Carnation murder suspects plead not guilty

Michele Kristen Anderson and Joseph McEnroe, accused of killing six members of Anderson's family on Christmas Eve, pleaded not guilty this morning during their emotional arraignment in King County Superior Court.

With members of the victims' families looking on, McEnroe and Anderson each answered to six counts of aggravated murder for the shooting deaths of Anderson's parents, brother, sister-in-law and 3-year-old nephew and 5-year-old niece. King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg now has 30 days to decide whether to seek the death penalty against the two.

Among those in the packed courtroom was Anderson's sister, Mary Anderson. Surrounded by numerous supporters, she frequently wiped away tears during the hearing.

Upon hearing her sister's six "not guilty" pleas, Mary Anderson shook her head and said to those seated around her: "That doesn't mean they're going to get away with it."

Friends and family members wore photographs of the two youngest victims.

When the hearing concluded, Michele Anderson and McEnroe were led out of the courtroom. Michele kept her eyes to floor and did not look up at those in the courtroom.

Police say that Michele Anderson and McEnroe armed themselves with handguns just before 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve, entered the home of her parents, Wayne Anderson, 60, and Judith, 61, and fatally shot them in the head.

When Michele Anderson's brother, Scott, his wife Erica, and the couple's two children, Olivia, 5, and Nathan, 3, arrived at the rural home, they were shot and killed as well.

According to court documents, Michele Anderson told police she was tired "of everybody stepping on her," and she had decided if her family did not start showing her respect by Dec. 24, she would kill them all. Anderson also was angry that her parents were pressuring her to pay rent for the trailer she shared with McEnroe on the elder Andersons' wooded Carnation property, she told police.

The suspects were allowed to wear street clothes and did not have to wear shackles and handcuffs in court, after Judge Cheryl Carey ruled Tuesday that restraints and High Security Inmate jail jumpsuits could give an impression of guilt and taint potential jurors. McEnroe and Anderson, both 29, are being held without bail.

The King County Sheriff's Office has launched an internal investigation to determine why two deputies who were dispatched to check a 911 call from the Anderson home sometime before or during the slayings turned away at a locked gate and never checked on the residence. The bodies weren't found until Dec. 26, when one of Judy Anderson's co-workers noticed she was missing from her longtime job as a mail carrier.