Attack type Mass murder, Massacre | Deaths 4 | |
Location Bellevue, Washington, United States Date January 3–4, 1997 (PST) Weapons Baseball Bat, Knife, Strangulation Perpetrator Alex Baranyi and David Anderson | ||
The Bellevue murders, or Bellevue massacre, occurred the night of January 3 and early morning of January 4, 1997, when Alex Baranyi and David Anderson, both 17, lured Kim Wilson, 20, to a Bellevue, Washington park to murder her. Afterwards, they entered her family home and murdered Bill Wilson, his wife, Rose Wilson, and their other daughter, Julia Wilson. Both Baranyi and Anderson were convicted and sentenced to serve four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
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Although the motives behind the murders were unclear, the boys exhibited psychological disturbance when they were brought in for questioning. When Baranyi was questioned about his motives, he calmly replied that he wanted to kill someone because he was "in a rut." Testimonies by Baranyi and Anderson led investigators to suggest that they killed the Wilson family for the sheer experience of killing.
Discovery
On January 4, 1997, two young boys playing in a park in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, spotted a pile of clothes in the bushes. The next day the two boys returned to the park and realized what they had seen the prior day was a body. They ran home and one of their mothers called the Bellevue Police Department to report what the boys had found.
Bellevue detectives responded to the scene and found the body of a young woman they would later identify as 20-year-old Kimberly Wilson. There was a cord wrapped around her neck, and she appeared to have been involved in a struggle. Detectives were led to believe she was strangled to death.
When detectives arrived at the Wilson residence, no interior lights were on, though three cars were parked outside and Christmas lights were on. Detective Jeff Gomes found a sliding-glass door open. He called out to see if anyone inside would respond. When Gomes heard nothing, he drew his gun and stepped inside the house.
Gomes went upstairs to see if the family was still sleeping. He discovered blood splattered on the walls and ceilings. In the master bedroom, he found the body of Kim's mother, Rose Wilson, in bed. Rose's head had been crushed by numerous blows from a heavy object, her throat had been stabbed multiple times. Near the foot of the bed, Gomes found the body of Kim's father, William "Bill" Wilson, who had similar injuries to Rose. The body of Kim's 17-year-old sister, Julia, was discovered in the hall; she appeared to have struggled against her attacker. One of her arms had been broken, and her head and neck had been stabbed multiple times.
Investigation
Bellevue Police and detectives quickly began interviewing neighbors, asking if they had noticed any suspicious activity or noises, and if they knew of anyone that might have wanted to hurt the Wilsons. Co-workers of William said that he was well-liked, with his boss describing him as "very loyal and a good employee." Co-workers of Rose said that she was "friendly and outgoing." Julia was a senior at Bellevue High School; her classmates described her as "a sweet, shy young girl."
Kim had graduated from the same high school that Julia was attending. The high school counselor at Bellevue stated that there was tension between Kim and her parents during Kim's last years in high school. Records show that, a year prior to the Wilsons' deaths in 1996, one of the Wilsons' neighbors had placed a domestic disturbance call, which reported an argument between Kim and her parents. When detectives began interviewing Kim's friends, they discovered Kim was friends with a goth group that hung out late at night at the local Denny's, although Kim didn't spend time there herself. Calling it the "The Saturday Night Denny's Club," the friends discussed role-playing games and their themes of eroticism and death. Several members of the group spoke of the club as being a fun way to rebel against moralism and establish their own identities. However, none of them admitted to having ever considered committing murder. Members told detectives that two others in the group, Baranyi and Anderson, spoke about committing murder on a weekly basis.
Investigators questioned and interviewed both Baranyi and Anderson at their residences. Both claimed to have been playing video games at Baranyi's home the night of the murders. Police examined each of the boys' shoes to compare them with the distinctive shoe-thread pattern discovered at the crime scene. Baranyi showed the detectives his brown work shoes, claiming they were his only pair. Witnesses and Baranyi's neighbors disputed the claims that both boys had played video games all night at Baranyi's house. A close friend of Baranyi told authorities that Baranyi had boots with a similar tread pattern to the ones found at the crime scene. Searching the Wilson household again, detectives discovered two different kinds of bloody footprints, indicating that at least two individuals committed the murders.
Confession and sentencing
Five days after first speaking with detectives, Baranyi admitted to them that he and his accomplice murdered the Wilsons. He told authorities that he killed Kim first, strangling her at the park. He then realized that Kim might have told her parents where she was going to meet him that night, and his suspicion led him to kill them. Baranyi went into the Wilson house with a baseball bat and a combat knife. He began to beat Rose Wilson with the bat, awakening her sleeping husband William Wilson. When William came to his wife's defense, Baranyi beat and stabbed him to death. He then stabbed Rose with the knife and went upstairs to kill her daughter, Julia. Before returning to his home, Baranyi took a telephone, a CD player, and a VCR from the Wilson house.
Baranyi refused to name his accomplice, David Anderson, to the detectives. After further investigation, David Anderson was brought in for another round of questioning. This time, Anderson claimed that he had lied to detectives when he told them that he had been with Baranyi the night of the murders. He claimed that, on the night of the murders, he had been driving a truck belonging to his girlfriend's father between the cities of Bellevue and Seattle. Anderson also claimed he knew Baranyi had been planning the Wilsons' murders for a while. He cited the friendship between Baranyi and Kim Wilson as the only connection between him and Kim. Three people who lived near the Baranyi residence contradicted Anderson's statement. They claimed that they saw the two boys leaving the house together at the same time on the night of the murders. Detectives searched the households of both boys and took items Baranyi had stolen, in addition to bloody shoes and shoelaces matching the shoe-thread pattern. DNA tests on these items traced back to the Wilsons.
Alex Baranyi and David Anderson were charged with first degree murder. Prosecutors attempted to try them together when the trial began in October 1998, but the court felt that each needed a separate trial for his individual role in the crimes. Three weeks after the trial began, Baranyi was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. When asked if he had anything to say, Baranyi replied, "No, I don't think so." He began serving his sentence a week later. Anderson hired and fired numerous lawyers in order to escape a sentencing similar to that of Baranyi. However, a month and a half later, Anderson was also sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.