Category: Teen Killers

Alex Baranyi and David Anderson are responsible for what is now known as the Bellevue Murders.

According to court documents Alex Baranyi and David Anderson lured Kim Wilson to a park in Bellevue Washington where they proceeded to strangle the twenty year old woman to death.  The two unfortunately were not done as they went to the Wilson residence and broke in to the home and murdered the father, mother and other sister of Kim Wilson before leaving the residence.  The family had been beaten and stabbed to death

The next day two kids playing in the park found the body of Kim Wilson and ran home where their parents would call the police .

When Alex Baranyi was arrested he gave no motive for the four murders although he would admit he was curious what it would feel like to murder someone.  Alex Baranyi refused to name his accomplice but before long David Anderson would be arrested.

The two teen killers were initially suppose to be tried together however that soon changed and each were tried separately.  They were both convicted and sentenced to four life without parole sentences. David Anderson would receive a sentence reduction in 2022 and needs to serve 33 years before he eligible for parole

Alex Baranyi And David Anderson 2023 Information

Alex Baranyi Current Facility – Clallam Bay Corrections Center

David Anderson Current Facility – Monroe Correctional Complex (MCC)

Alex Baranyi and David Anderson FAQ

Alex Baranyi and David Anderson

The Bellevue murders, or the Bellevue massacre, occurred on the night of January 3rd, and the early morning of January 4th, 1997, when Alex Baranyi and David Anderson, both 17, lured Kim Wilson, 20, to a Bellevue, Washington park and murdered her. Afterwards, they entered her family home and murdered Bill Wilson, his wife Rose Wilson, and their other daughter, Julia Wilson.[1]

[2] Both Baranyi and Anderson were convicted and sentenced to serve four consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.[3] Although the motives behind the murders were unclear, the boys exhibited psychological disturbance when they were brought in for questioning. When Alex Baranyi was questioned about his motives, he calmly replied that he wanted to kill someone because he was “in a rut”. Testimonies by Baranyi and Anderson led investigators to suggest that they killed the Wilson family for the sheer experience of killing.

On January 4, 1997, while playing in a park in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, two young boys spotted what they believed to be a pile of clothes in the bushes. Upon their return to the park the next day, they realized that what they had seen the previous day was a human body. They ran home, and one of their mothers reported the finding to the Bellevue Police Department. Bellevue detectives responded to the scene and found the body of a young woman who was later identified as 20-year-old Kimberly Wilson. She appeared to have been involved in a struggle and to have died by strangulation; a cord was found wrapped around her neck.

When detectives arrived at the Wilson residence, interior lights were off, although three cars were parked outside and Christmas lights were still on. Detective Jeff Gomes found that a sliding-glass door was open. He called out to see if anyone inside would respond. When Gomes heard nothing, he drew his gun and stepped inside the house. Gomes crept upstairs to check if the family was asleep. He discovered blood-splattered walls and ceilings. Gomes found the body of Rose Wilson (Kim’s mother), in bed in the master bedroom. She had been stabbed multiple times in the throat, and her head had been crushed by numerous blows from a heavy object. Near the foot of the bed, Gomes found the body of Kim’s father, William “Bill” Wilson, who had similar injuries. The body of Kim’s 17-year-old sister, Julia, was then discovered in the hall; she appeared to have struggled against her attacker. One of her arms had been broken, and both her head and neck had been stabbed multiple times. Bellevue Police and detectives quickly began interviewing neighbors regarding any suspicious activity or noises and for information on any potential enemies of the Wilsons. Co-workers of William said that he was well-liked, with his boss describing him as “very loyal and a good employee.” Co-workers of Rose said that she was “friendly and outgoing.” Classmates of Julia, a senior at Bellevue High School, described her as “a sweet, shy young girl.” Kim had graduated from the same high school that Julia was attending. The high school counselor at Bellevue stated that there was tension between Kim and her parents during her last years in high school. Records show that a year prior to the Wilsons’ deaths in 1996, one of their neighbors had placed a domestic disturbance call reporting an argument between Kim and her parents.

