Don't Look Behind You and Other True Cases (46 page)

Joann Cooper Hansen feeds wedding cake to her groom. This probably happened in early 1957, although some believe they weren’t legally married until 1962. She had great hopes for the marriage—a safe place for her first son and, hopefully, more children.

Joann Hansen with her first two babies with Bob Hansen: Nick and Kandy Kay (in bouncy chair).

Joann and her fourth child, Ty, on a camping trip.

Patricia Martin and Joann Hansen were best friends for years, and Patricia tried to save Joann. It was she who heard Joann’s last horrifying words over the phone: “Pat! Oh no! He’s in the basement . . . he’s coming up—” Then there were only screams.

Christmas at the Hansens’ house in about 1961. They look like a happy family, and Joann had done her best to decorate the way Bob preferred, but the holiday was tense. Joann (left), Nick, Bob, and Ty. Kandy Kay has her back to the camera.

Left to right: Ty, Kandy Kay, and Nick no longer had their mother, and babysitters came and went. “One thing I never understood,” Ty said. “Why didn’t someone notice our black eyes, broken teeth, and bruises?”

Ty, Nick, and Kandy Kay show off the fish they caught. They went on scores of hunting and fishing trips with Bob, and tried to smile as he snapped their pictures with the dead animals.

Mrs. Rilda Moses’s kindergarten in Des Moines. Nick Hansen is in the top row, third from left. My daughter, Leslie Rule, is in the front row, fourth from right. And yet, I didn’t know the Hansen family at all.

Kandy Kay was a Brownie in a North Hill troop. She told friends that her mother had been hit by a train. None of them knew the truth.

Kandy Kay was her father’s favorite; Bob bought her Poker Chips, her own horse, and urged her to show off her riding skills to his male friends.

Kandy Kay was crowned Miss Des Moines in 1977. She went on to compete in the Miss Washington pageant.

Bob Hansen was proud as he escorted his daughter into one of the Miss Des Moines formal functions.