[2][3] The island was named by fishermen who thought the profuse seaweed at one end made it look like the "smutty nose" of some vast sea animal.

Shortly after 1 a.m., the three women were awakened by an intruder who beat and strangled Karen to death and used the Hontvets' own axe to kill Anethe.

[6] Maren Hontvet identified Louis Wagner, a German-born fisherman who had once worked on her husband's fishing boat and been a boarder in their home, as the killer.

While awaiting execution, he told visitors that Maren herself was the real killer and her husband had paid witnesses to frame him for the crime.

Among other evidence, Robinson pointed out that Maren named Wagner as the killer immediately upon being rescued from the island early the next morning and that if she had been lying, she would have been taking a great risk of her story being exposed, as she had no way of knowing how many people might have seen him on the mainland at the time of the murders.