A Compost Pile was Pretty Shelly's Shroud

Perhaps the most dramatic portion of the trial was when Monte Anderson him­self was called to testify, at which time he again denied killing his estranged wife. He also denied ever being at the restaurant-bar where he allegedly confessed the killing to Barbara Jones. "Monte, did you kill Shelly An­derson?" Hemovich asked.

"No, sir, I did not," replied An­derson, who contended that Shelly came to his home on the night in question to do laundry. He testified that he and Shelly talked for some time, took some cocaine together, and that she left shortly after 11:00 p.m.

"I walked her out to the front porch, gave her a little hug and a kiss on the cheek, and she left."

"Was that the last time you saw her?" asked Hemovich.

"Yes," replied Anderson, facing still more questions from the prosecutor.

"How do you explain (the victim's) towels being in that suitcase if she didn't take the laundry?" asked Prosecutor Caruso, as he dramatically tossed the towels onto the courtroom floor in front of Anderson.

"I don't know whose towels those are," responded the defendant.

"When you learned the police knew you pawned the ring, you knew it was all over?" asked Caruso during his cross- examination of the defendant.

"That what was over?" replied An­derson in a soft voice.

"That the police would arrest you for killing your wife?"

"No, sir."

"Isn't that why you told (Barbara Jones at the restaurant-bar) that you kil­led your wife — because you expected to be arrested at any time?"

"I said yesterday that I never met (Barbara Jones) in my life," Anderson replied.

During those arguments, Caruso por­trayed Anderson to the jury as a jealous cocaine addict who beat Shelly An­derson to death while attempting to force her to have sex with him, after which he stuffed the petite woman into a large suitcase and buried it in his backyard.

In spite of the defense contentions that drug dealers killed Shelly in an attempt to frame Anderson for the murder be­cause of a cocaine debt, the jury con­victed Monte Emil Anderson of second-degree murder after deliberating nine hours.

"There wasn't any other conclusion you could come to reasonably after an­alyzing the facts, and your verdict is cor­rect under the evidence," Judge John Lally told the jurors. He also praised the prosecution and defense attorneys, de­tectives and friends of the victim.

"I think the friends of this dead lady should be thanked," said Lally. "I know from my own recollection that as soon as (the victim) disappeared, they began to search and never gave up." As far as the defendant was concerned, the judge sim­ply said that it was "a tragedy that he would bring such sorrow to his parents."

At his sentencing, the judge called Monte Anderson "unbelievably stu­pid...you left behind you a trail with your name signed," said Lally. "You signed your own warrant...In light of the seriousness of the crime, you must be sentenced to life imprisonment," said the judge. Under Washington State law, Anderson will be eligible for parole in seven and one half years, but actual time served will be determined by the State Parole Board.

Editor's Note:

Larry and Lorraine Robinson, Bar­bara Jones and Gerald Smith are not the real names of the persons so named in the foregoing story. Fictitious names have been used because there is no rea­son for public interest in the identities of these persons.

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