In April 2018, 41-year-old Andrew Renner and his 18-year-old son Owen made their way to a bear den on Esther Island, Alaska. There they found a black bear hibernating alongside her two newborn cubs.
Owen shot the mother and, after the cubs began making sounds, Andrew killed them too. What neither of them knew was that the animals were part of a study by the U.S. Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which had installed a camera to monitor the den.
The camera recorded the attack and what happened afterward. Two days later, father and son returned to the site to collect the shell casings, remove the cubs’ bodies, and take the GPS collar the bear was wearing, apparently attempting to eliminate evidence.
The footage also recorded a comment by Owen that later became one of the pieces of evidence in the case: “They’ll never be able to link us to this”.
The authorities used the recordings to reconstruct what had happened. Both ended up pleading guilty. Andrew Renner was sentenced to three months in prison, a fine of US$9.000, confiscation of weapons and other property used in the offense, as well as suspension of his hunting license for 10 years. Owen received a suspended prison sentence, community service, and suspension of his hunting license for two years.
The case drew particular attention because a camera installed to study bear behavior ended up recording not only the animals’ deaths, but also the perpetrators’ attempt to make the evidence disappear.