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THE MURDER OF
PHILIP INNES FRASER
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Philip Innes Fraser, was born on January 3, 1965, to Robert and Shirley Fraser, both who were prominent physicians in Anchorage, Alaska. And he also had two brothers; Will Fraser and Robert Fraser Jr. He led a life that was anything but ordinary. Philip danced to his own beat, favoring the outdoors and developing a passion for the violin.
In 1982, Philip graduated from West Anchorage High School at 17. The following year he attended Western Maryland College, his father's alma mater but didn't stay longer than a year. Philip was very opinionated and idealistic. A high school friend recalled, "He danced to the beat of his own drum. Sort of a rebel, but not the fight with your parents and take up smoking type. He was following in his mom and dad's footsteps, but it was going to be on his own terms". He left Western Maryland because he really missed what Alaska offered him in his everyday life.
After trying to find his place in this world in Anchorage, he finally enrolled in pre-med at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. The Frasers' weren't happy about it, but they supported his decision. Despite his parent's objections, he planned on trekking the 2,300 mile journey to Olympia in his 1983 Volkswagen Jetta while camping in wilderness along the way.
Alaska Highway 1 is known as the "The Alaskan Highway" in both the US and Canada, it is the main artery of the first leg between Alaska and the lower 48. It cuts through the rugged frontier of Alaska and Canada's Yukon Territory. Nothing but miles and miles of asphalt and gravel winding and slicing through mountain valleys of Alaskan-Canadian wilderness. The road is breathtaking, but extremely dangerous. In June, the weather is unpredictable and wildlife is in full swing. Boulders, rocks and tree-limbs hitting the road and vehicles happens frequently. Philip's window already was shattered and taped up due to a semi shooting it out with a rock on the highway earlier that year.
On Tuesday June 14 1988, Phillip had packed all of his possessions, including two handguns into his 1983 black two-door VW Jetta. Sometime between 11 AM and 3 PM the lifelong resident of Anchorage and student set off into the frontier headed for his Olympia home an hour south of Seattle. Just five hours into his journey, Philip noticed something wasn't right with his car. Not far outside a town named Tok, Alaska, he decided to set up camp. He called his parents late that evening letting them know of his setback. Dr. Robert Fraser pressed for further details, but his son minimized it. Everything was "fine" and he'd resume his trip in the morning. The Fraser's knew he had checks, major credit cards and if it was any worse- he'd call them. Dr. Robert Fraser and Dr. Shirley Fraser would never hear from their son again.
On June 17th, after losing two days to car trouble, Philip crossed the border into Canada. Craig Gates was a corporal with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police at the time of Philip's crossing:
"Philip did declare that he had two firearms of his own. And at that point, our Canada customs people seized the firearms from him as it is illegal for Americans to enter Canada with any kind of a firearm."
After a one-day delay, Philip Fraser was again, on his way. His guns became the property of the Canadian government. The next day, six hundred miles south of the border checkpoint, a hitchhiker was dropped off at a local café south of the border. Café owner Gaye Frocklage was working when the hitchhiker stopped in:
"The individual that dropped him off didn't come in to the café, just dropped him off and left... there was something wrong with him, in appearance, wasn't comfortable."
Gaye's daughter, Tina, was also working at the cafe:
"I remember saying to Mom, you know maybe he escaped from a mental institution because he was so strange."
Nobody was in the café at the time, and Gaye worried for her daughter's safety:
"I wouldn't leave her alone in the building with him as there was nobody else there at the time. I said to Tina, well you go ahead and take care of him and I'll just hang around. As I passed the side window, I saw a small black car pull up to the side of the café. And the young man in the car was searching his car like he had misplaced something that he needed."
The vehicle was Philip Fraser's. During this time is when another vehicle pulled up to the service station. Gaye then instructed Tina to go pump gas for the customer and she'd take care of the suspicious hitchhiker inside.
