David Anderson, who murdered a Bellevue family of four in 1997 when he was two months shy of his 18th birthday, was resentenced by a judge on March 11.
Anderson and his codefendant, Alex Baranyi, lured their former classmate, Kim Wilson, to a Bellevue park where they strangled and beat her to death. Once the pair realized Kim told her family she was meeting Anderson at the park, Anderson and Baranyi broke into her family’s home.
Kim’s mother, Rose, was stabbed in the throat and her head was crushed with a baseball bat. Her father, Bill, received similar injuries and had a severed spinal cord. Kim’s 17-year-old sister, Julia Jean, was studying for a chemistry test in her bedroom when she heard her parents being killed. Julia Jean fought for her life in a hallway of her home, where she suffered multiple defensive stab wounds, including a knife through her hand, and a broken arm.
Evidence at trial showed that Anderson and Baranyi planned to commit murder for almost two years and focused on the Wilson family for over one year. The pair intentionally committed these murders before turning 18 so they could face less punishment and would not receive the death penalty.
In 2000, Anderson was convicted at trial and received four life without parole sentences. The judge described Anderson’s crimes as “four savagely brutal and senseless murders.”
According to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, they were legally constrained to request less than 46 years due to the current state of law regarding youthful offenders and a 2021 Washington Supreme Court ruling. KCPAO requested 45 years, however on March 11 a King County Supreme Court Judge issued Anderson’s resentence of at least 33 total years.
“The brutal slaying of Kim Wilson, age 20, in a Bellevue park was followed by the premeditated killing of her mother Rose, her father Bill and her 17-year-old sister Julia in their home. The killeres used knives, a baseball bat and strangulation in the prolonged attack. The family was killed for no rational reason, and this crime ranks among the worst we have ever suffered in King County,” said Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg.
“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 got those horrific images out of your mind. When we prosecuted in 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,” said Satterberg.
The state’s Indeterminate Sentence Review Board will determine Anderson’s release date based on his risk to the community. Anderson is not eligible for Earned Release Time with the Department of Corrections.
Codefendant Baranyi has not yet been resentenced, although his case is expected to follow similar sentencing requirements mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Miller decision, as well as the 2021 Washington State Supreme Court ruling. The Miller decision, ruled on June 25, 2012, describes how mandatory life without parole sentences for all children 17 or younger convicted of homicide are unconstitutional.
