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THE ADIRONDACK NIGHTMARE

The Deadly Manhunt for Robert Garrow

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Joshua Powell
Mar 20, 2025
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A True Crime Report

The Deadly Manhunt for Robert Garrow

Killer Robert Garrow

The summer of 1973 should have been idyllic in the Adirondack Mountains. Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” played on radios across America, the Mets were battling their way toward the National League pennant, and the Watergate scandal simmered in Washington. But in the remote wilderness of Hamilton County, terror stalked the forest.

For twelve harrowing days in July and August, the pristine wilderness transformed into a hunting ground — not for deer or bear, but for a predator far more dangerous: Robert Garrow Sr., a ruthless killer who turned peaceful campsites into crime scenes and left both locals and vacationers looking over their shoulders with each snap of a twig.

JULY 29, 1973: BLOOD IN THE WILDERNESS

The first rays of morning light revealed a nightmare scene. State troopers and Hamilton County deputies hacked through dense underbrush near Routes 8 and 30 in Wells, just south of Speculator, following a tra…

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