Smoke, Mirrors, and Murder

Richland. Someone had entered the store through a ceiling vent and taken fifteen guns and ammunition.
    But Mike Anderson was already in jail by that time. He must have had friends outside who had provided him with the weapon after he escaped.
    Detectives Marberg and Gerdes advised Anderson of his Miranda rights and he gave them a ten-page statement about the kidnappings and robbery of the Giant T. His version of the events correlated with those of Martha Carelli and Doug Parry—with the exception of Martha’s report of attempted rape.
    At length, Anderson admitted that he had attempted to molest his helpless captive. Now that he was the prisoner, Michael Anderson acted obliging and meek. He clearly wanted to come across as a good guy who sincerely wanted to cooperate with the police. He insisted he’d been forced to kick Martha Carelli in the head only to keep her quiet after she’d discovered him.
    Kennewick detective Doug Fearing and Franklin County deputy sheriff Ralph Courson arrived in Seattle armed with a warrant from Judge Fred R. Staples charging Anderson with robbery, assault, conspiracy to commit escape, escape, and a second assault charge. His bail was set at $250,000. He was released to the eastern Washington authorities for prosecution in their jurisdiction.
    Seattle Police and the Seattle news media had nothing but praise for the bravery of Doug Parry, and they credited his cool thinking with saving Martha Carelli’s life. After a few hours’ sleep, he returned to Kennewick to rejoin his wife and family.
     
    For Martha, the ordeal was far from over. She had waves of flashbacks caused by post-traumatic stress disorder. Even her own home, which had always been a safe haven, reminded her what she had lived through. She couldn’t go down to her basement alone, and the family garage frightened her. It didn’t help that while he was awaiting trial, Anderson attempted two more jail escapes. Fortunately, they were unsuccessful. Still—when word of these aborted jailbreaks reached the Carelli family—Martha Carelli snapped back into the hours she had spent in abject fear.
    Even so, she insisted that when she was well enough, she would testify against her kidnapper. She was frightened, but she was angry too.
    “I’m not one of those citizens who refuse to get involved and won’t aid in prosecution,” she told reporters. “I understand some of this man’s other victims have been afraid to testify—but I swear I won’t be.”
    Martha Carelli was saved from the witness chair when Michael Anderson agreed to plead guilty to the charges against him—but only on the condition that credit card fraud charges be dropped against a woman friend he apparently cared for.
    He received multiple life sentences, to run consecutively. On July 5, 1978, Anderson was convicted in the earlier robbery of the Safeway store and received two five-year terms and a twenty-year term on those charges, all of which would not begin until he had served his consecutive life sentences.
    The aftermath of a crime like Anderson’s stays with the victims longer than anyone realizes. It would always be difficult for Martha Carelli to enter her own house when she was alone. The memory of the man who hid there never went away.
    On one lovely spring day, Martha Carelli stood in her own yard and realized that she was afraid to go back into the house. Forcing herself, she entered and answered a ringing phone. Before she went outside again, she wedged a chair against the basement door.
    While she was gardening, one of her sons came home through the back door, but she didn’t see him. When she went into her kitchen and saw that the chair blockade had been moved, she felt the grip of familiar terror. She backed out of her kitchen and bumped into her son and fainted.
    How long would it be before the dread that someone was waiting, hiding in her house went away? No one could predict that. Her terror diminished with time, but it never completely disappeared.
    The fear that Martha Carelli lived with is a sad commentary on the loss of trust felt by crime victims. Martha was lucky. She survived even though there were innumerable moments when she believed she was about to die. She lived through a dozen desperate hours at the mercy of a sadistic escapee.
    She lived through almost three decades after her rescue, grateful to have a second chance at life.

The
Minister’s
Wife

This book has explored a number of cases that look at different aspects