Carter Roy

The answer, though, doesn't come anytime soon.

Officials arrest Alfred for murder, but it's not long before he escapes, by some accounts the same night as his arrest.

After someone allegedly hands him a key to his cell, whether that's true or not, we know Alfred gets out.

He goes on the run as a wanted fugitive and evades capture for years.

He apparently spends time in Arizona and Montana, as well as Colorado, living under an assumed name.

And he's only caught by complete chance.

He's drinking in some saloon in Wyoming when a man walks in who recognizes him.

The man just so happens to be one of the original 21 prospectors.

He was just one of the smart ones who stayed behind at the Ute encampment.

The man reports Alfred to officials who arrest him and send him back to Lake City, Colorado, where he's finally put on trial for murder.

And on the stand, he gives his third and final account of what happened.

He didn't get abandoned.

His companions didn't die one by one.

This time, he says that during their travels, the snow and harsh winds forced his group to take shelter in a mountain ravine.

By that point, they were already starving and losing grip on reality.

Out of everyone, Alfred says he remained the most level-headed, and it became clear to him that if he didn't do something, they were all going to die.

So, one day, he went to look for a way out of the mountains.

When he left the ravine, the others were huddled under a blanket for warmth.

But when he came back, everyone but Shannon Bell was dead.

Bell had killed the others, hacked up their bodies, and was roasting a human leg over the fire.