MOVED TO:
Michele Anderson — masterminded murder of her family…may face death penalty
December 31, 2007 · 25 Comments
Categories: Joe McEnroe · Killed Family · Michelle Anderson
Tagged: 357 magnum, 9 mm handgun, greed, Homicide, killed family. tried to escape to Canada, Michele Anderson, Money, no remorse, revenge, serial killer
25 responses so far ↓
polly // January 1, 2008 at 10:27 pm |
I know what Michele & Joe did is terrible. But you have to put it in it’s correct context. Michele has stated that her actions were a response to years of abuse and exclusion. She felt she was the ‘black sheep’ and denied educational opportunities that were readily available to others in her family. She wanted to open a business but couldn’t get loans paid back from her brother to start it up. She was most likely being evicted from the trailer. She felt completely shoved out and acted on those painful feelings. I’m not saying what she did was acceptable, but it was understandable.
Thus the home becomes a “training ground” for violent interaction patterns. Research has shown that both victims and witnesses of violent acts against family members may identify with the aggressor. They observe that aggressors in a “love” relationship achieve their goals by using violence which may result in the observers’ modeling the aggressive behavior themselves.
These patterns are then passed from generation to generation. Thus, spousal assaults represent serious long range problems for the community and the family, problems which extend far beyond the cessation of the immediate violence.
jolynna // January 2, 2008 at 2:00 am |
Hi Polly and welcome. Did you know Michele? I have heard about what could be seen as exclusion or favoritism in that family, but not so much about abuse. (If you have more information about that, feel free to write me.)
I admit, though, Polly, I DO have a problem with someone killing innocent children, no matter what was going on between the adults.
I wonder where Michele and Joe intended to go and what they intended to do once they got to Canada if they had kept on going?
It doesn’t sound as if they came back all that prepared with stories. For a “planned ahead” murder, I don’t see where the plan was supposed to lead.
Maybe someone else might have insight.
micey // January 2, 2008 at 2:16 am |
i heard about this story at work because my name is michelle anderson too and so a nurse anesthetist told me about it… what i didn’t know is that this girl’s mother is judy anderson and so is my mother! weird! which has nothing to do with anything really… this is a tragic story…
jolynna // January 2, 2008 at 3:04 am |
Hi Micey and welcome,
I agree…this is a tragic story. I am having trouble keeping the thoughts of the children from my mind.
It is weird that you and your mom share names with this family. But fortunately different family dynamics.
Thanks for your comments.
richandfamous // January 2, 2008 at 12:43 pm |
Polly: I apologize in advance for any hurt feelings you might have from my comment but that is just a bunch of liberal psycho babble.
Even if her father had done evil things to her, she had no justification for killing those kids
“Life aint’ hard, just get a job and don’t kill anybody.”
Ann // January 2, 2008 at 11:21 pm |
I am soooo sick and tired of hearing the same excuses every time something like this happens. I had a bad childhood..blah blah blah…I was abused..blah blah blah…I am in debt…blah blah blah. THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR THE MURDER OF 6 INNOCENT PEOPLE!!
Maryjane // January 3, 2008 at 4:05 pm |
Polly,
I think that your family should be weary of you, if you can honestly justify in anyway what these animals did, then you must have personal problems also. They picked the night to commit these horrible crimes because they knew that all these people would be at the same place at the same time, Michele’s brother did not just happen to show up, she knew they were coming. She knew those children would be with them, her intentions were to kill them regardless . I don’t care what her personal problems were, taking the lives of those children in the horrible way they did is nothing but selfish greed. It did not matter to her that they were coming for Christmas, grandma, grandpa, and presents, she had to kill them and they had to die no matter what the cost, because she had to fulfill her own selfish greed of having what she wanted.
Ann // January 3, 2008 at 4:45 pm |
I agree with MaryJane.
Lots of people have horrible childhoods, and have likely gone through MUCH worse than what Michele Anderson did, but they don’t go on to kill. I know someone personally who had a horrible upbringing, but rather than dwell on it and be bitter, decided to use it as a tool to help others. He is now a proud husband and father, and spends his days counselling youth.
If anything, it sounds to me like Michele and Joe were freeloading off of her parents. If you have such a problem with your family, here’s an idea….get out there and build a life of your own, ON YOUR OWN. Move off of your parents property, and pay rent or mortgage somewhere else like most of adults do. A person can only blame others for their own shortcomings for so long….eventually, one has to decide to take control and responsibility for their own lives.
