The

The Craig Alaska

Craig Alaska.

As a small fishing town located just over 700 miles south of Anchorage, it has a rich fishing

history dating back to the 19th century and continuing into the present.

However, for over 40 years, a dark cloud is loomed over this quaint village and the state

of Alaska as a whole. Born on September 5, 1954, in Blaine, Washington, Mark Colthurst

was a bright young salmon fisherman with an incredible work ethic. Coalthirst had been working

in the fishing industry since he was

16 and was driven by a goal to retire before the age of 50. His sisters, Lori and Lisa, described him

as an entrepreneur, constantly diversifying his fishing experience while working his way from

boat to boat. This ambition netted Coal Thirst's $105,000 worth of salmon

in a single week in 1979, an amount typically earned an entire season. In the winter of 1981,

coal thirst purchased his first boat, investor, a 58-foot, $850,000 saner at just 27 years old.

Colthurst traveled around the Pacific Northwest, fishing with his five-year-old daughter, Kimberly,

four-year-old son John, and his high school sweetheart and wife, Irene, who was pregnant

with her third child.

The Colthurst were joined by four deckhands, 17-year-old Chris Heyman, 19-year-old's Dean Moon, Jerome Kiann, and Michael Stewart.

After arriving in Craig on September 5, 1982, the crew of the investor went to shore to celebrate Mark's

28th birthday at a local restaurant. Larry Demert, Jr., captain of the Libby 8, which was docked

next to the investor, wished Mark a happy birthday as the crew went into town. The next day,

the entire crew was dead. Their bodies charred within 48 hours.

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