When detectives began interviewing Kim’s friends, they discovered Kim was friends with a gothic group that hung out late at night at the local Denny’s, although Kim did not spend time there herself. Calling it “The Saturday Night Denny’s Club,” the friends discussed role-playing games with themes of eroticism and death. Several members of the group spoke of the club as being a fun way to rebel against moralism and establish their own identities, however, none of them admitted to having ever considered committing murder.

Members told detectives that two of the group, Alex Baranyi and Anderson, spoke about committing murder on a weekly basis. Investigators questioned and interviewed both Baranyi and Anderson at their residences. Both claimed to have been playing video games at Baranyi’s home the night of the murders. Police examined the boys’ shoes to compare them with a distinctive shoe-thread pattern discovered at the crime scene. Alex Baranyi showed the detectives some brown work shoes, claiming they were his only pair. Witnesses and Baranyi’s neighbors disputed the claims that both boys had played video games all night at Baranyi’s house. A close friend of Baranyi told authorities that Alex Baranyi had boots with a similar tread pattern to the ones found at the crime scene. Searching the Wilson household again, detectives discovered two different kinds of bloody footprints, indicating that at least two individuals committed the murders.

Five days after first speaking with detectives, Alex Baranyi admitted to them that he and his accomplice murdered the Wilsons. He told authorities that he killed Kim first, strangling her at the park. After Baranyi realized that Kim might have told her parents where she was going to meet him that night, he decided to kill them as well. Baranyi went into the Wilson house with a baseball bat and a combat knife. He began to beat Rose Wilson with the bat, awakening her sleeping husband Bill Wilson. When Bill came to his wife’s defense, Baranyi beat and stabbed him to death. He then stabbed Rose with the knife and went upstairs to kill her daughter, Julia.

Before returning to his home, Alex Baranyi took a telephone, a CD player, and a VCR from the Wilson house. Baranyi refused to name his accomplice to the detectives, who it was later discovered to be a boy called David Anderson. Following further investigations, David Anderson was brought in for another round of questioning. This time, Anderson claimed that he had lied to detectives when he told them that he had been with Alex Baranyi the night of the murders. He claimed that, on the night of the murders, he had been driving a truck belonging to his girlfriend’s father between the cities of Bellevue and Seattle. Anderson also claimed he knew Baranyi had been planning the Wilsons’ murders for a while. He cited the friendship between Alex Baranyi and Kim Wilson as his only connection to Kim.

Three people who lived near the Baranyi residence contradicted Anderson’s statement; they claimed that they saw the two boys leaving the house together at the same time on the night of the murders. Detectives searched the households of both boys and took items Alex Baranyi had stolen, in addition to bloody shoes and shoelaces matching the shoe-thread pattern at the crime scene. DNA tests on these items traced back to the Wilsons.

Alex Baranyi and David Anderson were charged with murder in the first degree. Prosecutors attempted to try them together when the trial began in October 1998, but the court felt that each needed a separate trial for his individual role in the crimes. Three weeks after the trial began, Baranyi was sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. When asked if he had anything to say, Alex Baranyi replied, “No, I don’t think so.” He began serving his sentence a week later. Anderson hired and fired numerous lawyers in order to escape a sentencing similar to that of Baranyi. However, a month and a half later, Anderson was also sentenced to four consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. Since that time, the state declared ‘juveniles sentenced to life without being eligible for parole’ had to be reviewed for a chance of parole 

Alex Baranyi and David Anderson Videos

Alex Baranyi and David Anderson Photos

Alex Baranyi and David Anderson More News

A teenage boy accused of killing a Bellevue family of four offers no motive in a taped confession to police other than to describe the killings as an “opportunity to experience something truly phenomenal.”

A transcript of the confession by Alex Baranyi was made public this week as part of a request by the lawyer for Baranyi’s alleged accomplice in the killings, David Anderson. Attorney Michael Kolker wants Anderson tried separately.

In the confession, portions of which were published Friday by the Eastside Journal in Bellevue, Baranyi initially tells police that he alone strangled Kim Wilson, then beat and stabbed her parents and younger sister late Jan. 3 and early Jan. 4.

