FAIRBANKS, Alaska - In the two years since Alaskan Independence Party founder Joe Vogler was shot to death at his Fairbanks home, neither his estate nor his body apparently are at rest.
Dexter and Lynette Clark, friends of Vogler's, said the politician's family have claimed the body but haven't said where it is stored or when Vogler will be buried. Sentencing is set Nov. 13 for Manfried West, the 39-year-old convicted arsonist who pleaded no contest to shooting Vogler, 80, in the back and burying the body in a shallow grave near Fairbanks.
"Some people don't think Manfried West did it himself. It's just not over yet," said Lynette Clark, a former AIP official who's been critical of the state's investigation into Vogler's death.
Vogler, an outspoken government critic who
vowed never to be buried on U.S. soil, was the object of a statewide hunt after vanishing in 1993 from his wooded Fairbanks lot. Conspiracy theories abounded. But it was West who eventually acknowledged shooting and burying Vogler, whose trademark fedora has never been found. Vogler, a widower and gold miner, left his estate to his nephew Lynn Vogler. The provision has been contested by Al Rowe, a Vogler political ally who claims to have had a lifetime lease agreement with Vogler for a cabin on one acre of land. Rowe has lived in the cabin for 28 years.
On Wednesday, a 20-page inventory of Vogler's possessions was filed in Fairbanks probate court.
Among the mundane household items are treasures such as an 1821 violin, a coffin hoist, a collection of 1880s silver dollars, a collection of high-quality guns, a small fleet of old Mercedes Benz cars, five pairs of bunny boots, three gold nuggets and 63 ounces of gold worth about $25,000 at current prices.
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