In 1931 , what started as a simple knock on the door from police quickly spiraled , as one serviceman on the lam sparked the largest manhunt inCanada ’s history , generated a media fury , caused the wider espousal of a young technology , and result in a brutal , anon. ending — one that could now see a resolution of sorts thanks toDNAtesting .
But for the import , we ’re left with as much legend as fact for the adult male known best by his cognomen : " The Mad Trapper of Rat River . "
We recognize little of his life floor because no one really knows who he was . What we do know is that during the Great Depression , poverty pushed many people into frontier areas where wildlife was plentiful and there was the chance to perhaps live off the land and make a little money trap .
A Stranger in a Strange Land
And that ’s how our story begins . In July 1931 , a unknown who became known through his alias , Albert Johnson , go far in the vast aloofness of the Northwest Territories near Fort McPherson . He ventured farther from the fort and set up a small cabin near the Rat River .
A few months later , he reportedly intervene with traplines previously arrange by First Nations trappers , who complain to local constable about the subject . Three day after , two constables knock on Johnson ’s door , but he ignoredthem .
Undeterred , Constable Alfred King traveled 80 mil ( 128 kilometers ) to Aklavik for a search warrant , and then returned to the cabin in the wilds with three other constable . Just as Constable King knocked , a bullet blasted through the room access and into his bureau . After a abbreviated gunplay , the other Constable load up King onto a dogsled and frantically scuff him to the nearest infirmary — all the way back in Aklavik .
Officials , appall that a unknown would charge an officer for no manifest ground other than a minor housing squabble , assembled a posse led by Royal Canadian Mounted Police ( RCMP ) Inspector Alexander Eames .
Another gunfight ensue , but to no help .
The constables thrust dynamite onto the cabin ’s cap , which induce it to give way . Still , Johnson kept shooting . After 15 hours , in the living - threaten temperature near — 45 degree Fahrenheit ( — 43 degree Celsius ) , the officer were forced to withdraw .
They returned four days by and by to find the cabin empty . One of the greatest pursual of the 20th century had begin .
The Chase Begins
" Inspector Eames direct the RCMP posse that pursued the Trapper for seven week across the desolate Arctic landscape painting , " says Michael Jorgensen , a film producer and producer forMyth Merchant Filmsin Alberta . " During one the firefights the Trapper shot and killed Constable Millen . In what , by all accounts is the first use of an aircraft in a manhunt , WWI Canadian fighter pilot Wop May helped narrow the hunting . "
The report caught the public ’s imagination . A solitary man , on the trial in the dead of a brutal wintertime , through heavily forested stack , relying on nothing but his wits for natural selection . His exploit filter into the earthly concern via radio , which was at that point a Modern technology .
" This was the first big news floor disseminate by electronic media across the continent as it was happening , " says Jorgensen . Radio salesspiked .
And there were other unpaired twist along the way . As the tarradiddle go , the Mad Trapper never spoke to his pursuers . In each of his meeting with the regime he was dumb , with one exception — he may havelaughed out loudwhen he shot and killed Constable Edgar Millen .
" I intend what further get the world ’s imagination was how an individual with the apparel on his back and carrying several firearms and little food out witted and outgunned the RCMP in one of the harshest surroundings on the planet , " says Jorgensen .
Time and again , the pursuers suppose they ’d trapped their target . Time and again , he escaped . On the day he shot and drink down Millen , Johnson , pin in by a steep canyon , scaled a nearly upright wall and vanished .
Finally , on Feb. 14 , pilot Wop May ( who ’d take on part in the renowned WWI dogfight that terminate the Red Baron ’s life ) descry evidence of Johnson ’s trail . Three 24-hour interval later yet another gunplay pass off , and Johnson shoot another constable , who subsist .
The Mad Trapper , however , was struck by several heater and killed .
So Who Was That ‘Mad’ Man?
But there was still a burning question : Who was this man ? Albert Johnson was clearly an false name .
In hopes of finding out , official circulated the Mad Trapper ’s pic . Although many top poured in , none resulted in pinpoint his identity or motive .
" The ' who ' of this story is the big mystery that would do the ' why ' , " read Jorgensen . " Why did a Caucasian man leave society behind and move to the most northerly detail of the continent and build a cabin on the edge of the Arctic Ocean ? Why did he shoot an RCMP officer motiveless and why was he so motivated and regulate ? Once we know the ' who ' , we can fill in the blanks of the Trapper ’s origin story . "
Jorgensen says that while the mass medium at the clock time dub him the Mad Trapper , he was neither a trapper , nor was he likely mad .
" If we hope to have any penetration into his character and what motivate him we need to know his back tale and the only agency we can know that for certain is by using the desoxyribonucleic acid recovered from his digging up in 2007 to expose his family line . "
A company named Othram is using genome sequencing to generate a genealogic profile for the secret man . So far , the data show that the Mad Trapper had tie to Sweden and was Swedish - American .
“ Othram uses sophisticated deoxyribonucleic acid testing to identify people from crime scenes , victim or suspects , ” says David Mittelman , Othram ’s CEO . “ Michael ( Jorgensen ) heard about the work we were doing and ask if we could help . The case is obviously very old , but I think there is an grandness to convey answer to even the oldest caseful . This case in special also has historical significance and so I remember many folk are interested in who this man was . ”
To further link up the dots , Othram official require that if this mate your family history and you ’ve ever participated in commercial DNA examination , youshare your DNA profilethem .
With a bit of luck , perhaps the 90 - class - older closed book of Canada ’s most tough fugitive from justice may finally be unearthed .