When detectives told him they knew more than one person was in the Wilson home, Baranyi acknowledged there was an accomplice, but refused to say who it was.

Baranyi and Anderson, both now 18, were arrested in January and have each pleaded innocent to four counts of aggravated first-degree murder.

If convicted of aggravated murder, Baranyi and Anderson, who have been charged as adults, face life in prison without possibility of parole.

The body of Kim Wilson, 20, was found strangled Jan. 5 in the Woodridge Water Tower Park. That led police to her family’s nearby home, where they found the bodies of her parents, Bill and Rose Wilson, 52 and 46, and her 17-year-old sister, Julia.

Four days after the Wilsons’ deaths were discovered, investigators drew from Alex Baranyi, then 17, an account of the killings.

In the transcript, Baranyi told police he was with Anderson, then 17, when he looked in Anderson’s address book Jan. 3 for Kim Wilson’s pager number. That evening, Baranyi paged Kim Wilson, who called back within a few minutes and agreed to meet him at a Chevron station near the Bellevue Way home where he was living. They drove in her sister’s car to the water tower park in her neighborhood, where they could walk the trails and talk, he said.

Baranyi couldn’t tell the investigators why he started to strangle Kim Wilson with a “run of the mill” 2-foot piece of rope he had in his pocket.

“When I, when I realized I was strangling her, I, I remember seeing her face turn blue and I just, I couldn’t stop,” he is quoted as saying. “I don’t know why. I just, I felt angry, but I don’t know why.”

Later, he acknowledged that an accomplice was with him and helped hide her body in some bushes.

Fearing the girl’s parents would know he had been with her, Baranyi drove the sister’s car to a spot near her house. He told detectives he waited for at least an hour, then pulled into her driveway and walked in through the unlocked front door.

Initially, he said he was armed only with a 5-inch knife and found a bat in the garage. Later he said he brought the bat and also used a kitchen knife.

He said he felt “really scared” when the family dog started barking as he approached the sleeping family.

After Bill Wilson quieted the dog, Baranyi climbed the stairs for a second time and entered the bedroom where Rose and Bill Wilson slept. He said that as the dog started barking again, he slammed the bat into Rose Wilson’s head.

He said he then stabbed Bill Wilson, then turned into the hall, where Julia had turned on the light. He described her terrified fall to the floor, his knife thrust as she wept and his words to her.

“I told her I was sorry,” he told police. “I was sorry that I was killing her.”

Baranyi left after taking Bill Wilson’s wallet and the family’s video recorder, CD player and phone.

He drove to the house where he was staying, hid the VCR and CD player, changed his clothes and returned to the car, he told police. He told officers he threw the murder weapons and clothing into a trash bin, then drove to the Wilsons, left the car and walked home.

There, he went to bed, sleeping until noon or 1 p.m.

Alex Baranyi later told detectives there was no motive for the deaths. Rather, he said, “there is just that opportunity to experience something truly phenomenal.”

Kolker, Baranyi’s attorneys and King County prosecutors are expected to argue their positions on separating the trials in a Sept. 26 hearing before Superior Court Judge Bobbe Bridge.

The trial, initially set for October, is likely to be postponed.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/sep/13/teen-says-he-killed-for-experience-suspect-tells/

David Anderson Resentencing

For nearly 20 years, David Anderson maintained his innocence, claiming he had been wrongly convicted of killing four members of a Bellevue family in January 1997, just two months shy of his 18th birthday.

In separate trials in King County Superior Court, Anderson and his friend, Alex Baranyi, who was also 17 at the time of the killings, were each convicted of four counts of aggravated first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release for the deaths of William and Rose Wilson and their daughters, Kimberly and Julia.

At the time they were sentenced — Baranyi in January 1999 and Anderson in January 2000 — adults convicted of aggravated first-degree murder could face the death penalty but the only possible punishment for juveniles was life in prison.

