THE CARNATION MASSACRE [PRO DEATH PENALTY QUOTE OF THE WEEK (VICTIMS’ FAMILIES IN THE U.S.A II) ~ SUNDAY 23 DECEMBER 2012 TO SATURDAY 29 DECEMBER 2012]

http://prodpquotes.info/prodp/default/view/1643/Victims-Families-in-the-USA-II

            Five years ago on Christmas’s Eve (24 December 2007), six people were murdered in Carnation, Washington. I will give the information from Wikipedia, before giving my comments and condolences to the grieving family. 

Sara Van Wyk and Pam Mantle

The Carnation Massacre was a mass murder that occurred on December 24, 2007, near Carnation, Washington, a small rural town 25 miles east of Seattle. The murders took place in the home of Wayne Scott Anderson and Judy Anderson. Six people were killed:

• Wayne Scott Anderson, 60, a Boeing engineer
• Judy Anderson, 61, postal worker, and wife of Wayne Scott Anderson
• Scott Anderson
• Erica Anderson, wife of Scott
• Olivia Anderson, 6-year old daughter of Scott and Erica
• Nathan Anderson, 3-year old son of Scott and Erica

Arrested and indicted as the perpetrators of the killings were Michele Kristen Anderson and her boyfriend, Joseph Thomas McEnroe, both aged 29. Michelle is the sister of Scott Anderson. Investigators have not pinpointed a motive for the slayings, but believe that a dispute over money may have led to the killings. The suspects waived their right to appear in court. Court papers say they have admitted the killing. 

According to official documents, Michele shot her father, and her brother and sister-in-law. According to the Seattle Times, if Michele Anderson is convicted, she may become the first woman in Washington State's history to receive the death penalty.

QUOTE: Sara Van Wyk has changed from being opposed to the death penalty to a strong supporter. In 2007, six members of her family including her sister Erica Anderson were murdered in Carnation, Wash. The accused murderers confessed and one even asked that she be put to death. Yet, nearly 4 years later the case still has not gone to trial. The defense bill to date is $3.2 million.

“When you lose a loved one so quickly and tragically without any warning” says Van Wyk. "There’s no way to factor the cost.” [Thursday 1 September 2011]

AUTHOR: Sara Van Wyk and Pam Mantle - Inside Mantle's Snohomish (U.S state of Washington) home, framed photos of Olivia and Nathan sit next to the television and on the kitchen counter, inches from a stack of Christmas cards and rows of fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies. The photos are among the few images Mantle has left of the children who were slain on Christmas Eve two years ago (2007). Olivia, 5, Nathan, 3, and their parents, Erica and Scott Anderson, were among six people shot to death at the Carnation-area home of Scott's parents, Wayne and Judy Anderson, who also were killed in one of the state's worst mass slayings. Erica was Mantle's daughter. Michele Anderson, 31, Scott's sister and the daughter of Wayne and Judy Anderson, and her former boyfriend, Joseph McEnroe, 31, have been charged in the killings. Mantle and her daughter, Sara Van Wyk, say they are flooded with memories of Erica, Scott and the children. But only recently have they been willing to sit down and talk about the deaths and their impact on their family.

COMMENTS & CONDOLENCES:

            Sara Van Wyk and Pam Mantle, I am sorry for your losses. Like every other victims’ families who are in favor of the ultimate punishment, I support and pray for you all. I hope this blog here will comfort you. Sara Van Wyk, I like you was a former opponent of the death penalty, but the murder of Sally Anne Bowman and Amrozi’s execution (together with several other reasons) transformed me to a strong supporter of the death penalty.

            I do not trust the abolitionist group, ‘WCADP’. If they claim that the death penalty is too expensive, they are not honest at all. Even if the death penalty is eliminated, life without parole will become more expensive and they will ask for it to be abolished next. You can learn more here (Please also see the Californian Death Penalty Cost).

            When Cal Coburn Brown was executed in Washington on 10 September 2010, the victims’ families were satisfied that justice was served. Serial Killer, Robert Lee Yates is another Death Row inmate that most people want to see him die. If you want to see the death penalty retain in your State, ask prosecutors, police association and any victims’ rights group to start a campaign similar to Vote No on Proposition 34 in California.