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Authorities: Couple Describe Killings

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By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE, The Associated Press

Published: December 28, 2007

SEATTLE, Wash. - A woman and her boyfriend acknowledged they methodically gunned down her parents and four other family members in rural Washington on Christmas Eve, according to authorities' affidavits filed in court Thursday.
Michele Anderson and Joe McEnroe, both 29, were ordered held without bail after a court appearance Thursday. The county prosecutor's office expected to have a decision regarding charges today.

McEnroe and Anderson shot her parents, Wayne and Judy Anderson, using large-caliber pistols and dragged the bodies to a shed, authorities wrote in the affidavits, which authorities said were based on statements the couple gave them.

A short time later, the Andersons' son, Scott; his wife, Erica; and their children Olivia, 6, and Nathan, 3, arrived for a Christmas Eve visit. "Knowing that Scott and his family ... were potential witnesses, Joe and Michele shot them," sheriff's Detective John Pavlovich wrote.

Anderson told authorities both of them shot her parents, brother and sister-in-law, but McEnroe killed the children, the affidavit said.

The couple, who had been together for six years, lived in a mobile home about 200 yards from the house of Anderson's parents. After the killings, the couple tried to flee to Canada, court documents said, but they returned the next day and were detained.

Anderson's attorney, public defender George Eppler, said he spoke with her briefly. When asked whether she admitted guilt, Eppler said, "We limited our conversation solely to the issue of today's court appearance."

The bodies were found on a rural property that includes a house and a mobile home at the end of a long dirt road. The property is near the rural town of Carnation, about 25 miles east of Seattle.

Authorities said the bodies were found by a co-worker of one of the victims who had gone to the house because Judy Anderson, who worked for the U.S. Postal Service, did not report to work.

Ben Anderson, who said he was the Andersons' grandson, said outside their property late Wednesday that money could have been a factor in the deaths.

"She felt she wasn't loved enough and everyone didn't appreciate her and she was pushed out of everyone's life," he said of Michele Anderson.

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