ROBERT LEROY ANDERSON
Monday, 29 July 1996 was destined not to be an ordinary day for the Streyle family of Canistota, South Dakota. It was their son Nathan’s second birthday and they looked forward to celebrating later that evening. Piper Streyle, 28, was preparing to take Nathan and her daughter, Shaina, three, to their babysitter before going to work. Her husband Vance, 29, had left earlier to go to work.
Around 9.30am a man forced his way into the Streyles’ mobile home while Piper, Shaina and Nathan were still there. A violent struggle occurred between Piper and the man, which the children witnessed. The intruder then abducted Piper, leaving Shaina and Nathan alone, utterly traumatised by what they had seen. Friends later found them after frantic phone calls. As a result of what the children said, the police were called. Three days after Piper’s abduction, her husband remembered an important piece of information, which he told to the police. It would prove to be the break they were looking for and would lead to the identification of one of South Dakota’s most sadistic sexual murderers.
Streyle told the police about a man he remembered visiting their home several days prior to his wife’s disappearance. He recalled that a balding man in his twenties named Rob Anderson had come to their trailer at around 7.30am on 26 July to enquire about enrolling his kids into the Streyles’ Bible camp for children, which they operated every July. He claimed that Anderson seemed startled to see him, as if he didn’t expect him to be home. Once Anderson overcame his initial surprise, he briefly asked about the camp. Vance referred him to Piper, who explained that the camp was over for the summer but suggested he sign his kids up for the next year. Anderson agreed and wrote down his name and telephone number before leaving.
The police immediately began investigating the information Vance gave them. Their new suspect was 26-year-old Robert Leroy Anderson, a maintenance man at the John Morrell & Co. meat-packing plant.
A number of witnesses told police that they had seen a black Bronco truck in the vicinity of the Streyles’ mobile home on the day Piper went missing. One of the witnesses was a highway worker who told investigators that he saw a black Bronco approximately three times that day, once at around 9.45am, a second time approximately one hour later and a final time at about 12.30pm. A neighbouring couple told police that at around 11.45am on the day in question they saw a black Bronco close to the Streyles’ home. The neighbours saw the truck again about one hour later. It was stationary in the front of the driveway and they saw a man wearing a baseball cap and jeans coming out of the Streyles’ home.
On 30 July, police contacted Anderson and asked him to go voluntarily to the police station to be interviewed, which he did. During approximately eight hours of videotaped questioning, Anderson calmly admitted to going to the Streyles’ trailer four days earlier. Even though he hadn’t established an alibi for 29 July, he did tell police that he had returned to the Streyles’ house that day to ask permission to use the archery range on their property, but no one answered the door so he left. Anderson denied knowing anything about the abduction of Piper or her whereabouts.
While the police were interrogating Anderson, they examined his blue Bronco and his home. During the search, they would find what would prove to be some of the most crucial incriminating evidence against Anderson in respect of other crimes. Sadly, it would not lead to Piper’s whereabouts. In fact, she was never found. The police discovered several receipts for duct tape, black water-based tempera paint, paintbrushes and a bucket, most of which had been purchased a few days prior to and on the day Piper went missing.
Police suspected that the paint was used to disguise Anderson’s Bronco, and these suspicions would prove to be correct. They called in experts to analyse the paint on the truck more closely. Samples were taken and chemically tested. They found that the Bronco had been painted with the same material bought by Anderson around 29 July. The paint used was a kind that could be easily applied and washed off.
Inside the vehicle, even more incriminating evidence was discovered. The police found a wooden platform that had holes drilled into it. It was believed that it had been made as a restraining device – a person’s ankles and hands could be tied to metal hoops that were strategically inserted into the board. The platform had been sized to fit perfectly into the back of the truck. The forensic team also found hairs attached to the wooden platform, and these were identified as Piper’s. Moreover, a dirty shovel, furniture-moving straps, weeds, a toolbox and dog hairs similar to those of the Streyles’ dog were also discovered in the truck. It was becoming increasingly clear that there was more to Anderson than met the eye.
