He has written more than 2,000 illustrated articles published along with 20 books. Kenneth Jessen has lived in Loveland since 1965 and has contributed to area newspapers for more than four decades. The plateau above Lake City is now named Cannibal Plateau. The name on his tombstone reads вЂњAlfred Packer.вЂќ Even after his death his first name was misspelled. He passed away not long after his arrival.ДЄlferd Packer is buried in the Littleton cemetery. Packer related the tragedy of his life over and over again until the women grew indifferent to the story.

He finally began to talk, but it was always about his imprisonment for murders he said he did not commit. The two women stayed with the 64-year-old cannibal day and night. He was suffering from epileptic fits and was taken to the home of a widow and her daughter. Packer was found unconscious at the Cash Ranch in Deer Creek Canyon. He was found guilty in a new trial, but Packer was eventually paroled based on his poor health. His conviction was declared null and void. Packer made hair watch chains from his shoulder length hair and curiosities from pieces of wood. This was Hinsdale CountyвЂ™s first death sentence and the first time in Colorado a man had been convicted of murder connected with cannibalism.ДЄ stay of execution was granted to Packer on the grounds that the law under which he was found guilty was unconstitutional.Дuring PackerвЂ™s confinement in the Gunnison many people visited the cannibal. The news of this discovery reached Saguache just three days after Alferd Packer escaped from the log jail.ДЄfter nine years of freedom, on April 13, 1883, in the Lake City courthouse, Packer was found guilty of premeditated murder and was sentenced to die by hanging on May 19. Flesh had been hacked from at least one other body as well. One body was missing its head, and chunks of flesh had been sliced off the chest and thighs. The heads of the men were cut open, and blanket fibers were embedded in the wounds as though the men had been killed while sleeping. The bodies of four men were lying side by side and the fifth body was nearby. He was horrified to find the partially decomposed bodies of five men. Packer told different accounts of their deaths and the press went wild over talk of betrayal, murder and cannibalism. The bodies of his companions were soon found and firestorm of controversy ensued. The fate of the missing men remained a mystery until an artist for Harpers Weekly, on vacation in the Lake City area, came upon a dense grove of spruce trees at the foot of a steep bluff. In the winter of 1874, mining prospector Alferd Packer and five companions tried to cross the southern Rocky Mountains. It was now feared that Packer not only killed his companions but lived off of their flesh. In the meantime, an Indian discovered what appeared to be a piece of human flesh not too far from the agency along the trail used by Packer. Packer was force to act as a guide in the hunt for his lost companions. The feeling was that Packer probably murdered his companions. Adams were aroused when he heard about the severe winter conditions in the mountains.

Alferd packer