Philip Innes Fraser was born on January 3, 1965 in Anchorage, Alaska. Philip’s parents, Robert and Shirley, were prominent doctors in Anchorage. Robert was director of the Alaska State Public Health Tuberculosis Control center and Shirley was a neurologist. Philip also had two brothers. Philip was known to like the outdoors and learned to play the violin, according to a friend Philip “danced to the beat of his own drum.” After high school, he attended Western Maryland College (his father’s alma mater), for one year before realizing that missed the Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. After a few years of various jobs, Philip felt that he needed to get back on track.
So the now 23 year old enrolled in pre-med courses at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. So on June 14, 1988, Philip set off in his car for the 2,300 mile drive to Olympia. Philip drove kind of a beat up Jetta that was packed with all of his stuff, but before he even crossed into Canada, his car broke down. Philip intended to camp along the way anyway, something his parents didn’t seem happy about. In fact, Robert and Shirley Fraser didn’t seem happy that he was driving all that way by himself at all. But since Philip was 23, they tried to be supportive.
Philip ended up camping in the tiny town of Tok, Alaska, while his car was fixed. Philip called his parents to update them, and Robert “pressed,” his son for more details but Philip just said that everything was “fine.” Philip’s parents let this go, knowing that he had credit cards and checks to pay for things and if worse came to worse he’d call them. After this call, Philip’s parents would never hear from him again. On June 17, 1988, Philip’s car was fixed and he was finally able to cross the border into Canada. He would cross into the Yukon Territory at the Beaver Creek station, where he declared his two handguns. Since Americans (and other foreigners) weren’t allowed to bring guns into Canada, they were seized by Border Patrol Agents. After filling out some paperwork about the seized guns, Philip was again on his way into Canada.
Presumably Philip continued to drive through Canada because he wasn’t seen until the next day. On June 18, 1988, a hitchhiker was dropped off at the Forty Mile Flat Café, which was about 600 miles (although another source says 720 miles) from the Canadian/Alaska border. The truck that dropped off this hitchhiker was described as a dark color with a light colored stripe on the side.
The café was owned by Gaye Frocklage and her daughter Tina, both of whom were working on this day. Right away, both Gaye and Tina noticed something off about this hitchhiker, with Gaye telling Tina “we’ve got a winner here.” They would describe him as very overweight (with a “flabby belly”) with decaying teeth and terrible body odor. Gaye and Tina also described this man as being in his early to mid-20s, about 5’9 and about 230 pounds with brown hair and eyes. While the two women said he didn’t really behave oddly, there was just something odd about him–but clearly he made the women nervous. Gaye did not want to leave Tina alone in the café while this man was there. Tina even commented that maybe this guy had escaped from a mental institution.
A few moments after the odd hitchhiker finished his meal and paid with Canadian money (this will be important later), Philip pulled into the parking lot of the café. Philip didn’t get out of the car, but Gaye and Tina would later state that it seemed like he was looking for something inside the car. This café also had a gas pump, and when Tina went out to help another customer, she and Philip exchanged hellos. The hitchhiker also went outside at this time and proceeded to ask Philip for a ride, which Philip at first refused. But when Philip began to drive away, the hitchhiker began running alongside the car. Apparently this running made Philip change his mind, so the hitchhiker got into the car.
Gaye and Tina saw this whole exchange and Tina told her mother something to the effect: “He’s going to regret the day he picked that man up.” Tina would later tell the police that it was like she had a sixth sense that something bad was going to happen–and this was the last time Philip Fraser was seen alive.
Eight hours later and 200-250 miles south of the Forty Mile Flats Café, married couple Eddie and Pauline Olson saw a stranded motorist that matched the description of the mystery hitchhiker by a car on Highway 37 near their home Kitwanga. Eddie and Pauline stopped to check on him and asked if he needed help. Eddie would later state on Unsolved Mysteries: “You could tell he was nervous, but I thought well you know, he was just scared being out here this late at night. Didn’t want to stay out here because it’s kind of a remote area. At this point I said we’ll just tow ya home and figure it out in the morning." Eddie and Pauline were nice people and would’ve felt bad if they left this guy out in the middle of nowhere at night, and this wasn’t the first time they’d let a stranded motorist sleep at their house for the night. Eddie and Pauline would tow what they later learn was Philip Fraser’s Jetta to their home.
Once at the Olson home, Eddie showed the motorist to the basement which a couple of couches with extra pillows and blankets. Eddie told the man to get a good night’s sleep and they’d figure out his car in the morning. The next morning the man joined the Olson’s for breakfast, where he proceeded to tell them that both of his parents were doctors in Alaska and he was headed to Seattle to go to college, his classes began the next day. The Olson’s would later say that the man seemed “secretive,” in his answers to them trying to make small talk. Eddie explained that the man seemed “adamant,” that he had to be in Seattle the next day, so he offered to sell “his,” car to the Eddie for a reasonable price.
