News Stories About The Murders

Article reprinted via courtesy of the Herald Republican Newspaper in Angola, IN.

Mongo couple found dead; Bodies discovered in home, outbuilding

BY WANDA YODER

MONGO What began Friday as an investigation into the death of a rural Mongo woman is now being probed as a double homicide after police found the body of the woman's husband.

Police have identified the victims as Terry A. Anderson, 59, and his wife, Darlene Anderson, 57, of the 6200 block of East C.R. 250N, near Mongo.

Police said Darlene Anderson's body was found in the living room of their home. Terry Anderson's body was found later in an outbuilding on the property.

LaGrange County Sheriff's Department Chief Deputy Tom Clarkson said the exact cause of death would not be announced until autopsies were completed. Police have not confirmed whether the deaths were caused by gunshot wounds.

Police remained at the scene until late Friday evening investigating the homicides.

When contacted Friday evening, LaGrange County Coroner Bruce Coney said he wouldn't release any information about the autopsy results until later this morning. He said he planned to meet with the county sheriff and prosecutor at 7:30 this morning before releasing further information about the case. He expects to issue a news release by 10 a.m. today.

"We want to put everything together so we don't take a chance on damaging the case," Coney said.


According to police, the Andersons' daughter arrived at the home Friday to meet her father for work. She called police dispatch at about 7:21 a.m. to report finding her mother lying on a couch with a gunshot wound to the head. Police arrived at the residence and found the victim. Police said Terry Anderson's truck was parked at the residence, but he could not be found at the time.

A preliminary search of the residence by officers was executed as a safety precaution. Following the issuance of a search warrant, investigating officers used K-9s to locate Terry Anderson's body in the outbuilding.

According to Clarkson, the time of death for the Andersons was estimated to have occurred sometime between 8 p.m. Thursday and 7:21 a.m. Friday. Clarkson said no weapon was found at the scene.

LaGrange County Sheriff Greg Dhaene said investigators are interviewing the daughter to try to understand what may have happened. The husband and wife lived together at the residence.

The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information regarding this incident should contact the LaGrange County Sheriff's Department at 463-7491, Indiana State Police Fort Wayne Post at 463-4343 or Crime Stoppers at (800) 342-STOP.

Investigating agencies include the LaGrange County Sheriff's Department, Indiana State Police, Indiana Conservation Officers, LaGrange County Coroner's Office, LaGrange County Prosecutor's Office and the Indiana State Excise Police.

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From the Kendallville News-Sun:
Deaths result of beatings; ‘Items of value’ missing

By Bill Gisel

MONGO Blunt force trauma has been listed as the cause of death of Terry and Darlene Anderson, whose bodies were found Friday at their home in the 6200 block of East C.R. 250N near Mongo.

A joint news release issued Saturday by the LaGrange County Sheriff, Indiana State Police and Coroner Bruce Coney said their deaths are being investigated as homicides.

Police confirmed they have identified several "persons of interest" for questioning, and "items of value" are missing from the property, according to Sheriff Greg Dhaene.

Funeral arrangements for Terry, 59, and Darlene, 57, are pending at the Carney-Frost Funeral Home in LaGrange.

Mrs. Anderson's body was discovered by the couple's daughter, Amanda Anderson, when she arrived to pick up her father for work at about 7:21 a.m. Friday. Both reportedly worked for Asplundh Tree Expert Co.

Terry Anderson's body was discovered later in an outbuilding, after police obtained a search warrant for the property.

According to the news release, the time of death of the Andersons is between 8 p.m. Thursday and 7:21 a.m. Friday, when the first body was discovered.

Autopsies were conducted Friday afternoon to determine the cause of their deaths.

Anyone with information about the murders is asked to call the LaGrange County Sheriff's Department at 463-7491, the Indiana State Police at 432-8661, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-342-7867.

‘A real nice lady'

A former co-worker of Darlene Anderson at Kraft Foods in Kendallville described her as "a real nice lady."

Deanna Magnuson of Albion said she worked with "Dar" for many years. Magnuson has since retired.

"We worked together for quite a few years, and she trained me on one machine," Magnuson recalled. "We played cards together." She guessed Mrs. Anderson had worked at Kraft Foods about 30 years.

She said Mrs. Anderson was "pretty laid back" but a hard worker who did her job. She said that at the time she worked with Mrs. Anderson, Anderson took care of her mother in addition to working.

"She was pretty surprised when she learned she was going to have a baby," Magnuson said. She said her friend had always been told she couldn't have a child, and when she did, it "came pretty late in her life.

"But she never missed work, all the time she was pregnant," Magnuson said.

‘He looked like Santa'

Terry Anderson had white hair and a full white beard, and looked like Santa Claus, said John Burrell of Angola, a good friend who had also worked with Anderson at Asplundh Tree Expert.

"He was very hard working and honest, and he didn't drink or do drugs," Burrell said. Anderson had a passion for muskie fishing, and often served as a guide, taking people out in his boat on area lakes.

Burrell said that during the years he worked with Anderson, "Everywhere we went, he knew somebody." He said it didn't matter if it was in Angola, LaGrange, Rome City or Michigan.

According to Burrell, Amanda Anderson had been asked by her father to fill in for his usual partner on Friday. She often filled in when someone was needed, Burrell said.

"I have been to his home many times, and he had a lot of guns and a lot of fishing equipment," Burrell said. Anderson had a habit of loaning money to people, he added, and speculated that the killer probably knew Anderson.

"I think it was someone who knew him, but that's just my personal opinion," he said.

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Article by the Kendallville News-Sun:

Treasured memories

By Megan Hockley

LAGRANGE Two closed caskets were covered in flowers at LaGrange's Carney-Frost Funeral Home Wednesday as the family and friends of homicide victims Terry and Darleen Anderson gathered to bid them goodbye.