At Anderson’s home, police found a pair of jeans in his laundry basket, stained with what appeared to be blood. The jeans were taken away for analysis. It was found that the DNA structure of the blood did not match that of Anderson or his family. It was believed to be Piper’s blood. They also found semen stains on the jeans but they were not able to match them genetically to Anderson because they had such a limited specimen to test. During the search, a set of handcuff keys was found, but Anderson emphatically denied that he owned a pair of handcuffs. After lengthy questioning, and due to the lack of evidence at that time, he was released.
In the interim period, police carried out photo identification parades in which a photo of Anderson was included among others of similar description. One of Piper’s children identified him as the man who had abducted their mother; Piper’s husband identified him as being the man who had come to discuss the Bible classes. These positive identifications gave police the evidence they needed to press charges against Anderson.
On 2 August 1996, Anderson was arrested on two counts of kidnapping. The police were unable to charge him with murder because they lacked the evidence of a body. In September of that year, the police launched a massive search for Piper and any other evidence that might convict Anderson of murder. They wanted to ensure that he would serve the maximum sentence for his crime, and employed the help of hundreds of volunteers who searched the wooded area around the Big Sioux River. During the hunt for evidence, several significant items were discovered. Half of a shirt torn down the middle with the logo ‘Code Zero’ was found. It was the same shirt Piper had been wearing on the day she disappeared. A man picked up the other half of the black-and-white striped shirt on 29 July on a road near Baltic. He initially thought it was a referee shirt, yet when he discovered it wasn’t he threw it in the back of his car and forgot about it. He later gave it to the police when he realised the shirt’s significance. Near the Big Sioux River, where part of the shirt had been found, was a roll of duct tape with human hairs attached to it. The hair was later analysed and found to be consistent with samples taken from Piper’s hairbrush. Moreover, the duct tape taken from the scene matched the roll recovered from Anderson’s truck two months earlier. More gruesome physical evidence was discovered around the river, which included several lengths of rope and chains, eyebolts, a vibrator and a half-burnt candle. It was believed that the items had been used to torture Piper. They also presented clear evidence that Anderson was a sexual sadist.
In May 1997, Anderson was tried and found guilty of kidnapping Piper. He was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment in South Dakota State Penitentiary. However, it would not be the only charge for which he would be convicted. One of Anderson’s friends, Jamie Hammer, came forward and spoke to the police and gave them new information regarding Anderson’s sexually sadistic and predatory behaviour. They learnt that Piper was not his only victim. Hammer said that as far back as high school he was aware of Anderson’s obsession with torturing and murdering women. Hammer was intrigued by the idea and the two often discussed ways in which to commit the perfect crime. As their conversations progressed and grew more detailed over time, so did their fantasies. It wasn’t long before the two men decided to act them out. Hammer and Anderson actually planned abducting a woman together. They placed sharp objects on the road and then waited for a victim to drive by, run over the sharp ob
jects and get a flat tyre. It was then that they planned to attack the unsuspecting female. Hammer didn’t know it, but Anderson had already pre-selected a victim named Amy Anderson, 26 (no relation to Anderson himself).
In November 1994, Amy was on her way home from a friend’s house near Tea, South Dakota. As Anderson had planned, her car tyre was punctured. She pulled off the road to change it. As she reached into her boot to get the spare tyre, Anderson grabbed her and carried her off the road towards a wooded area. Luckily, Amy managed to break free and flag down a passing car that stopped to pick her up.
