Carnation Killers COnfess

[CW Mock]

By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 57 minutes ago



SEATTLE - After slaughtering their parents, Joseph McEnroe apologized to his girlfriend's young niece and nephew before shooting both in the head to end a Christmas Eve massacre, prosecutors alleged Friday.

But even as they filed aggravated first-degree murder charges against McEnroe and Michele Anderson, prosecutors could not say what might have driven the couple in the violent killing spree.

"In the end, what motive could you find that would make sense of the senseless slaying of the Anderson family?" King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said in announcing the charges.

Anderson and McEnroe, both 29, were each charged with six counts of aggravated first-degree murder. Authorities say they have confessed. Conviction on aggravated first-degree murder in Washington is punishable only by death or life in prison without possibility of parole, and Satterberg said he would give "serious consideration" to the death penalty.

Telephone calls to public defender George Eppler, Anderson's attorney, and Devon Gibbs, McEnroe's lawyer, were not returned Friday.

In a Friday afternoon interview from jail with The Seattle Times, McEnroe said he regrets the deaths of his girlfriend's family members, but he did not admit to playing any part in killing them.

"I'm sorry that they're gone. They were my family, too, you know?" McEnroe told the newspaper.

"I hope wherever they're at, they're at peace. That's all I'm going to say about them."

He said jailers had placed him on a suicide watch.

According to court documents, Anderson said both of them shot her parents, brother and sister-in-law, while McEnroe killed the children. While long-standing bitterness and a perceived family debt might have been factors in the killings, the motive may never be known.

Court documents said McEnroe, a store clerk, and Anderson, who is unemployed, told detectives they armed themselves on Christmas Eve and went to her parents' home near Carnation, about 25 miles east of Seattle. There, they confronted Anderson's parents, Wayne Anderson, 60, and Judy Anderson, 61, in their living room.

Michele Anderson told detectives her brother, a carpenter, owed her money she had loaned to him years earlier, and that she was upset with her parents because they did not take her side, documents say. She also said her parents were pressuring her to start paying rent for staying on their property, where she lived in a trailer with McEnroe.

"Michelle stated that she was tired of everybody stepping on her," the court papers say. "She stated that she was upset with her parents and her brother and that if the problems did not get resolved on Dec. 24, then her intent was definitely to kill everybody."

Satterberg said Michele Anderson fired once at her father's head but missed. McEnroe stepped in, leveled his gun and fatally shot Wayne Anderson in the head, documents said.

Judy Anderson heard the shots and ran from the back room where she had been wrapping gifts. She was shot by McEnroe, who apologized to her before shooting her again, this time in the head, the court documents said.

Satterberg said that the two dragged the bodies to a shed behind the house, used towels and carpets to sop up blood stains and awaited the arrival of Anderson's brother, Scott. He was due for a Christmas Eve visit with his wife, Erica, and children Olivia, 6, and Nathan, 3.

Her brother and sister-in-law put up a brave struggle, according to the documents. Scott Anderson charged her when she pulled out the gun, and was shot up to four times, records say.

Michele then shot Erica Anderson twice, but she was able to crawl over the back of a couch to call 911, authorities said. McEnroe told detectives he tore the phone from Erica's hands and destroyed it.

Huddling with her children, Erica Anderson pleaded with McEnroe not to shoot her, saying: "You don't have to do this."

"Yes, we do," McEnroe was quoted as replying in the affidavit. He fired at her head, authorities said.

Satterberg said that McEnroe apologized to both of the children before he shot 6-year-old Olivia. He then turned to 3-year-old Nathan, who had picked up the batteries from the cordless phone his mother had used in her futile attempt to call for help, court documents said.

McEnroe than fired one last bullet through Nathan's head, according to the affidavit. When asked why he shot Erica, Olivia and Nathan, McEnroe told detectives three times: "I didn't want them to turn us in."

After the killings, McEnroe and Anderson first drove north toward Canada, then south toward Oregon arriving at neither destination, then decided to go back and pretend to discover the bodies, Satterberg said.

When they arrived Wednesday, investigators were already there. Detectives, curious that neither McEnroe nor Michele Anderson asked what had happened at the bustling crime scene, began questioning them and they eventually confessed, according to the documents.

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I hope they both burn in hell. There is no describing the disgust and contempt I have for these two animals. Dying painfully is the nicest thing that could be done to them. God rest those poor souls who died at their hands, in particular that brave young boy who still tried to call for help with a broken phone.

[mack]

I swear he is no relation to me!!!!!

[suellen446]

such a tragedy

[HudsonHawk]

Hopefully the savages' last decision will be hanging or lethal injection.

[MacLean]

This crime has affected my community pretty badly.

I am still having some trouble reading the story, as my kids are roughly the same age.

They'll burn in hell as requested CW, but I'm hoping we get some here first.

[CTR man]

I swear he is no relation to me!!!!!

Thats funny mack, I was just going to ask you that. I was hoping he wasn't either.

[CW Mock]

Good. I have a son that age too, and it just tears me up inside.

Get some for all of us.

[countybear]

I hope they both burn in hell. There is no describing the disgust and contempt I have for these two animals. Dying painfully is the nicest thing that could be done to them.

+1

[MacLean]

Am I alone in having problems reading about this story?

Maybe it's just because it was close to the family and close to home, but this one is really bothering me.

[Morris]

Oh, we struggled with it because we have similar aged kids. I also struggle with it as more details emerge on the whole response and MMQB that is occurring. I can't help to think Rahr will throw the deputies under the wheels of the political bus.

Oh yeah, I doubt Satterberg will go for the death penalty, no matter how heinous it is. Mental health issues on the part of the killers and all of that.

It would be a hell of a scene to have to respond to. Not sure I could continue with the interrogation if the killers were so casual about killing the family and the kids.

[lewisipso]

Death. Now.

[hush29]

Maclean, you're not alone. I don't even have children and it bothers me quite a bit.

[PapaBear]

Incidents like this are all too frequent in the world. How very tragic that children must be those who are taken from the world at their young tender ages. Innocence personified-Lost from those who have grown to love them and were unable to protect them. It is heart rendering to say the least. You are not alone, Maclean.

[Willowdared]

Am I alone in having problems reading about this story?

Maybe it's just because it was close to the family and close to home, but this one is really bothering me.

The cold-blooded "laying in wait" aspect chills me to the bone.

If they don't go for the death penalty, the DA should be impeached.

[CW Mock]

Am I alone in having problems reading about this story?

Maybe it's just because it was close to the family and close to home, but this one is really bothering me.

Not alone at all. Its really bothering me every time I think about it. The more developments I hear, the more bothered I get. Has more come out?

[MacLean]

They keep releasing little bits at a time.

They've announced an internal on the two deputies who responded to the 911 call placed by Erica. By arrival time for the deputies, everyone was dead, but they turned away from the locked gate and didn't make contact at the house.

[MacLean]

The funeral services were today for the family.

I didn't know him, but I guess my brother went and is pretty beat up.

The news parasites were all over it, of course.

http://www.komotv.com/news/13922162.html