Thomas Bunday

Thomas Richard Bunday (September 28, 1948 – March 15, 1983) was an American serial killer who, from 1979 to 1981, committed a series of murders of young women and girls in the city of Fairbanks, Alaska. At the time of the killings, Bunday was serving at the Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, and for a long time avoided suspicion. Despite confessing to the crimes, Bunday was not immediately arrested due to a legal mistake and remained at liberty for another eight days until his apparent suicide in a motorcycling collision, during which, for unknown reasons, he did not make any effort to evade justice. Thomas refused to attend his funeral and ran away from home for several days.

Bunday was unpopular at school but he was a good student and a sociable child who had many friends and acquaintances, which helped develop his positive outlook on life. After graduating from high school in 1966, he married his high school sweetheart and in 1967 joined the United States Air Force, where he achieved the rank of technical sergeant. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Bunday was serving in Southeast Asia. During this period, his wife gave birth to a son fathered by another man. The brother then helped the investigator make a complete identikit of the criminal.

On January 31, 1981, 20-year-old Marlene Peters went missing, who on the day of her disappearance gathered to hitchhike from Fairbanks to Anchorage. Five weeks later, Wendy Wilson, 16, disappeared on her way to the Olp's to see her boyfriend who was staying there. Mrs. Olp had offered Wendy a ride before she had disappeared. On May 16, 1981, 18-year-old Lori King disappeared, and shortly before her disappearance, Marlene Peters' partially decomposed body was found. In October 1981, not far from Wilson's body, the decomposed body of King was found near the Eielson Air Base. During the investigation, the police for the first time suggested that a serial killer from among the military personnel was operating in the territory.

He was also questioned about the murder of Cassandra Goodwin on March 22, but vehemently refused to admit to her murder. The incident was subsequently recognized as a suicide.