Cindy Paulson

And I'm still really not at peace with that moment with that chef because it was unnecessary.

I don't know, kind of the old saying, what is it, catch more bees with honey than vinegar? Cindy Paulson is a chef in San Francisco.

Sure.

The Bay Area.

Between 1971 and 1983, Hansen kidnapped, raped, and murdered at least 17 women, burying their bodies in shallow graves across the wilderness.

His decade-long reign of terror finally unraveled in 1983 when a 17-year-old victim named Cindy Paulson managed to escape his grasp.

While Hansen was loading his plane, she fled barefoot across a dirt airstrip, flagged down a passing truck, and gave police a detailed description of his aircraft and his home.

Though Hansen initially had a solid alibi from a friend, investigators dug deeper and secured a search warrant.

No one suspected that his real thrill came from hunting a very different kind of prey.

The nightmare might have continued for years longer if not for the extraordinary courage of a seventeen-year-old girl named Cindy Paulson.

In June 1983, Hansen abducted Cindy at gunpoint after she finished dancing.

He took her to his home, raped and tortured her for hours, then handcuffed her and drove her to Anchorage International Airport.

A man who spent his days baking bread and smiling at customers, then spent his nights flying terrified women to their deaths in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

The Alaskan wilderness, once a symbol of freedom and adventure, became a graveyard for his victims.

While justice was eventually served, thanks to Cindy Paulson's bravery and solid police work, the families of the murdered women still live with profound loss.

Many victims remain unidentified, their names and stories lost to time and the unforgiving tundra.

So it's like, just so you know, I drove her over here and she wanted to get out and I let her out.

So officers responded to the motel and it was here that they found 17-year-old Cindy Paulson.

She was in a room by herself.

After they removed the handcuffs and found clothing for her to wear, she started to calm down and she managed to tell them exactly what had happened to her that night.

On November 1st, 1973, he was released on probation.

It's crazy.

As Officer Baker is reading Hansen's history, paired with the knowledge that many area women were missing, as well as the fact that the bodies of three females had been discovered because, of course, Paula Goldings was months from being discovered, he felt that much more convinced that Cindy Paulson was absolutely telling the truth.

But, of course, he's in between a rock and a hard place because his superiors within the APD are closing the case and saying, let it go.