I am a mother of a 5 yr old and 3 yr old, so this horrific incident really angered me. My kids woke up on Mon. the 24th excited about the impending visit from Santa. They didn’t stop talking about it all day long. My son barely slept Christmas eve, and they both woke at daylight Tues. morning with the biggest most excited smiles on their faces. The Anderson kids likely spent the majority of Mon. the 24th feeling and acting the same way my kids did. Sadly, the same can’t be said about Tues. the 25th.
jolynna // January 4, 2008 at 4:31 am |
Hi Rich and Famous and welcome. Thank you for your comments.
Hi Ann! I am glad to have you here and appreciate your thoughts.
Welcome, Mary Jane. I appreciate your insight and words also.
I spent the Christmas Holidays with my children and grandchildren. This was a very hard story for me because all I could think about were those babies being excited about seeing Grandma and Grandpa, getting presents and having Santa come.
I also thought about Michele’s mother and how she brought Michele and Joe boxes of food and left them on their trailer doorstep. To me, that sounds like a mother worrying about her grown daughter. Despite the family problems, Michele’s mother was still looking after her little girl. I bet she was hoping Joe and the black windows were a stage Michele would be outgrowing…SOON.
But, the mother died at her daughter’s hand and knew it.
It seems so many lives were lost and for a motive that law enforcement says we may never know.
It is my understanding they didn’t have much money on them and couldn’t have really gone far.
I bet the truck left fresh tracks going out Michele’s parent’s drive. And that Joe or Michele left footprints each time they opened or shut the gate.
Didn’t they realize Michele’s mother would have talked to people about the “family” coming over?
It is too bad they didn’t botch the murder as well as they botched their covering up.
Shelly // January 4, 2008 at 10:06 pm |
There is no way to justify what was done. I know there are quite a few people out there that have been abused and did not go on to kill their entire families. Besides, the rest of the family is now deceased and we have to take a cold blooded killers’s word for it?!?! If her Dad was indeed abusive there are MANY other ways to handle it. Getting a job and paying rent elsewhere is a good start, but she decided to blame all of her problems on someone else. What happened to that family is horrible, and unimaginable. I can only hope that Michele and Joe get what they have coming to them.
Heather // January 5, 2008 at 11:22 pm |
My oldest son was a friend of Michele in Cedarcrest HS. I remember him telling me that she stayed away from home because her father was abusive and she seemed to have emotional problems.
We no longer live in WA and are estranged from my son, ironically, because of his later relationship with a women with Borderline Personality. She alienated our son from his family, much as I suspect Michele did with Joe.
When I first saw the breaking news, I thought the scene had to be on Tolt River road and feared it might be people we knew.
It’s one of the most heinous and heartbreaking crimes I’ve ever heard of!
There but for grace, we might be, as we are raising the 2 grandkids from our son and his ex girlfriend, aged 5 & 4. When we moved away, we KNEW the danger we were in.
There is a known criminal pattern, where a dominating borderline personality takes control of their partner in crime, through psychological and physical abuse. Our son was absolutely tortured, yet his girlfriend had no problem illiciting sympathy and support, as if she were the victim, until her abuse and neglect of the babies and her own drug addictions became indesputable.
In our case, in the end, we had to choose to leave our oldest son fending for himself and protect the innocent babies and preserve the safety of the majority.
Whatever kind of parents the Andersons were, their family didn’t deserve desimation and murder. The biggest mistake they made was continuing to help and enable Michele so far into her dysfunctional adulthood.
They should NEVER have TOLD Michele she was removed from the will, but I know how difficult it is to disengage from arguing with a borderline personality, with their endless self pitying and baiting tyrades!
Sometimes, with family members who are that far gone, you can’t even kick them out, you must RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!
I hope they get the death penality.
Merri // January 6, 2008 at 5:36 pm |
Let me see. Abused and cut out of the family will. Obese and with no prospects. Mistreadted by your own family. Growing up in a redneck town like Carnation, where alot of people never get out.
I grew up in that area, on Novelty Hill and went to the same school as Michele, a years before her. I was badly abused and plotted to kill my stepfather often. I just never had the guts to do it and didnt think i could get away with it. Its ok because after i ran away, at age 16, he died of a brain anerysm while screaming at my brother over nothing. If Michele really was abused, i kind of admire her for having the courage to try and get justice. As you can see from the other posts here no one is sympathetic to abuse survivors and thats unfortunate. Its really not something you should take that lightly. It has life long effects on its victims. Its really easy to say “get out, get a job, get on with your life” But there are often alot of problems involved in doing that like depression, post traumatic stress disorder and some times medical problems related to years of stress and abuse. Everyone here who is being smug and making judgements, shame on you because you dont even know what was really going on in that house. Lets hope you dont get what you deserve with nasty insensitive attitudes like yours. The children didnt deserve to get killed. But if you cant have witnesses then age doesnt matter. Michele wasnt some hardened crimal who thought out and planned the murders. They whole thing was incredibly sloppy. They came back to the scene of the crime! You need to slow down and recognize the real scope of this tragedy also includes the lose of Michele instead of painting people like monsters. Well if shes a monster, who turned her into one?
