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Alferd Packer

Also known as: Alfred Packer, Colorado Cannibal

Active
1874–1874
Region
Lake City, Colorado, USA
States
CO, WY
Kind
Mass
Status
Convicted
Victims
5

In the winter of 1873-74 Alferd Packer and five other prospectors set out across the San Juan Mountains of Colorado against advice to wait for spring. Packer arrived alone at the Los Pinos Indian Agency in April 1874, and the remains of his five companions were found that summer near what is now Lake City, showing signs that some had been eaten. Packer escaped from jail in Saguache and was not found until 1883, in Cheyenne, Wyoming. A Lake City jury convicted him of murder, but the Colorado Supreme Court reversed the verdict; at a retrial in Gunnison in 1886 he was convicted of five counts of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 40 years. He was paroled in 1901 and died in 1907. His guilt as a murderer is still debated by historians.

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Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

Timeline of locations

  1. April 1874
    Los Pinos Agency and Saguache jail (Other, approximate area)

    Packer arrived alone at the Los Pinos Indian Agency near Saguache in April 1874, gave changing accounts of the others' deaths, and was jailed at Saguache, from which he escaped.

  2. August 1874
    Gulch southeast of Lake City (Recovery site, approximate area)

    The five men's remains were found in August 1874 in a gulch about two miles southeast of present-day Lake City, now known as Dead Man's Gulch. A memorial to the victims stands at the site.

  3. 1883
    Cheyenne, Wyoming (capture) (Arrest, approximate area)

    Nine years later Packer was recognized living under an alias in Cheyenne and taken back to Colorado.

  4. April 1883
    Hinsdale County court, Lake City (Court / trial, approximate area)

    Packer was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Lake City in 1883. The Colorado Supreme Court reversed the conviction in 1885.

  5. 1886
    Gunnison retrial (Court / trial, approximate area)

    On a change of venue to Gunnison, he was convicted in 1886 of five counts of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 40 years.

  6. 1886
    Colorado State Penitentiary, Cañon City (Prison, approximate area)

    Packer served about 16 years at the state penitentiary before being paroled in 1901.

Watch, listen, read

Read

  • Man-Eater: The Life and Legend of an American Cannibal (2015, Harold Schechter (Little A))

Sources

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.