When Tina went to pump gas for the customer, both she and Philip exchanged hellos. Shortly afterwords she came back inside and the suspicious hitchhiker finished his meal and came up to pay. Both Gaye and Tina noticed that he had paid with Canadian currency. The suspicious hitchhiker left the cafe and both Tina and Gaye witnessed the individual approach Philip Fraser. There was a brief exchange before the hitchhiker proceeded to head south down the cafe's lot along Highway 37. Philip sat in the lot a few minutes and then pulled ahead "like he had second thoughts", according to Gaye. Phillip pulled beside the hitchhiker and they exchanged some words. As the Philip started rolling ahead, the hitchhiker pulled the passenger door open and while running beside the car. Philip relented and proceeded to let the hitchhiker enter.
Philip Fraser's 1983 Volkswagen Jetta with Hitchhiker (Suspect) seen before getting in and leaving together.
According to Gaye, it was then that Philip drove off with the hitchhiker in his car:
"The strange thing was that, as they left the yard, Tina made some remark about he's going to live to regret the day he picked this man up. It was like a sixth sense that this man was capable of anything."
Eight hours later and 200 miles south of the Café, Eddie and Pauline Olson, of Kitwanga, Canada, pulled over to help a stranded motorist. Eddie Olson remembered how nervous the man was:
"I thought that he was just scared of being out there late at night, and at that point I just said well I'll tow you home and we'll figure it out in the morning."
Eddie Olson offered to let him sleep in their basement for the night. The next morning, the young man told Eddie that his parents were both doctors in Anchorage and that he was on his way to college in the States, to study medicine:
"I got to talking to him about his car and he told me that if I was interested, he would sell it to me because he wanted to get a plane ticket instead. But I said the only way I would buy it is if he waited until Monday and we went through customs. And he said that would be too late for him."
The Olsons were surprised when the young man pulled out two wallets and began to behave secretively. He gave the Olsons twenty dollars in American money, then left to fix his car. Within an hour, the young man was back on the road, headed south. The car trouble had turned out to be nothing more than a broken fan belt.
Then, just twelve hours later, the charred ruins of Philip Fraser's car were found at a car wash in Prince George, British Columbia, 300 miles from the Olson's home. According to Corporal Gates, the car was completely gutted prior to being set on fire:
Philip Fraser's 1983 Volkswagen Jetta after his suspected killer (the hitchhiker) murdered him and stole it, and later set it ablaze.
"Nothing was found in the car of any significance. In fact none of Philip Fraser's belongings have ever been found. The parents were contacted in Alaska and there was a great deal of investigation done at that point, as Philip was considered a missing person and potentially a homicide victim."
Philip's father, Dr. Robert Fraser, was not very hopeful after hearing the news:
"I was sure that there had been foul play. But I kept hoping, thinking of all sorts of alternatives like maybe he decided he wanted to ditch his car and be on his own, intellectually I knew that was wrong because he really loved his car."
Six weeks later on July 27, Philip's body was found face down in the mud with his body riddled with bullets in a gravel turnaround near "The Glacier Highway" seventy miles from Eddie and Pauline's home, by a gentleman walking his dog. He had been shot to death with a pistol. The police had informed his parents.
"I felt angry and bitter. I wondered what kind of a person would destroy someone who was so idealistic and so full of life."
In order to do a positive identification, we required dental records from Alaska, which we obtained very quickly and were able to make that identification". His remains were positively identified two days later on July 29th. The medical examiner determined cause of death to be multiple gunshot wounds by a handgun. Based on the advanced decomposition of the body, his estimated time of death was around the time he went missing. RCMP began sifting through every lead and piecing together Philip's trail. A team was assembled to begin "an extensive publicity campaign" in effort to solve Philip's murder.
RCMP worked extensively in the Upper Liard and Dease Lake area and within a day interviewed Gaye Frocklage, owner of 40 Mile Flats Cafe- a gas station and restaurant over 720 miles from the Beaver Creek checkpoint and just an hour south of Dease Lake where Philip was last seen alive. She had called in a tip a couple of weeks prior.
Investigators campaigned for several weeks traveling along Highway 37 and Highway 16, sure to stop at each restaurant and gas station between the 40 Miles Flats Cafe and Prince George, handing out fliers, talking about Philip Fraser and the hitchhiker. One investigator would later explain, "we thought he would be assuming the identity of Philip Fraser or his story at least, you know making purchases and getting fuel. We kept on putting his name out there".
