On a day that should have been filled with joy and family gatherings, Christmas Eve of 2007 became the backdrop for a horrific act of violence in the rural community of Carnation, Washington. Three-year-old Nathan Scott Anderson, a Caucasian male, became one of the six victims in a brutal family massacre. The young boy, his five-and-a-half-year-old sister Olivia, his parents Scott and Erica Anderson, and his grandparents Wayne and Judy Anderson, were all fatally shot in what was a planned and calculated attack.
The architects of this devastating crime were disturbingly close to the victims. Nathan’s paternal aunt, Michele Anderson, and her boyfriend, Joseph McEnroe, were the perpetrators of this family annihilation. Investigators learned that Michele Anderson harbored deep-seated resentment towards her family, stemming from financial disputes and a sense of being wronged. Her anger over being asked to pay rent for the mobile home she shared with McEnroe on her parents' property, coupled with a belief that her brother owed her money, festered into a murderous rage.
The events of that Christmas Eve unfolded with chilling premeditation. Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe first murdered her parents, Wayne and Judy Anderson, inside their home. They then concealed the bodies and waited for the arrival of her brother and his family for a holiday celebration. When Scott, Erica, and their two young children, Olivia and Nathan, arrived, they were ambushed and killed. The scene of the crime remained undiscovered for two days until a concerned coworker of Judy Anderson went to check on the family on December 26th, peered through a window, and made the gruesome discovery of bodies inside.
The investigation quickly led to the arrest of Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe after they returned to the property while law enforcement was present. Both confessed to the killings. In the subsequent legal proceedings, Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe were charged with six counts of aggravated first-degree murder. Joseph McEnroe was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2015. A year later, in 2016, Michele Anderson was also convicted on all six counts and received a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
