On a summer day in 1987, the lives of Norman B. Armstrong and his wife, Janet Marie Armstrong, were tragically cut short. On July 22, the couple went target shooting with a man they considered a friend, Russell M. Anderson. The outing took a horrific turn when Anderson, who was heavily intoxicated, shot and killed both Norman and Janet. Their bodies were later discovered near the I-80 overpass at 6000 West.
The weapon Anderson used to commit the murders was a gun he had obtained from Norman Armstrong himself.
The investigation into the double homicide led to Russell M. Anderson, who was also responsible for the murder of another man, Frank R. Boulton, in a Bountiful church parking lot on August 29, 1987. Anderson eventually confessed to all three killings and pleaded guilty but mentally ill to each murder. During his parole hearing years later, Anderson expressed remorse for his actions, stating he "wasn't myself back then" and that things "got out of hand." He described being "sloppy drunk" and "messed up in my head" at the time of the Armstrongs' murders. He recalled standing over their bodies for about half an hour, questioning what he had done.
A judge sentenced Anderson to three consecutive five-years-to-life sentences at the Utah State Prison. The court ordered him directly to prison rather than a state hospital, determining that he was mentally retarded but not mentally ill, and therefore his condition was not treatable or curable. At his parole hearing, Anderson's rambling and sometimes mumbled testimony included phrases like "Just stupid on my behalf," "I blanked out," and "I just went berserk" when describing the murders of Norman and Janet Armstrong.
