Alvin Francis Peterson

                                                                                                                 A Life of Crime

     Alvin Francis Peterson was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the oldest of four kids, to Mr. and Mrs. Severt Peterson of Great Falls, Montana. At age 14 he was arrested in Buena Vista, Colorado for burglary for the first time. Alvin would spend the years between age 14 and age 21 in reformatories in Buena Vista and Pueblo, Colorado and Miles City, Montana on charges of burglary. 

In 1942, at age 18, he applied for “water boy” with the SOS US Army, later training as a welder. The Services of Supply (SOS) was a branch of the Army created in 1942 during World War II to manage logistics.

     In January 1943 he was up to his old tricks and was arrested on the Dyer Act (transporting a stolen vehicle across state lines) and was transported by US Marshalls to Helena, Montana. On May 14, 1943 he was sentenced to 30 months in the Federal Correctional Institute in Englewood, Colorado and discharged on May 2, 1945 on a conditional release.

     In December of 1947 he registered in Reno, Nevada as an ex-felon.

Between 1952 and December 1958 Alvin was charged with numerous crimes including armed robbery, forgery, public drunkenness, and possession of a loaded firearm in city limits although no convictions are listed.

     In January 1959 his luck ran out and he was charged and convicted of forgery and sentenced to 3 years. Alvin was released on parole and in late 1960 he was working for the highway department in Walker Lake and staying at The Cliff’s resort ( Later known at the Cliff House) owned by the Mahon’s. When the highway job ended, Alvin stayed on as a handyman.

     On November 13, 1960 he married May McBride, the Auditor-Recorder for Mineral County since 1954. May had two young daughters. The family continued to live at The Cliff’s. May would continue to work for the county until the 1970’s.

     After dinner with the Mahons on the night of December 5, 1960 Alvin had a disagreement with Virginia Mahon, left the house and returned with a 30.06 rifle and a shotgun. He would later tell police the rifle went off on accident, that he thought the rifle was unloaded and he just meant to scare Mrs. Mahon, and that he had no motive to kill her. A lie detector test would later reveal he went back to the kitchen with the intent to kill both women. At his trial he would say that Mrs. Mahon was infatuated with him and kept trying to break up his marriage. He said he only meant to “scare the hell out of her and get her off my back.”

     After killing Mrs. Mahon, Alvin sent May to get money from their lodging. May instead got her daughters and hid in an unlocked vehicle. When May didn’t return Alvin stole money from the cash box and fled in his car. After hiding for two hours, May returned to the Mahon house and awakened Mr. Mahon who had slept through it all. Mr. Mahon drove to Hawthorne for the police. Alvin was caught that night in an all-night diner in Lee Vining, California.

     On June 6, 1961 Peterson and two others escaped from the Mineral County Jail by cutting through a lock with a hacksaw blade. The escapees were captured near Fallon, Nevada four days later.

On July 23, 1961, Alvin was sentenced to 10 years to life in the Nevada State Prison in Carson City for the murder of Virginia Mahon. 

In September of 1965, Alvin was picked up in Modesto, California after escaping from a prison work camp. He was released from prison on March 30, 1971.

     Alvin married again in 1981 to Edythe M. Oswald. Their last known address was in Idaho. Alvin died on November 8, 1996.

Mrs. Mahon is buried at the corner of Leona Drive and Gladys Drive in the town of Walker Lake on the site of her old chicken coop, not far the original site of the Cliff House. 

References:

Mineral County Independent News

Reno Evening Gazette

Bureau of Identification and Investigation

           Montana State Prison