MaryJane // January 7, 2008 at 3:52 pm |
Merri,
Thank God you did not follow through with the murdering of your stepfather, although it does not sound as if you are cured from your medical problems. No one here saids that Michele did not have problems, of course she has problems, she wiped out half of her family, if you feel that killing her Father was justified that is one thing, but “if you can’t have witnesses then age doesn’t matter” Please seek help for yourself. In the defense that Michele gave for killing all of those people, it was about MONEY, so far she has not said anything about abuse. She killed her Father and Mother because they were going to make her pay rent for staying on the property, because they did not agree with her and took her brothers side about money that she claims he owed her. She killed her brother over MONEY. The other people who died were only so there were no witnesses. She planned the murders, she did not plan the after math very well, but those innocent children did nothing to her and still she planned to take them out, because they were in the way of her getting her brother. SHE KNEW THEY WOULD BE THERE… We do not know to what extent, if any, that Michele was abused. A lot of the people that have the mental problems that you say Michele has, also will lie about what someone does to get attention. She was also 29 years old, not 16. She is a monster, and if it makes you feel better, she is a monster with mental problems and so is that piece of trash Joseph!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ann // January 7, 2008 at 6:30 pm |
Killing 2 small children does not take courage. I don’t even know of a word to describe what it is, it is soo disgustingly heinous.
Stop making excuses for these people. Absolutely, she was mentally ill….one would have to be to be able to do such a thing…..but at the end of the day, the single most important fact is that she killed 6 people, 2 of them being young children who had absolutely NOTHING to do with the things she was angry about. She had been planning this for some time…..she knew the children would be there that night….she didn’t have to do this on a night when 2 small children would witness it. She chose to do this knowing those babies would be there AND SHE DIDN’T GIVE A DAMN. Only a monster could do such a thing.
Merri // January 7, 2008 at 7:30 pm |
i probably could use a lifetime of therapy but im not so far gone that i cant see murdering children is wrong. i could see a situation tho, in this particular case where maybe it wasnt as planned out as you all assume. it certainly didnt play out like something planned. more like, confronting her Dad on christmas and following through on her idea about getting revenge. im not seeing money as a true motive if there was abuse. didnt people say she was already cut out of the will? more like revenge for being mistreated is what it seems like, whether money is involved or not. they might not have thought it through well enough to anticipate having to clean up the scene and removing witnesses. People do strange things when they panic. When self preservation is involved. Doesnt sound like they were very happy about killing those kids. They apologized for it before they did it. And afterwards. Well this is all speculation. You could be right or you could be wrong. I refuse to pass the type of judgements you do without more info. Knee jerk reactions is what i see here. and authorities saying “who knows why someone would commit such a senseless crime” is a weak excuse for an investigation. There is a reason. People always want to think people are just monsters. But if you actually consider it, maybe you could do more to prevent things like this happening. And wouldnt that be more productive then this?
MaryJane // January 7, 2008 at 8:05 pm |
It did say in the “superform” of Michele’s confession that if things were not resolved by December 24, that all of them would die- sounds like a plan.
It did say that Michele and Joseph loaded two different guns and headed for her parents house- sounds like a plan.
It did say that Michele and Joseph cleaned up after they murdered her parents, so that her brother would not be aware of what happened when he and his family got there- sounds like a plan.
It did say that they waited 45 minutes to an hour for her brother to arrive with his family- sounds like a plan.
I don’t know Merri, maybe it was not planned to kill all of these people when they did, you know I always go to my Mother’s house with a loaded 9mm.
If she was only out to get the Father and felt she needed to take her Mother too, why wait almost an hour for her brother and his family, why not just leave.
Get some help Merri, apologizing to someone before you blow their face off does not take you out of the monster category. It clearly shows that you knew what you were doing was wrong and yet you followed through. MONSTER!
Ann // January 7, 2008 at 11:27 pm |
Merri, I do understand what you are trying to say, and I do agree that child abuse can have devasting lifelong effects on a person. If Michele was indeed abused, I can understand where the anger comes from. What I cannot understand is how she choose to express that anger. You yourself said that you were abused by your stepfather, and often wanted to end his life because your anger was soo great, but the difference between you and Michele is the fact that you chose not to act on that anger, and that is what separates a human being from a monster. There was something inside you that obviously knew that it was not the right thing or the logical thing to do. Michele was missing that…and that is very scary.
