What happened
Louis Hastings attacked residents of the remote community of McCarthy in 1983, killing six people and wounding two others.
The investigation
Survivors and responding authorities quickly identified Hastings, and investigators reconstructed a broader plan involving violence against the community and infrastructure.
What the courts or investigators concluded
Hastings was convicted and received a sentence measured in hundreds of years.
Why the case remains significant
The massacre remains one of Alaska’s most notorious small-community crimes because an isolated town with few residents lost a devastating share of its population in a single planned attack.
Case context
Crime by Region organizes cases geographically so readers can move from one file to other investigations from the same country. For unresolved or contested cases, the wording above reflects the distinction between confirmed events, investigative theories and findings actually established in court.