Jerome Patrick Keown, 19, was one of eight people killed aboard the 58-foot seiner Investor in early September 1982. The vessel pulled into Craig, Alaska, over Labor Day weekend with owner-captain Mark Coulthurst, his wife Irene, their two young children Kimberly and John, and four teenage deckhands including Keown. After a night ashore on September 5, the Investor was seen leaving the harbor the next morning with a lone figure at the wheel; by September 7 it lay at anchor near Fish Egg Island and then burned. When authorities boarded the charred hull they recovered remains and found evidence the victims had been shot—likely with a .22-caliber firearm—before the fire was set.

A two-year manhunt led to the 1984 arrest of former deckhand John Kenneth Peel, who was tried twice; the first trial ended in a hung jury and a second jury in 1988 acquitted him on all counts. Peel was the only person arrested, and no other suspects have been publicly charged. The case remains Alaska’s worst unsolved mass homicide and a lasting tragedy for the families and community, who remember the teenagers aboard the Investor as hardworking deckhands at the end of the salmon season.

Did anyone who knew Jerome or the crew have contacts, memories, or tips about the days around Labor Day 1982 that could help shed light on what happened?