From the earliest days of the investigation, the Investor families faced the worst dilemma imaginable. Either their loved ones were dead or, if they had somehow escaped with their lives, they were suspects.
In this atmosphere, the coroner’s every word hovered like a condemnation. A few syllables here or there could drop family members into one version of hell or the other. Neither option was worth discussing, worth debating, worth considering. It was, one supposed, a Hobson’s choice. Or worse.
From Blaine, Washington, Ruth Moon, mother of crewman Dean Moon, told reporters that she had spoken to her son on the Sunday before the fire. She said he had told her that “everything was fine” and that they planned to fish that coming Tuesday.
Dean Moon, Blaine High (1981)
Dean, a championship football player and a graduate of Blaine High School in Washington state, had fished with the Coulthurst’s for three years, his mother said. “He was a good boy who loved life and worked damn hard,” Ruth Moon said. “He as very well liked and had a big heart. There are lots of friends saddened by his loss.”
From Ketchikan, William Keown — Jerome’s father — also addressed the worst dilemma imaginable.
He told reporters his son was an honor student at Seattle University. Jerome had taken LeRoy Flammang’s place and planned to return before school started on September 23rd. Like Dean Moon, Jerome had called home on the Sunday before the fire.
Jerome Keown, Christmas 1977 (courtesy Brian Keown)
“He was happy to be up there,” his father said, adding that there was no indication of trouble. “The whole thing is bizarre,” he continued. “I can’t make any sense out of it.”
Sergeant Miller soon went south to San Rafael, California, to meet with crewman Chris Heyman’s father and stepmother. Don Heyman was a marina owner that Mark Coulthurst met when he fished for winter herring in California. Don reasoned that a summer crewing onboard the Investor would be a good experience for his son. Mark had obligingly taken him on.
The Heyman’s were flabbergasted that Chris was now considered a possible suspect. It was an unimaginable bargain. The devil’s bargain.
Chris Heyman (courtesy Alaska State Troopers)
A recent high school graduate, Chris planned to enter college in the fall. He was, from every description, a quiet kid. He was into hot rod magazines and body-building. He had a steady girlfriend. From every indication, he was having a good time on board the Investor.
Perhaps most revealing, however, was news that Chris had only recently moved to California. He had spent most of his life in New York City, where he had lived with his mother. Chris Heyman was street wise, not boat wise. Troopers were looking for the latter, not the former.
Excerpts from the unpublished original manuscript, “Sailor Take Warning,” by Leland E. Hale. That manuscript, started in 1992 and based on court records from the Alaska State Archive, served as the basis for “What Happened in Craig.”
Copyright Leland E. Hale (2019). All rights reserved.
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