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Carnation murders

Also known as: Michele Anderson, Joseph McEnroe, Michele Kristen Anderson, Joseph Thomas McEnroe, Carnation massacre

Active
2007–2007
Region
Carnation, King County, Washington, USA
Status
Convicted
Victims
6

On Christmas Eve 2007, Michele Anderson and her boyfriend Joseph McEnroe, both 29, shot and killed six members of her family at her parents' rural home near Carnation, Washington: her parents, her brother, his wife, and their two young children. The bodies were found two days later, and the couple confessed after detectives questioned them. Prosecutors said the motive was money. After years of litigation over the death penalty, separate King County juries convicted McEnroe in 2015 and Anderson in 2016 of six counts of aggravated first-degree murder, and both were sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

Timeline of locations

  1. December 24, 2007
    Anderson family home near Carnation (Crime scene, approximate area)

    Six members of the Anderson family were killed at Wayne and Judy Anderson's rural home near Carnation, about 25 miles east of Seattle. Michele Anderson had been staying in a trailer on the property. The bodies were found on December 26, when a co-worker of Judy's came to check on her.

  2. December 26, 2007
    Taken into custody at the property (Arrest, approximate area)

    Anderson and McEnroe drove up while King County detectives were at the property and were taken in for questioning. According to court documents, both confessed. They were charged with aggravated first-degree murder on December 28, 2007.

  3. September 5, 2013
    Washington Supreme Court (Temple of Justice), Olympia (Other)

    In a unanimous ruling, the state Supreme Court reversed a trial judge's order and allowed prosecutors to seek the death penalty against both defendants. In the end neither was sentenced to death.

  4. December 2014
    King County Courthouse, Seattle (Court / trial)

    In King County Superior Court in downtown Seattle, McEnroe was convicted on all six counts on March 25, 2015, and sentenced to life without parole after the jury could not agree on death. Anderson was convicted on March 4, 2016, and on April 21, 2016, Judge Jeffrey Ramsdell sentenced her to six consecutive life terms without parole.

  5. 2015
    Washington State Penitentiary, Walla Walla (Prison)

    McEnroe is serving his life sentence at the Washington State Penitentiary.

  6. 2016
    Washington Corrections Center for Women, Gig Harbor (Prison)

    Anderson is serving her life sentences at the Washington Corrections Center for Women.

Sources

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.