The charred hull of the fishing vessel Investor still seems to whisper its secrets to the frigid waters off Craig, Alaska, even as the last living memory of that bloody September night fades into the fog of time. More than four decades have passed since eight people, including two children, were shot multiple times and then burned alive aboard the 58-foot boat, a crime so brutal it has become the state’s most tragic unsolved mass homicide. Alaska State Troopers officially closed the case years ago, but the unanswered questions continue to gnaw at the families of the victims and the small fishing community that witnessed the horror unfold.
On the evening of September 5, 1982, Mark Coulthurst, a 28-year-old ambitious fishing boat captain, celebrated his birthday with his pregnant wife Irene, their five-year-old daughter Kimberly, and four-year-old son John at Ruth Anne’s restaurant in Craig. The family was joined by a crew of young men: Mark’s 19-year-old cousin Mike Stewart, along with Dean Moon, Jerome Keown, and Chris Heyman, all teenagers. The group returned to the Investor shortly after 9:30 p.
m. , unaware that they were walking into a death trap. The weather that night was stormy, with high winds and heavy seas pounding the dock, masking any sounds of struggle from the other boats tied nearby.
The next morning, crewmen on the boat Decade, which was tied directly in front of the Investor, noticed the larger vessel was slowly leaving the dock. A man waved from the pilot house, and the crewmen waved back, assuming the Investor was heading back to Washington. But instead, the boat anchored in a secluded bay near Fish Egg Island, just across Craig Harbor.
The Decade’s captain tried to radio Mark later that morning to apologize for a loud party, but there was no answer. The entire fishing fleet, more than 100 boats, departed for the final salmon opening of the season, leaving the Investor alone in the fog.
Two days later, on Tuesday, September 7, a crewman from the fishing boat Casino spotted smoke rising from the Investor. As they approached, they saw a skiff speeding away from the burning vessel. The Casino’s skipper nearly rammed the skiff to stop the operator, who yelled back that there were people on the burning boat before disappearing into the fog toward Craig.
That skiff operator, described as a young man in his early 20s, wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a Blazer jacket, was the last person seen near the Investor before the fire. He had reportedly purchased two and a half gallons of gasoline earlier that morning, but no one stopped him.
Alaska State Trooper Bob Anderson was the first law enforcement officer to arrive. He saw the Investor engulfed in flames, its hull tilted at a 20-degree angle. The blaze was so intense that the Casino could not get close enough to help, and it took nearly two days to fully extinguish the fire.
When Anderson and volunteers finally boarded the wreckage, they found the charred remains of four people: Mark, Irene, Kimberly, and Mike Stewart. All had suffered multiple gunshot wounds from a . 22 caliber weapon.
The fire later flared up again, destroying more of the cabin. Bone fragments and teeth were later identified as belonging to Jerome Keown, but the remains of Dean Moon, Chris Heyman, and little John Coulthurst were never found. Investigators believed the 4-year-old boy was completely consumed by the flames.
The crime scene investigation was marred by critical errors from the start. Responding officers failed to impound the skiff that had been seen leaving the burning boat, reasoning that rain would have washed away any fingerprints. The fire burned for two days, destroying forensic evidence.
The only solid leads came from eyewitnesses who described the man buying gasoline and speeding away. Their description eventually led authorities to John Peel, a 23-year-old former crewman who had worked for Mark Coulthurst in 1980 and 1981. Witnesses said Peel had been seen boarding the Investor on the night of the murders, and another witness claimed to have sold him gasoline the morning of the fire.
The prosecution argued that Peel was furious after Coulthurst fired him for alleged drinking and 𝒹𝓇𝓊𝑔 𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓮, and that he took revenge by shooting everyone and then setting the boat ablaze.
Peel was arrested in 1984 and charged with eight counts of first-degree murder and arson. His first trial in 1986 ended in a hung jury after six months of testimony and six days of deliberation. The defense, led by flamboyant attorney Philip Weidner, highlighted inconsistencies in witness accounts, some of whom had changed their stories or admitted to poor memories years later.
The defense also suggested that the real killers might have been two of the missing crew members, Chris Heyman or Dean Moon, whose remains were never identified. A second trial in 1988 resulted in acquittal after the jury voted 7-5 for not guilty. Peel later filed a $177 million civil suit against the state for wrongful prosecution, settling for $900,000.
Despite the acquittal, state officials maintain that Peel committed the murders. In a 2017 interview, Peel said, “Somebody out there knows what happened, but I’m not going to waste any more of my life on it.” The Alaska State Troopers have since closed the case, with spokesman Tim DeSpain stating, “The case is closed.”
The investigation and two trials cost the state $2. 7 million, yet no one else has ever been charged. The massacre aboard the Investor remains Alaska’s coldest case, a haunting reminder that in the last frontier, some secrets are buried so deep they may never surface.
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