Kriti Mehrotra
Back in early December 2007, Christopher Erin Rogers Jr. went on an unprecedented rampage of death and mayhem in his home state of Alaska, all because he simply wanted to. He took the lives of two individuals and left three more in critical condition in less than 30 hours before being apprehended for good. What’s worse, though, is that he was a habitual offender who had already been caught for attempted arson, domestic violence, and DUIs, as mentioned in ‘Cold Blooded Alaska: Cut to the Quick.’ So, let’s find out more about the situation and his victims, shall we?
Who Were Erin Rogers’ Victims?
Christopher Erin Rogers Jr., or just Erin, was 28-years-old when he committed his most heinous offenses. He’d been granted a few chances previously through probation convictions only, which was also the case for his DUI four months prior, but that changed starting from the early hours of December 2, 2007. After all, that’s when he lost control and attacked the individuals who’d willingly agreed to take him in after his latest misdeed – his father, Christopher Erin Rogers Sr., and his fiancee, Elann “Lennie” Moren – before fleeing, only to continue his frenzied onslaughts.
At 4:20 am on that fateful morning, mere hours after Christopher, 51, and Lennie, 55, had finished celebrating their first relationship anniversary, Erin walked into their room with a machete in hand and began his charge. Lennie was half-awake at the time, yet she didn’t instantly recognize their assailant because of the dark and had assumed that the weapon was a stick until she lost the tips of two of her fingers. Then, Chris somehow managed to wake up and carry the perpetrator out into the kitchen, where he sadly collapsed, giving Lennie time to dial 911 and hide in the bathroom.
However, since Lennie hadn’t locked the door, Erin returned to continue slashing at her until their family dog dragged him out, getting hurt himself. It was in this process that she realized that Erin — whom she was worried about seconds prior, wondering if he’d also been attacked — was the man harming her. While he fled the scene in his father’s pick-up truck, where the latter had kept his .357 magnum revolver and some ammunition just the evening prior, officials arrived to find Chris’ bloody remains. Lennie was barely alive, but she still managed to name Erin as the culprit.
From Palmer, Erin traveled to Anchorage, an area he was relatively familiar with as his biological mother lived there, where he abandoned his father’s car at a gas station after taking the gun for himself. He needed a mode of transportation, though, so he decided to try carjacking when he noticed 27-year-old Jason Wenger warming up his vehicle in his driveway at 7:30 am. Erin supposedly tried to force Jason to give up his place in the driver’s seat yet opened fire when that didn’t work. He also panicked when Jason’s foot fell on the accelerator for a few seconds as he died and thus ran away.
Nearly 12 hours later, after wandering through the woods, Erin came across law clerk Elizabeth Rumsey, 33, whom he could tell was frightened at the sight of him when he asked her the time. Because she didn’t respond and he was afraid she’d contact the police, he shot her thrice instead of letting her walk away from the bike trail. Erin then spent the night hiding before shooting architect Tamas Deak, 43, six times near his warming vehicle and stealing the same. Both victims thankfully survived, with the latter calling 911 on his own. There was a brief police chase, but Erin was arrested 27 hours after the initial machete attack.
Is Erin Rogers Dead or Alive?
During his interrogation, Erin Rogers claimed that he only committed the crimes because of aliens and that he’d “heard these voices telling me I had to go do it. I had this obligation, so to speak.” Yet, Erin also alleged that he attacked his father and his fiancee because he believed they mistreated him and added that he most probably would’ve continued killing if he hadn’t been caught. In the end, as Erin’s actions of concealing evidence and prolonging capture proved that he was in his right mind, he was convicted of 2 counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder, along with assault, vehicle theft, cruelty to animals, and violating conditions of release.
Erin was sentenced to 498 years in prison, but he passed away while serving the same at the maximum-security Spring Creek Correctional Center near Seward, Alaska. At 2:15 pm on June 6, 2020, he was pronounced dead at the Seward Providence Medical Center after being rushed to the same when found unresponsive in his cell. As per the Investigation Discovery episode, he died by suicide.
Read More: Where is Lennie Moren Now?