The attempted kidnapping of Amy remained unsolved until the arrest of Anderson, when it was brought once again to the fore. Amy was able to identify Anderson in a police line-up, but he would never stand trial for the crime. Instead, another friend of Anderson named Glen Marcus Walker would take the blame. He had also been involved with Anderson and Hammer in Amy’s unsuccessful abduction. Several years later, during his trial, Walker pleaded guilty to the offence. However, it would not be the only crime he would admit that he committed with Anderson. Police discovered that even before Amy was attacked, Anderson and Walker had committed another, more gruesome, crime. In 1991, while working together, they devised a plan to abduct and kill a female worker from where they worked, Larisa Dumansky. On 26 August, Anderson approached Larisa in the car park at their place of work. He abducted her at knifepoint and ordered her into his vehicle. Then Anderson and Walker drove Larisa to Lake Vermillion. When they arrived at the lake, Walker watched as Anderson dragged Larisa out of the car and raped her several times. Larisa pleaded desperately for her life but Anderson ignored her. Anderson suffocated her with duct tape and then buried her remains under a bush. At the time of Larisa’s death she was six weeks pregnant. Walker later told police he was not involved in the murder and led them to where her body had been buried. When they dug up her remains, they were puzzled as to why there were only half of her remains in the grave – but would only find the answer several months later.
While in prison, Anderson shared a cell with Jeremy Brunner, who contacted the Attorney General’s office in August 1997 with information about Anderson’s crimes. He told them that Anderson bragged excessively and in great detail about the murders of Piper and Larisa during the week in which they shared a cell. Brunner told the authorities that Anderson admitted he was a serial killer and that he kept trophies of his victims at his grandmother’s house. He even gave the precise location of the items. He said Anderson had hidden them between the ceiling and the wall of his grandmother’s basement. The items included a ring and a necklace belonging to Piper and Larisa, as well as his gun. Anderson told Brunner that he believed Walker might tell the authorities about the murders. Anderson told him that he had a feeling that if Walker were ever arrested he would reveal the location of Larisa’s body.
In order to prevent the police from discovering Larisa’s identity if she was ever found, which could link the murder to him, Anderson decided to remove her skull and teeth from the shallow grave. He then threw them from the car window as he drove from the scene. Brunner’s story explained why the police had found only portions of Larisa’s body. Brunner claimed that Anderson had also bragged about abducting Piper. He said that Anderson admitted to raping and strangling her before disposing of her body in Big Sioux River. Witnesses said that they saw Anderson on several occasions on the day of Piper’s disappearance. Brunner explained that the reason for this was because Anderson had forgotten a couple of items and returned home to retrieve them. The police then went to the house of Anderson’s grandmother, where they found the items in the exact spots as described by Anderson when talking to Brunner.
On 4 September 1997, Anderson was charged with murdering Larisa Dumansky. He was also charged with the rape and murder of Piper Streyle. His trial commenced in the first week of March and lasted one month. Brunner agreed to testify and was given a lighter sentence for the crimes he had committed.
On 6 April, the jury quickly returned its verdict. Anderson was found guilty on four counts including the rape and murder of Piper and the kidnapping and murder of Larisa. Three days later, the same jury sentenced Anderson to death by lethal injection. However, the state would be denied the chance to execute him. On 30 March 2002, while awaiting the outcome of his appeal, he was found dead in his cell, hanging by a sheet tied to a bar.
Glenn Walker was tried for his crimes in March 2000. He pleaded guilty to the attempted kidnapping of Amy Anderson, being an accessory to kidnapping and first-degree murder and conspiracy to kidnap Larisa Dumansky. He received a total of 30 years’ imprisonment.
ALTON COLEMAN AND DEBRA BROWN
Alton Coleman (b. 1955) left middle school without completing his education. His mother was a prostitute who regularly used to have sex with her clients in front of him. He eventually went to live with his 73-year-old grandmother and, with no parental guidance, soon came to the notice of the police. Between 1973 and 1983, he was charged with sexual offences on no less than six occasions. Coleman was due to stand trial in Illinois accused of raping a 14-year-old girl when he fled and began his indiscriminate killing.
Debra Brown (b. 1963) was one of 11 children; she suffered a head injury when very young that left her mentally impaired. She met Coleman in 1983, and up until then, she had been of good character. During the summer of 1984, Coleman, then aged 28, and Brown, aged 21, embarked on a murderous killing spree throughout the American Midwest.
