Tamara “Tami” Pederson, a 20-year-old White/Caucasian female from Palmer, Alaska, vanished in early August 1982. Records vary on the exact date, but one memorial lists her as lost to gun violence on August 1, 1982, in Palmer. A dancer on the Anchorage circuit, she had been seen at the Wild Cherry nightclub and telephoned family on August 7, saying she'd been offered money to pose for photographs. When she fell out of touch, her family uprooted from Washington State to search Anchorage's streets for the 20-year-old, posting fliers and pleading for leads, but no trace of the young woman surfaced.
Her disappearance fit the predatory pattern of Robert Hansen, the Anchorage baker later unmasked as a serial killer. He trolled clubs and downtown haunts, offering cash for “photo shoots” before abducting women. After a teenage survivor escaped and triggered a broader investigation in 1983, Hansen was arrested on October 27 of that year. A search of his property uncovered trophies and a map marked with remote sites. In early 1984 he entered a plea admitting multiple murders and other felonies, and he drew a sentence measured in centuries. As part of the investigation that followed his confession, he directed authorities to burial locations north of Anchorage. On April 29, 1984, the remains of the 20-year-old were recovered about a mile and a half from the Old Knik Bridge. She was later laid to rest at Angelus Memorial Park in Anchorage.
In the roster of Hansen's confirmed victims, the 20-year-old appears by name, and write-ups recount the same haunting details: a last phone call about a lucrative offer, a vanishing tied to Anchorage nightlife, and a recovery only after Hansen finally talked. Some sources list her date of death as August 7, 1982, matching the day of that final call, while others use the August 1 date associated with Palmer. What is not in dispute is the outcome for the 20-year-old: a life interrupted, a confession that placed her among the murdered, and an arrest and conviction that arrived too late for her family, who had already spent months combing Alaska for the 20-year-old they loved.
