their reader's attention by making their subjects appear as though they've just crawled up from the depths of Hell. I recently read a book where the author describes some of the very subjects I'll be telling you about in this book. The author writes: “The research and writing of this book put me in fearful proximity to the dark side of Alaska.” When I read this, I had to give a slight chuckle. The author further explained how much of the information in his book was based on newspaper clippings, police and court files, interviews with investigators, and a variety of historical publications. These are all great sources of information, in fact I've used much of the same sources, however, the author was missing one very crucial source; the killer's version. Without this one source, it's like trying to put a puzzle together when you're missing some of the pieces. This is what makes this book different than any other book. I have all the sources. For nearly seven years, I not only researched the cases of these convicted killers; I've lived each and every day with them here at Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward, Alaska. Former Assistant District Attorney Frank Rothschild described serial killer Robert Hansen by saying: “Before you sits a monster, an extreme aberration of a human being, a man who walked among us for seventeen years, serving us donuts, Danish, and coffee with a pleasant smile. His family was a prop; he hid behind decency.” You are about to read a part of Robert Hansen's history, along with several other convicted killers; History and information that law enforcement never knew existed. After reading this book, you'll see what it was like the day that convicted killer Manfried West took the life of Alaska's Independence Party leader, Joe Vogler. Is there a human side to these convicted killers? Most true crime author's will leave you standing at the gates of the prison; now it's time for you to step inside this arena of evil and see what it's like to live in their world.