Their crimes began in May 1984 when Coleman befriended Juanita Wheat, who lived in Wisconsin and was the mother of nine-year-old Vernita. On 29 May 1984, Coleman abducted Vernita and murdered her. Her body was discovered on 19 June 1984 in an abandoned building. The body was badly decomposed and the cause of death was ligature strangulation.
On 18 June, two young girls, Tamika Turks and her nine-year-old sister Annie, disappeared on their way to the shops. They had been abducted by Brown and Coleman. Annie, the older girl, was forced to watch as Brown and Coleman killed Tamika. Brown held Tamika on the ground and covered her nose and mouth while Coleman continuously jumped up and down on her chest and face until her ribs fractured and punctured her vital organs. The older sister was then was forced to have sex with both Brown and Coleman before being beaten about the head and abandoned. Miraculously, she survived. A day later, Tamika’s brutalised body was found in a wooded area.
The same day Tamika Turks’s body was discovered, Donna Williams, 25, was reported missing by her parents. Her car had also gone missing. A week later, her car was found abandoned in Detroit with a forged identification card showing Brown’s picture. Her disappearance was treated as a murder enquiry, and her body was found in an abandoned house on 11 July; she had been strangled.
The hunt was now on for Brown and Coleman. Police in four states were looking for them. In the meantime, two days after Williams was reported missing, Brown and Coleman abducted a woman in Detroit. However, she managed to get away by crashing her car into oncoming traffic. Now on the run in Detroit, the pair committed two robberies to obtain money. On 28 June 1984, Coleman and Brown entered the home of Mr and Mrs Palmer Jones of Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Palmer was handcuffed by Coleman and then badly beaten. Mrs Jones was also attacked. Coleman ripped the Jones’s phone from the wall and stole money and their car.
On 5 July 1984, Coleman and Brown arrived in Toledo, Ohio, where Coleman befriended Virginia Temple, the mother of several children. Her eldest child was Rachelle, aged nine. When neighbours were concerned about not having seen her for a time, the police were called. On entering the home, they found the very young children alone and frightened. Virginia’s and Rachelle’s bodies were discovered in a cupboard; both had been strangled. A bracelet was missing from the house, and this would later be found in Cincinnati under the body of Tonnie Storey, another victim of Brown and Coleman.
On 13 July, Brown and Coleman journeyed south, stopping off in Cincinnati. There they murdered Marlene Walters and left her husband Harry for d
ead. He survived and told the police that Coleman and Brown had enquired about a camper he had put up for sale. Walters sat on the couch as he and Coleman discussed the camper. Coleman picked up a wooden candlestick and, after admiring it, hit Harry Walters on the back of the head. The force of the blow broke the candlestick and drove a chunk of bone against Mr Walters’s brain. From that point on, Mr Walters remembered little else. Sheri Walters, Harry and Marlene’s daughter, came home from work at about 3.45pm. At the bottom of the basement steps, she found her father barely alive and her mother dead. Both had ligatures around their throats and electrical cords tied around their bare feet. Her mother’s hands were bound behind her back and her father’s hands were handcuffed behind his back. Her mother’s head was covered with a bloody sheet.
Marlene Walters had been struck on the head approximately 20–25 times. Twelve lacerations, some of which were made with a pair of vice grips, covered her face and scalp. The back of her skull was smashed to pieces. Parts of her skull and brain were missing.
Coleman and Brown stole the Walters’ car and headed to Kentucky, where they abandoned the vehicle in a cornfield in Williamsburg. They then kidnapped Oline Carmical and drove to Dayton, Ohio, leaving Carmical locked in the trunk of his abandoned car. Police managed to locate the car and the victim was rescued. Brown and Coleman then committed further robberies in Dayton, involving stealing cars and cash from elderly couples.
By now, the murderous pair had been on the run for 53 days. During this time, they had committed eight murders, seven rapes, three kidnappings and 14 armed robberies, but their luck was about to run out. They had been placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. By now, they had arrived in Illinois and while out walking they were seen by a friend of Coleman, who recognised them and told the police.
The Evil Within - A Top Murder Squad Detective Reveals The Chilling True Stories of The World's Most Notorious Killers Page 16