To a degree, the campaign worked. Multiple witnesses, including folks from two establishments along Highway 37 and several others on Highway 16 shared accounts similar to the Frocklages. None of the witnesses the hitchhiker encountered were able to identify Philip Fraser in photos provided to RCMP by his parents. The hitchhiker gave similar stories of Philip's life and they were able to give similar descriptions of the hitchhiker. He told one witness that he had been visiting relatives in Tok, Alaska and another that he worked for a fish-processing plant there. He told other witnesses that he was a medical student from Toronto and just left a friend's wedding in Whitehorse and was hitchhiking home.
Witnesses described the hitchhiker and the man they believed to be Philip Fraser as a white male in his early to mid-twenties with a large beer belly, rotten teeth, strong body odor and stubble on his face. He was very unkempt and waddled when he walked. Most described him as either "slow or mildly retarded". He constantly bites his nails and is a chain smoker of American cigarette brands. When he smokes, he cups his right hand around the cigarette, holding the cigarette with his index finger and thumb(like a joint). They all were unsure if he is Canadian or American. Prince Rupert/George Royal Canadian Mounted Police continued to travel between 40 Mile Flats Cafe and Prince George, stopping at gas stations, campgrounds and parks on different days and hours hoping to find someone who could identify the suspect.
Composite #1 of Hitchhiker
Composite #2 of Hitchhiker
Composite #3 of Hitchhiker
Two months later, RCMP would receive their most significant break.
Eddie and Pauline Olson a down-to-Earth couple from Kitwanga, a village just two hours south of Meziadin Junction sitting right inside the Gitwanga Indian Reserve had not only encountered the suspected killer, but stayed the night in their home. It was the only witness that spent a significant amount of time with their suspect, which was shortly after Philip's execution. Eddie seen a composite and suspect description at a gas station that he frequented. It resembled and sounded just like a stranded motorist he helped a couple months prior.
What really happened along that lovely stretch of Canadian highway? The Royal Canadian Mounted Police believed that the mysterious hitchhiker learned everything he could about Philip and then killed him. Corporal Gates believed the hitchhiker assumed Philip's identity, stole his possessions, and finally, attempted to destroy the car:
"In my mind, he most definitely is a dangerous person. He's taken one life. He has the capability of taking more and I would consider him very dangerous."
The authorities believe that the hitchhiker is familiar with Toronto and Seattle and may be using Philip's name—Philip Innes Fraser. Among the items never recovered were Philip's birth certificate, visa, passport, and checkbook.
• SUSPECTS •
The mysterious hitchhiker is the prime suspect in Philip's murder. He has never been identified. He is a Caucasian male, 5'9", weighs 225 pounds, has a flabby belly, and has brown hair and brown eyes. At the time of the murder, he was between twenty and twenty five years of age. Today, he would be in his late 40s or early 50s. He is believed to be familiar with the Toronto area and Seattle area.
Investigators believe that the hitchhiker learned everything he could about Philip and then killed him. They believe he used Philip's identity after the murder. He may still have Philip's credit cards, checkbook, passport, and birth certificate, which have never been found.
Composite #4 of Hitchhiker
Composite #5 of Hitchhiker
• RESULTS •
The case remains unsolved. Recently, there has been some speculation that Philip was the victim of a Canadian serial killer named Michael McGray. He murdered several hitchhikers around the time of Philip's death. He also matches the description of Philip's suspected killer, but according to some sources at RCMP he was ruled out long ago. There has also been other unofficial suspects that people have speculated over through the years, which include; Howard James Nodine, Roger Hoan Brady, and Blair Adams. However, none have been conclusively linked to this case, which remains unsolved to this day.
Philip Fraser's case is still open and unsolved. The identity of the hitchhiker, who was almost certainly responsible for Philip's murder, has never been discovered. The case was profiled on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries in the early 1990s and has been covered on several podcasts in more recent years.
Philip Fraser was cremated, and his family had scattered his ashes over Otter Lake in Anchorage, Alaska.
Sadly, Philip's father, Dr. Robert Innes Fraser, passed away on June 5, 2014, never having seen his son's killer brought to justice.
Philip's mother and the rest of his family and friends still hope that one day justice will be served in his case and that they will finally have closure.
🕊️REST IN PEACE🕊️
'As long as we live, they too will live; for they are now a part of us, as we remember them'