Funeral services are today for the Mongo couple who were found dead on their property Friday. Police still have no suspects in the case.

Terry and Darleen Anderson are gone, but their spirits were very much present at Wednesday's calling, where treasured memories were shared aloud, hugs were plentiful, tears were wiped away, laughter occasionally bubbled up and, most importantly, love lived on.

"We're going to make their dreams our dreams," said the couple's daughter, Amanda, affirming that the family would be keeping the home where her parents died. "Dad wanted a full wrap-around porch, to tear down the barn, new siding. There's electrical work to do. Mom wanted new curtains, new furniture.

"We just need a security system."

Twenty-year-old Amanda Anderson sat on a sofa near her parents' caskets Wednesday, surrounded by close friends and family members. The dark shadows under her eyes testifying to how little sleep she's had in the past few days, Amanda Anderson was still in shock but she spoke bravely about her parents.

Topwater Terry

Terry Anderson had a tattoo of a muskie on his arm and a love for hunting in his heart. Many of the memories people shared about him Wednesday involved animals, both pets and prey. He was nicknamed Topwater Terry in connection with his passion for muskie fishing.

"Dad loved the outdoors, hunting and fishing," Amanda Anderson said. "He was a muskie guy, and he would ice fish constantly in the winter.

"He was proud of his boat, and his truck was his pride and joy. He loved his children and his grandchildren. He was a hard worker."

When asked if she used to go fishing with her dad, Amanda was quick to smile. "Not very much because he would scream and yell, but if anybody ever needed anything, he would make sure you had it. If you needed money for lunch or if you needed advice ... he would give it."

Terry and his friends called themselves The Brothers of the Woods, and Terry also went by the nickname The Norwegian Monkey Man from Mongo, said his best friend, Bill Gage.

"Terry's most famous in Mongo for his iron skillet. It's never been washed! He made the best deer meat in the whole state, maybe the whole country in that," Gage said. "We lived on hazelnuts or filberts and deer meat all winter."

Gage also shared a memory of Terry that involved his old pet pig, Oink Johnson, which he said grew into the biggest pig he'd ever seen.

"He'd try to ride Oink Johnson," Gage said, laughing. "When the pig got hungry, it would get noisy, and Terry would say, ‘Shut up, Oink Johnson! I'll feed you when I'm ready.' That pig was as big as a cow. Its pork chops looked like T-bone steaks."

Terry was also a famous turkey hunter, Gage said. "He would get his turkey in 10 minutes. Everybody in town was jealous of that. I would hunt all day without getting one."

Terry's barn was bigger than his house and included a large storage area, a tool shed and workroom and his hunting cabin. "Every time he got an extra $500, $600, he'd call the Amish men. ‘I want to build on. Frame it up,'" Gage said.

Rick and Misty Jo Kwiek of California, Terry's oldest son and his wife, said Terry taught his grandsons how to fish and used to secretly slip them gold dollars when their parents weren't looking. Terry often took Rick out fishing when he visited Indiana.

"I remember going to Cree Lake," Kwiek said. "He got in the boat, and he wanted me to back up the boat. Well, I'm from Chicago. I'm lucky if I can drive my own car. He was yelling, ‘No, not that way! More right, more left!' Normally, he was mellow, but ..."

Terry was a tree trimmer for Asplundh. His co-worker, and Amanda Anderson's boyfriend, Quae Proctor, has many fond memories of him, including watching Terry ride around his yard on a lawnmower, poking at pesky moles with a pitchfork.

Another time, the two men worked together to cut off the top 8 feet of a tree that was full of honey bees.

"The boss wanted the bees dropped in the driveway to get it down quick, but Terry wouldn't do it. He screened up the holes so the bees couldn't get out, and he insisted on having those honey bees relocated to some other area," Proctor said. "There was 50-60 pounds of honey in the log. There was so much, it was seeping out the pores of the wood."

"He drove those bees from Syracuse all the way to Mongo," Amanda Anderson said, adding that Terry gave the log to a beekeeper friend of his.

Shop ‘til you drop Darleen

Darleen Anderson's proclivity for shopping was one of her defining characteristics, according to friends and family."Mom loved garage sale-ing," Amanda Anderson said fondly. "She used to bring home a lot of junk."

"She could outshop us all, and Terry could outfish all us guys," Proctor said.

"Every time we came from California, she would take us to Shipshewana, and we were at the flea markets and garage sales," Misty Jo Kwiek said. "We wouldn't get home until after dark because she wouldn't quit. It was always, ‘Just one more garage sale!'

"She'd know we were coming, and she'd start hitting the garage sales for toys for the grandkids ... The boys loved their grandma."

Darleen also passed down her skill at playing the piano to her daughter, and she collected rocks of all kinds. She bought from dealers and often reminded Proctor and her husband to keep their eyes open for interesting rocks in the cornfields. "We always brought something back for her," Proctor said.

With her collections and her shopping habit, Darleen's house is packed to the rafters with stuff, according to her daughter-in-law.

"She was a pack rat. The house was hers to fill up, and the shop was his, and oh my gosh is it full!" Misty Jo Kwiek said. "It will have to be sorted out, and I started looking at it, but I just couldn't do anything yet. I felt like I was invading their privacy."

Terry was a bit of a shopper too, and Darleen used to scold him for his extravagant purchases unless he brought her something too, Amanda Anderson said.

"He'd always buy things and hide them from her. Then she'd find them," Amanda said. "The day we got a new four-wheeler and a new dirt bike and pulled in the driveway with them, she was so mad."

"I remember when he bought something really expensive (for himself), and he went out and bought her all new furniture so it would be OK," Gage said.

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