State's Cold Case Unit
takes up Wafer case

By Tom Morphet

Alaska State Troopers are hoping publicity uncovers new evidence in the unsolved rape and killing of a Haines teenager 27 years ago.

The troopers’ Cold Case Unit is investigating the slaying of Eileen Wafer, 14, who was assaulted and strangled June 10, 1982. Her body was discovered four days later in bushes near the present site of the Chilkat Cruises dock.

DNA evidence from the crime has not matched up with samples from a half-dozen former suspects, said trooper investigator Tim Hunyor. “The people that were suspects have all been cleared,” he said. “Basically, we’re starting from scratch.”

In the past year, troopers have come to town, interviewing Wafer’s friends and others who may have information. Last week investigators sent a press release that generated a statewide TV news story.

“It’s one of those cases that’s always on the back of our minds. We were looking at it, and it’s coming up on the anniversary of her death, so we’re putting it out there to see if there’s any new information,” Hunyor said. “We usually generate a lot of calls with these (press releases).”

Former resident Midge McClellan, 42, of Juneau, is among those troopers have interviewed. McClellan was a childhood friend of Wafer and saw her on the night she disappeared.

McClellan and two girlfriends invited her to go camping at Portage Cove, but Wafer, who had lived in Haines seven months, had to babysit two younger brothers at the Mountain View Motel, where her family was living.

McClellan told troopers Wafer always stayed within sight of the motel apartment and would not have left her brothers alone, leading investigators to theorize that her killer knew Wafer and was able to coax her out. “We’re trying to find out why she left the (motel). She was a dedicated babysitter,” Hunyor said.

Residents for years criticized initial handling of the case by City of Haines police, who didn’t conduct an immediate search and allowed disturbance of the site where Wafer’s body was found, before state troopers arrived. Local police were never in charge of the investigation.

 McClellan said she believes local police weren’t aggressive about finding Wafer because they had a low regard for her and her friends. McClellan said they smoked cigarettes and experimented with alcohol, but weren’t wild or destructive.

“I think once they see you smoking a cigarette, they classify you as bad kids. But we weren’t bad kids. You can only wonder if things would have been handled differently,” said McClellan, who works as an administrative assistant for a Native health consortium. 

The killing cast a pall that’s been felt for years, she said. “It totally destroyed (Wafer’s) family and it changed a lot of people. Most of us who were friends then, it was hard to be in Haines. For a lot of us, as soon as we got the opportunity, we left town… When things happen in your life, you just want to get away from that area or situation that’s hurting you.”

But among her former friends, Wafer is still a topic of conversation, McClellan said. “What would she be doing? Would she have kids? We talk about her a lot. She hasn’t been forgotten. She’s been missed every day for 27 years by more than her family.”

The troopers have 85 “cold cases.”