I can empathize with the anger she may have felt, but I cannot empathize with how she chose to resolve that anger. Many people in this world suffer horrible hardships including physical, mental and sexual abuse. The vast majority do not go on to such violence. That kind of behaviour comes from a much deeper place, and I have to think that regardless of what her childhood was like, there was something likely ‘broken’ in her from the very beginning.
Just my opinion.
richandfamous // January 8, 2008 at 12:51 pm |
Merri……..get some help girl! Your boundries are blurred. I can tell that you are very mentally young. You use the word “judgemental” as if it were your sword. That is a dull sword. Life is pretty easy actually, just get a job and don’t kill anybody. Everything else falls into it’s proper place!
richandfamous // January 8, 2008 at 1:05 pm |
MaryJane, great post.
Merri // January 9, 2008 at 2:14 am |
i dont need any help. ive never harmed one person in my life. Also, i dont rush to judge people because they may play devils advocate or offer a different prospective. I dont tell people to get help or seek therapy when they express ideas that are hypothetical. You pretty much make my case for me when you attack me or insinuate im not mentally stable. Thank you Ann for discussing your ideas without insulting me. I may not whole heartedly agree with everything you say, but i respect your opinion and see alot of truth there.
Kimberly // February 20, 2008 at 10:57 am |
It is so sad what they did at any cost, and I can not get those little ones out of my head, I think of them more than any of the others, there is NO excuse that any one can say that would make me feel better about what the two fo them did, if she was mad with her parents she sould not have lived near them, I pray for them all for prayer is the only thing that gives me peace in such a messed up world.
carlene // August 16, 2008 at 3:54 pm |
I can see how things like this can happen. Michelle felt like a victim and was getting no support from any family member I think she went to the only person she felt she could trust her insane boyfriend who was neither a victim or in anyway personally related or subject to any of Michelle’s supposed abusive life. I think Michelle would have never done this on her own and believe there is evidence of this when she aimed at her father and missed. Was she really such a bad shot or was she just wanting to make a point and show how frustrated she was. I believe she intended to scare her father and family but her boyfriend I think had other ideas and intended to kill.
I am not saying Michelle is innocent or in anyway justified in doing what she did. She is as guilty as her boyfriend and could have at anytime stopped what was happening. I don’t think Michelle had a premitated plan to murder her family (although the fact does remain that she fits and her action do fit the definition by law.
I believe she and her boyfriend need to be punished to the full extent of the law for what took place they also showed no remorse in my opinion. Saying I’m sorry are empty words and they know those words along may get them some symphathy and of course will be printed as quotes and gain notority.
If someone is infact a victim of any sort of abuse we as a society have at anyones disposal a number of sources to consult with. How about walking away and taking responsiblity for her part of the unhappiness in a family or relationships?
My heart goes out to the family members and friends of the deceased not to the two who are responsible for taking those lives and the lives of two beautiful innocent children.
They will stand to be tried as our system allows but the final judgement is still to come when they meet their maker as we all do someday. That is to be one day their greatest fear.
Louis // October 17, 2008 at 4:45 am |
Firstly, I am shocked, for lack of a stronger word, that anyone could possibly say that they understand or sympathize with the murderer. Taken out of a will, abused, mistreated, its all easy to accuse when there is no one to defend so spare me the bull. I’ve not had the most easy life and I’ve seen friends and acquaintences struggle with abuse, neglect and lives much harder than Michele’s, atleast she had food and a roof over her head. Not one of them turned around and murdered. There is abolutely no excuse for destroying a life, panic or not, no one forced her hand.
To Merri, are you serious that you admire that she went out for justice? Yes it is easy to get a job because you honestly don’t know what hard is. Depression? Post traumatic stress disorder? Where did this come from and since when have they been linked with murder? There is no call for sensitivity regardless of what happened in that house and no one forced her to live there.
To Polly, that is just, as another reader pointed out, pyschobabble. Favouritism exists in all families, from miniscule to large degrees but murder as a reaction is not something which can remotely be used as any form of an excuse.
If she was indeed abused, which I highly doubt, there are a host of other more benifical alternatives and the one she voluntarily went for, dug her own grave.
Val // October 19, 2008 at 1:39 pm |
I couldn’t agree more with Louis. He hit the proverbial nail on the head
Both Merri and Polly need help — counseling and/or therapy, medication…whatever.
It troubles me to think that people like Merri & Polly vote and sit on juries. God help us.
Marie // October 26, 2008 at 5:49 am |
Not only did these two people kill 6 family members, they have punched holes in a classroom of young kids whom will never forget about their beloved classmate that was taken from them. Their actions have spread far and not all the wounds have healed. . . . .