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Michele Anderson: Woman Who Murdered Six Family Members Over ‘Borrowed Money’ Gets Six Life Sentences Without Possibility Of Parole

By Patrick Frye
Published on: 02:51 PST, Apr 22, 2016

Judge Jeffery Ramsdell wasted little time in sentencing Michele Anderson to six consecutive life sentences Thursday for fatally killing six members of her family and wiping out three generations of the Anderson family during a Christmas Eve get-together in Carnation, Washington, eight years ago.

As the Seattle Times reports, Anderson had committed the murders with her former boyfriend, Joseph McEnroe. Both of them had killed Anderson’s parents, her brother, sister-in-law, and their kids. They had all been shot a total of 14 times with two handguns and were thrown by their killers into the Stillaguamish River.

Judge Ramsdell, who said the sentencing comes without the possibility of parole, appreciated the “secondary victims” including friends, relatives, witnesses, first responders, and jurors who contributed towards justice being served and in honoring the six people whose lives were abruptly cut short.

Addressing friends and family members, the judge said, “You have all suffered tremendous losses, fortunately, this lengthy chapter of your nightmare is almost over.”

Anderson was convicted on six counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the family house where her parents had lived for 30 years in 2007. The 37-year-old cried and bowed her head throughout the proceedings in the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle. She refused to address the court after her sentencing. Defense attorney Colleen O’ Connor said her client was “very remorseful and apologized to everyone involved.”

Earlier on, Anderson faced the death penalty for the killings, but prosecutor Dan Satterberg took it off the table after two sets of jurors refused to impose a stay of execution in twin capital-murder cases. Coincidentally, one of those cases was against Anderson’s former boyfriend, who was sentenced last year. He also got six life terms. Anderson’s sentencing became a formality, resulting in six lifetime cycles in prison without the possibility of ever being released.

In a taped confession made available to jurors, Anderson admitted that she had planned the killings for weeks because she was fed up with her family taking her for granted. She said she had pressured her former boyfriend to help her carry out the murders. Anderson was bent on vengeance because her brother had refused to pay her back the $40,000 he had borrowed from her over several years. She said she was furious that her parents had taken his side and were telling her and McEnroe to start paying rent on their own rural property.

On December 24, 2007, around 4 p.m., McEnroe and Anderson had driven out to the Anderson family house, where McEnroe had led Judy Anderson, 61, to the kitchen. There, he killed her while Anderson confronted her father, Wayne Anderson, 60, in the living room and shot him to death. The couple took the bodies to a backyard shed and spent over an hour cleaning up the blood.

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Anderson’s brother, Scott, his wife, Erica, and their two children Olivia, 5, and Nathan, 3, were gunned down in the living room. Erica Anderson managed to make a 911 call before it was cut off. Senior Deputy Prosecutor Scott O’Toole said that before the call was disconnected, the operator heard Erica screaming “Not the kids! No!”

Erica’s mother, Pam Mantle, said in court Thursday, “When you shot her, she called 911, not just to save herself but to save her babies because she knew you’d kill them, too.”

Anderson said she had to kill the kids because they had seen their parents murdered in front of them and would be scarred for life.

Anderson turned two deputies who had responded to the 911 call away. Judy Anderson’s co-workers at the Carnation post office who showed up two days later when their colleague refused to turn up at work discovered the bodies. Three hours later, King County sheriff’s deputies were on the property.

Anderson and McEnroe lied about heading to Las Vegas to get married but ended up changing their minds and returning home. Police said they were suspicious of their lack of concern and emotion over the murders, Anderson soon confessed, saying that she was in a mess over money, saying it was totally her fault and McEnroe had nothing to do with it.

Do you think Michele Anderson and her accomplice deserved the death penalty?

[Image via Pixabay/vanna44]

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