The Unassuming Serial Killer Called Robert Christian Hansen

Childhood rejection turned him into a killer who liked to hunt down his victims like animals

Celia Van Zanten was never going to celebrate another Christmas again. On December 22, 1971, she popped out to buy some soda but wouldn’t be popping home again any time soon.

Her body was found a few days later on Christmas Day partially covered in leaves and snow at the base of a cliff, naked from the waist down. Frozen blood from the slashes across her chest contrasted starkly against the fresh snow she was half buried in.

Her hands had been bound, she had been sexually molested, and she had only been 18 years old when her killer had pounced and robbed her of her future.

That killer’s name was Robert Christian Hansen. Celia Van Zanten, known as Beth to her family and friends, was his first victim. She was going to be the first of many.

Robert Christian Hansen was born in Iowa in 1939, in a city of fewer than 6,000 people. His hatred of women began at an early age, festering like a sore throughout his teens, the local girls ridiculing him at every opportunity over his stuttering and the scars pockmarking his face from a severe outbreak of acne.