That’s changed, though, over the past decade, starting with a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision that prohibited life sentences for juveniles, and culminating in a recent state Supreme Court decision that bars de facto life sentences and requires that juveniles have the chance for a “meaningful life” outside of prison.

In 2016, Anderson acknowledged his guilt in the killing of his former classmate, 20-year-old Kimberly Wilson, at a Bellevue park, and then killing her parents and younger sister inside their home in Bellevue’s Woodridge neighborhood. Prosecutors argued it was a tactical decision on Anderson’s part to do so.

After hearing testimony over two days in late February, King County Superior Court Judge Michael Scott on Friday resentenced Anderson to serve a minimum of 33 years behind bars, which means Anderson will become eligible for release in another eight years, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors had asked Scott to sentence Anderson to 45 years in prison while his defense attorney requested a low-end sentence of 25 years, court records show.

The state’s Indeterminate Sentencing Review Board will ultimately decide whether to release Anderson after he’s served 33 years, but he cannot legally be held in custody for more than 45 years, said Casey McNerthney, a spokesman for Prosecutor Dan Satterberg. The board can also impose up to three years of community supervision, the state’s version of parole.

Several of the Wilson family’s relatives and friends submitted victim impact statements to Scott, detailing the heart-wrenching loss and trauma they suffered as a result of the murders, but they declined to comment Monday.

Anderson’s mother also declined to comment, and his defense attorney, David Montes, did not immediately respond to an email and voice message Monday seeking comment about Anderson’s new sentence.

In an emailed statement, Satterberg said the Wilson family was killed “for no rational reason” and their murders rank among the worst crimes ever committed in King County.

“When you see the gruesome details of this case — the calculated, senseless slaughter of family members just for the thrill of it — you can never get those horrific images out of your mind,” Satterberg wrote. “When we prosecuted this case, the court was well aware that David Anderson was 17 at the time, and that he purposefully killed the entire family before his 18th birthday to avoid more serious punishment. I understand that the law has changed, but the life sentence that had been originally imposed was the right sentence, in my opinion.”

Anderson, 43, is now incarcerated at the Monroe Correctional Complex while Baranyi, 42, is serving his sentence at the Clallam Bay Corrections Center, according to the state Department of Corrections.

Though Baranyi can also file a petition with the court to seek a new sentence, he has not yet done so, McNerthney said.

Although the murder weapons were never found, DNA evidence — including the Wilsons’ blood found on a pair of Anderson’s boots — was among the evidence that led Bellevue police to arrest Baranyi and Anderson.

During the trial, Anderson’s friends testified he had talked about committing murder for two years, compiled a “hit list” that included Kimberly Wilson’s name, researched state law and decided to kill someone before his 18th birthday because he knew as a juvenile his punishment would be more lenient than that faced by an adult, according to the state’s resentencing memo filed in February.

Around 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 3, 1997, Anderson borrowed his girlfriend’s pickup, picked up Baranyi and dropped him off at Woodridge Water Tower Park, a small neighborhood park in Bellevue, the memo says. Anderson then picked up Kimberly Wilson from her house nearby and returned to the park, where Baranyi strangled her from behind with a rope as Anderson beat and stomped her to death.

Anderson and Baranyi then went to the Wilsons’ house to eliminate witnesses because Kimberly Wilson’s parents and sister knew she had left the house with Anderson that night, the memo says. They entered through an unlocked door and repeatedly stabbed William and Rose Wilson, ages 52 and 46, with knives and bludgeoned them with a baseball bat as the couple were asleep in bed, the memo says.

Julia Wilson, 17, had been studying for a chemistry test in her pajamas when she was repeatedly stabbed and bludgeoned, the memo says.

After children found Kimberly Wilson’s body at the park, police went to the family’s residence, where they discovered the bodies of her parents and sister.

In 2016, prosecutors say Anderson “made the tactical decision to acknowledge his guilt” to take advantage of a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision, known as the Miller decision, that determined the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments precludes mandatory life sentences for juvenile offenders.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/law-justice/1-of-2-teens-who-killed-bellevue-family-in-1997-resentenced-given-chance-for-meaningful-life-outside-prison/