New details in Craigslist nanny slaying
- From: indigoace@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Indigo Ace)
- Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:20:07 GMT
From the Chicago Tribune--
New details in Craigslist nanny slaying
By Jim Adams, Chao Xiong and Curt Brown | Minneapolis Star Tribune
10:09 AM CDT, October 31, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS - Despite an uneasy feeling in her gut about the person
she was about to meet, Katherine Ann Olson showed up for her new
baby-sitting job at a dilapidated house in Savage, Minn..
She was there to watch a child between 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Thursday
after being hired by "Amy" through an ad posted on the popular
Craigslist website. Before heading out, she mentioned to her roommate
that her new employer "seemed kind of strange."
She placed her last cell phone call to Amy's phone just before 9 a.m.
A short-time later, authorities say, she was met at the house by
19-year-old Michael John Anderson, a paint ball fanatic who dropped
out of an alternative high school and was shy around women.
Authorities say Anderson lured Olson, 24, to his family's split-level
house, somehow got her upstairs to his bedroom, where he shot her in
the back with a .357 handgun, dragged her downstairs and tied her
ankles in red twine.
The new details in the Craigslist killing emerged Tuesday as Anderson
was charged in Scott County District Court with second-degree
intentional murder. At one point, he told police that another person
had killed her and that a friend "thought it would be funny."
Authorities, however, say that evidence points to Anderson acting
alone.
They say he stuffed Olson's body in a sleeping bag in her trunk and
drove five blocks away before ditching the car at Kraemer Nature
Preserve.
He wrapped her crushed cell phone in a blood-smeared towel -- that had
his name written on it with a black marker -- and stuffed it in nearby
trash can, authorities said.
His motive bewildered authorities and Anderson's friends. After first
denying the cell-phone contact with Olson, he later told police he
witnessed another person kill her.
A friend "thought it would be funny," he told police, according to the
complaint.
Authorities said there was no sign of a sexual assault. They found the
handgun and a spent shell casing in his blood-spattered bedroom. A
trail of Olson's blood showed her body had been dragged down the
stairs. The steps had been cleaned but not the risers, according to
authorities, who declined to speculate on a motive.
"The only person who knows that right now is the defendant," Scott
County Attorney Patrick Ciliberto said. "There is certainly no sense
in her death. She was a talented, bright young woman and her life is
gone and there's no explanation for it."
At Olson's visitation on Tuesday at Richfield Lutheran Church, her
mother, Nancy Olson, flashed a bright smile as she stood by her
daughter's casket and watched a video of her daughter portraying Maria
in a church community theater's production of "The Sound of Music."
Neither of Olson's parents talked about the case Tuesday, choosing
instead to celebrate their daughter's life as shown through dozens of
photographs. Funeral services will be held Wednesday for Olson, a St.
Olaf College graduate whose family described her as "a joy."
In an earlier e-mailed statement, her father, the Rev. Rolf Olson, a
pastor at the church, said that Katherine "believed in the essential
goodness of humanity, sometimes naively so."
On Facebook.com, a social networking site, more than 1,200 people had
signed up to pay respects.
Anderson, handcuffed and gazing blankly from beneath black bangs, was
held on $1 million bail. He could face first-degree murder charges
once a grand jury is convened.
It's believed to be the first homicide connected to Craigslist, where
people trade merchandise and hunt for jobs. A warning appeared on the
site Tuesday in the section of "Education" jobs, which includes a
number of ads seeking nannies and baby-sitters. Under the heading,
"Warning -- for those who don't watch the news," the ad read: "Someone
who answered a Craigslist ad for a nanny job ended up dead. Be careful
out there."
Tony Dotson, 19, is one of Anderson's closest friends and a former
neighbor. He recalled how Anderson introduced him to Craiglist about a
year ago when the pair went to Minnetonka, Minn., to get a motor for a
go-cart they were building.
"I'm still so confused on why," Dotson said. "I don't even know what
I'd say to him. I'm just blank."
Anderson loved rebuilding engines, shooting paint balls and archery
arrows at targets in a nearby park, according to Dotson and Jake Von
Bank, another longtime friend and neighbor. They'd often hold Halo
parties, hooking up TVs and playing video games.
They insist Anderson was never violent and seldom showed interest in
women.
"He would never raise a fist to anybody," Dotson said. "He was always
shy around girls. That's what baffles me." Anderson studied auto
mechanics at Dakota County Technical College, according to his
friends, but dropped out last fall from Cedar Alternative High School
in Eagan. After working in auto parts warehouses, he landed a
jet-fueling job at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport a few months ago.
He was working nights at the airport, where police arrested him
Friday.
He lived at his family's two-story home with his parents. His father
drives a truck after being laid off as a Northwest Airlines mechanic.
Mike is the youngest of Steven and Barbara Anderson's three children.
His parents attended Tuesday's brief bail hearing, held in a
glassed-in jail courtroom in Shakopee, Minn..
"Let's all let the judicial process take its course," said defense
attorney Robert M. Speeter. Dotson and Von Bank said the last time the
saw Anderson, in September, they noticed he had cut his longtime
mullet haircut. They'd often tease him about his hair and the
turquoise color of his house, which they called "Aquafresh
toothpaste." He'd always chuckle at the playful ribbing.
"He said he had get back into the routine of sleeping" after working
nights at the airport, Dotson said. "He seemed fine. Just fine. This
whole thing gets you thinking hard. It's like a bad dream."
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-103107-craigslist,1,5013205.story
--
Anne, indigoace at goodsol period com
Jewelry: http://www.prettygoodjewelry.com
Cats: http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
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