A husband and wife are found dead in their home In the quiet community of Mongo in LaGrange County, Indiana, the autumn of 2005 was shattered by a brutal act of violence that claimed the lives of Terry A. Anderson, 59, and his wife, Darleen, 57. Terry, a Caucasian male, was a well-liked tree trimmer and supervisor who was described as a warm and caring man.
On the morning of October 21, 2005, the couple's 20-year-old daughter, Amanda, arrived at their rural home to pick her father up for work.
She was met by her maternal grandmother, who was concerned because Darleen had not shown up for her job. Upon entering the house, they made a grim discovery; Darleen's body was on the couch, where it appeared she had been relaxing with a book and a bowl of popcorn when she was attacked. Later that morning, law enforcement found Terry's body in a pole barn on the property. Both Terry and his wife had been beaten to death, suffering from blunt force trauma to the head.
Investigators found no signs of forced entry, leading to the belief that the Andersons likely knew their killer or killers. The motive appeared to be robbery, as money, an old muzzleloader, and a few other items were missing from the home. However, more valuable possessions, such as Darleen's jewelry, were left untouched.
While the double homicide remains officially unsolved, law enforcement has publicly identified a person of interest. Terry Durbin, who was a coworker of Terry Anderson, came onto the investigators' radar. Despite being a potential suspect, Durbin has never been charged in connection with the Anderson murders due to a lack of sufficient evidence. He is currently serving a prison sentence for the 2009 murder of another individual in Ohio.
Speculation and theories have surrounded the case for years. Terry Anderson's older daughter from a previous marriage, Sherry Musilek, believes that more than one person was involved in the killings and that her father and stepmother knew their assailants. There was also suspicion regarding the Andersons' daughter, Amanda, who reportedly had a drug problem and had argued with her father shortly before the murders over his refusal to cosign a loan. In 2008, Amanda was arrested along with two men for manufacturing methamphetamine on the same property where her parents were killed, though police stated the raid was unrelated to the murder investigation. Amanda Anderson never faced any charges related to her parents' deaths and died of a drug overdose in 2014, potentially taking any secrets she held about that night to her grave.