Eddie and the man went to go inspect the later, in which Eddie later recalled that while one of the back windows looked broken because it was taped up, the car seemed to be in pretty good condition. Eddie told the man he’d take the car on Monday (the next day) if they’d take it through the bank and declare it through customs, but the man declined, saying he needed to be rid of the car that day because he needed to start school in the U.S. the next day. Eddie thought this was odd, but thought he was just anxious about his class. However, Eddie did offer to help the man fix the car, where it was discovered the issue was a broken fan belt. As the man was leaving, he told the Olson’s he wanted to thank them for their hospitality, so he gave them $20 in American money. The couple also recalled that the mystery man also had two wallets for some reason and with that the man left. Eddie Olson would later tell police that after he found out what the man did, he got goosebumps because the basement couches were right next to the Olson’s gun case.
June 19, 1988, twelve hours after the man left the Olson’s home Philip’s car was found burned out in a car wash 300 miles away in Prince George, British Columbia. When local police got the car and checked the vin number, it was linked to Philip Fraser back in Anchorage, Alaska. Local Anchorage police went to the Fraser home to do a welfare check on Philip…only to discover he’d driven away to school about a week before. Robert and Shirley Fraser were panicked, they knew their son was having car trouble but he wouldn’t burn his own car.
So at this point, Philip was only considered to be missing. Philip’s parents put out “tourist alerts,” in local newspapers in the hopes that Philip would see them and call his parents. Philip could’ve been anywhere, but he hadn’t called his parents. The area where Philip vanished is very remote and intersects with Highway 16–otherwise known as the “Highway of Tears.”
But on July 27, 1988, Philip’s body was found in a gravel turnout near the “The Glacier Highway,” which is junction where two highways meet and was 70 miles from where the Olson’s lived. He had been shot and his body was severely decomposed so it appeared as though he died around the time he went missing. After Philip’s body was found, the Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) began a full investigation. This is when they discovered the tip called in by Gaye Frocklage and a composite sketch was drawn up. After the sketch was released to the public, Eddie and Pauline Olson came forward with their sighting of the man.
Because the suspect told the Olson’s that he was a medical student and that his parents were doctors, the RCMP believes that he attempted to learn as much as possible about Philip in order to steal his identity. The RCMP also believes that the man may still have Philip’s passport, checkbook, credit cards and birth certificate because those items weren’t found in the burned out remains of Philip’s car. The mystery hitchhiker is the prime suspect in Philip’s case. One suspect in the case is a man named Michael McGray, a Canadian serial killer who kind of matched the description of the hitchhiker and also killed hitchhikers around Canada. However, nothing could fully link McGray to the case.
It seems unlikely that a serial killer would conduct enough small talk with a victim to learn about their parents and where they were going to college. The hitchhiker/suspect knew too much about Philip’s life and travels to just be a serial killer. In an article in American Crime Journal, the author makes a good point: “The location of Philip Fraser’s execution didn’t make any sense. It appeared that the hitchhiker and Philip followed Highway 37 until they got to Meziadin Junction and then took Highway 37A towards Stewart only for about 9 miles. Philip was then killed and dumped at the gravel turnaround. Then the killer turned back around and went back to Highway 37 and proceeded towards Prince George via Highway 16. Highway 37 and Highway 37A merge in Meziadin Junction, British Columbia.” The author believes that maybe Philip intentionally took a wrong turn in order to try and get rid of the hitchhiker, maybe near the Canadian/U.S. border so some kind of authority would do something about the hitchhiker. Maybe Philip got the same bad feeling that Gaye and Tina Frocklage did about this guy and wanted him out of the car. Or maybe the hitchhiker tried something, like pulling a knife, and Philip knew he’d told the man too much about himself.
I think it’s also important that RCMP should speak to the driver of the truck that dropped off the hitchhiker at the Forty Mile Flat Café. Both witness sightings that are prominently featured in this case describe the man as being…gross. Rotten teeth, smell and apparently he even bit his nails. And Philip Fraser looked like a tall, gangly man so this hitchhiker with a potbelly probably wouldn’t have gone far pretending to be Philip. Robert Fraser, Philip’s dad, died in 2014 without knowing what happened to his son. The case is still open.
Unsolved Mysteries segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df_7oIrgQAk
https://americancrimejournal.com/an-interrupted-journey/
https://thecrimewire.com/true-crime/The-Unsettling-Murder-of-Philip-Fraser-Killed-by-a-Hitchhiker
https://unresolved.me/philip-fraser
https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Philip_Innes_Fraser
Really strange case I hadn’t heard about before!