Janet L. Anderson, in red, is led out of the courtroom and back down to the Lewis County Jail after bail hearing.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Evidence so far suggests a 41-year-old Centralia man was shot once in his back and once at the base of his skull as long as 12 hours before his wife turned herself in to police and said they would find his body in the bedroom of their north Centralia home.
Ty W. Anderson was indeed located there, wrapped inside a tarp, according to authorities.
The residence off of West Oakview Avenue in the Hunter’s Walk neighborhood was then examined by detectives on Saturday but the scene investigation is ongoing, according to the Lewis County Prosecutor’s Office.
Janet L. Anderson, 39, was arrested after she spoke with police on Saturday morning and charged today with second-degree murder.
She reportedly told police that after two hours of fighting, she shot her husband because he grabbed his gun and was pointing it at her, according to charging documents.
She also said she cleaned him up, covered him up and wrapped him up so he wouldn’t be cold, Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Will Halstead wrote in court documents.
Evidence indicates she washed clothing and bedding and bathed herself as well as patched what looked to be a bullet exit hole through an exterior wall, before driving to the Centralia police station and calling 911 about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, according to Halstead.
Anderson was brought before a judge this afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court in Chehalis where prosecutors asked she be held on $1 million bail.
She has no income of her own, doesn’t work and has no criminal history, the judge was told. Judge Richard Brosey gave her a court appointed lawyer.
Lewis County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Sara Beigh said she requested the high bail because Anderson might be a flight risk and also because of the interference with the administration of justice. It appears cleanup was done during the 12 hours between the alleged homicide and the reporting of it, she said.
Neither Centralia police nor the court documents offer any other explanation for the shooting.
Neighbors and police say the couple have two children who lived with them there, a teenage son who was at a sporting event on Saturday morning and a younger daughter who was with her grandparents. Centralia police detective John Panco on Saturday didn’t indicate he thought the kids had been home when it happened.
Next door neighbor Jim Murphy said he and his wife heard a “horrible bang pop” around 9 or 10 o’clock on Friday night; she thought it was a gunshot, he thought it was something different.
Charging documents state that police were advised about 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, a woman was on the line with 911, saying she’d killed her husband, that she would be parked in front of the Centralia Police Department in a white mini van.
She spoke with a sergeant and told him, among other things, that her gun was on her night stand and her husband’s gun could be found under a towel because she was afraid her son might come home and see it.
Two officers who were given the keys to the home found nobody else inside, only Ty Anderson wrapped in a tarp in the bedroom, according to the documents.
When detectives conducted their investigation, they found what would be the wife’s firearm, a five-shot revolver with four spent shell casings and one live round inside the cylinder, Halstead wrote.
The other gun was on the floor, on the other side of the bed, partially wrapped in a towel, according to Halstead. The semi automatic, single-action pistol had a loaded magazine inserted and an empty chamber; the hammer was in the forward position not ready to fire, according to Halstead.
An autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow.
The initial examination of the body however showed at least two bullet entry wounds, according to charging documents, one in the lower back and the other at the base of the back of the neck. X-rays taken by the Lewis County Corner’s Office show what appear to be the two bullets lodged inside his body, according to charging documents.
The maximum penalty for second-degree murder is life in prison and/or a $50,000 fine plus restitution and assessments.
Centralia defense attorney Shane O’Rourke is going to be representing Anderson. Her arraignment is set for Thursday afternoon in Lewis County Superior Court.
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For background, read “Saturday December 17, 2016” from Centralia: Man dead, woman jailed for murder, here
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