Tom Bird -- parole hearings
Lorraine
By Tim Hrenchir
The Capital-Journal
Jane Stringer Grismer today showed Kansas Parole Board members snapshots
of her daughter, Sandy Bird, and talked about happier days before Bird
was murdered by her husband.
Grismer stressed that Sandy Bird's husband, former Emporia minister Tom
Bird, still denies responsibility for killing her. Tom Bird's illicit
affair with his church secretary, Lorna Anderson, triggered their
spouses' murders in 1983.
"He is cunning, he is clever, he's very bright," Grismer said of Tom
Bird. "He murdered my child, and I would like him to stay in prison for
life."
Grismer and Topeka attorney Pedro Irigonegaray, who was helping her free
of charge, were among five people who spoke against Tom Bird's parole
during a public hearing held by the Kansas Parole Board at the Landon
State Office Building.
"Our resolve is that Mr. Bird should one day come out of prison, but he
should come out in a pine box," Irigonegaray said.
Parole board members also heard from one Bird supporter. Hans Heinemann,
a Topeka man who knew Bird while they served together at Lansing
Correctional Facility, spoke in favor of Bird's parole.
"As well as I know Tom, they got the wrong man," Heinemann said.
The case against Tom Bird and Lorna Anderson drew national attention,
including the production of a 1987 television mini-series, "Murder
Ordained." A book, "Caged Bird," was released in 2000 maintaining Tom
Bird is innocent.
Tom Bird was sentenced to serve a life prison term for first-degree
murder in the death of his wife, who bore him three children. The body
of Sandy Bird, 33, was found in July 1983 floating in the Cottonwood
River about eight miles southeast of Emporia. Authorities ruled her
death was due to a traffic accident. At the time, court testimony would
later show Tom Bird was involved in an affair with Lorna Anderson.
Anderson's husband, Martin Anderson, was shot to death along a Geary
County highway in November 1983. Martin Anderson, 34, was riding in a
van driven by his wife and containing their four daughters, ages 2 to 8,
when Lorna Anderson said she felt ill. She got out, tried to vomit,
dropped the keys, returned to the van and asked her husband to help look
for them. Martin Anderson got out and was approached by a masked gunman,
who shot and killed him.
The investigation into that slaying led to a review of Sandy Bird's
death. Detectives concluded Martin Anderson and Sandra Bird were
murdered as a result of a plot by their spouses. Witnesses testified the
couple chose not to divorce their spouses because Lorna Anderson wanted
to collect on a $270,000 life insurance policy on her husband. A grand
jury concluded Tom Bird beat his wife, threw her from a bridge, pushed
her car over the nearby embankment and placed her body in front of the
car.
Tom Bird was convicted in August 1984 of criminal solicitation to commit
the first-degree murder of Martin Anderson. He was sentenced to 2 1/2
years to 7 years in prison. He was then convicted in July 1985 of the
first-degree murder of his wife, and sentenced to life in prison. In
March 1990, Bird was acquitted in Geary County of first-degree murder in
the death of Martin Anderson. He remains an inmate at Lansing
Correctional Facility.
Lorna Anderson pleaded guilty in August 1985 to two counts of criminal
solicitation to commit the first-degree murder of her husband. She then
pleaded guilty in November 1988 to second-degree murder in Martin
Anderson's death. She is an inmate at Topeka Correctional Facility, and
will next be eligible for parole in December 2005.
Tom Bird first became parole-eligible in 2000. Kansas Parole Board
members denied him release and decided not to see him again for four
years.
At the time, Parole Board Vice Chairman Larry Woodward said today, one
board member wanted to grant Bird parole, while another wanted to "pass"
him for three years and the other two voted not to see him again for
four. Woodward said he and Parole Board Chairwoman Marilyn Scafe voted
for the least stringent decisions.
The size of the parole board has since been reduced to three members.
They are Woodward, Scafe and former Kansas state Sen. Paul Feliciano,
who joined last year.
Bird wasn't set to go before the parole board until December, but the
board approved a request by his attorney to see him again during a
special hearing on May 17. Members will meet privately with Bird at
Lansing, and expect to release their decision about two weeks later.
Board members are holding three hearings this month in which they're
seeking public comments about the possible parole of eligible inmates,
including Bird. No comments about Bird were made during a hearing
Thursday in Wichita, members said. It was unclear who might comment at
the final hearing, set for Monday in Kansas City. Kan.
Those who spoke against Bird's parole at today's hearing were Grismer,
who lives in Little Rock, Ark.; Jerry Grismer, who has been her husband
since 1981 and was Sandy Bird's stepfather; Irigonegaray; former Geary
County Sheriff Bill Deppish, whose agency investigated Martin Anderson's
murder; and KBI Special Agent Kyle Smith, who helped prosecute the Lyon
County cases against Tom Bird.
Jane Grismer said that regardless of Bird's reported good deeds in
prison as a chaplain and Christian fellowship leader, he should never be
freed.
"I've never met anybody as bright, as cold and as manipulative as Mr.
Bird," Smith told the board. "But he's not as bright as he thinks he
is."
tinydancer
"Lorraine" <trap.to...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:h12j801sq4t2urevu...@4ax.com...
> http://cjonline.com/stories/042304/bre_paroleboard.shtml
>
>
> By Tim Hrenchir
> The Capital-Journal
> Jane Stringer Grismer today showed Kansas Parole Board members snapshots
> of her daughter, Sandy Bird, and talked about happier days before Bird
> was murdered by her husband.
>
> Grismer stressed that Sandy Bird's husband, former Emporia minister Tom
> Bird, still denies responsibility for killing her. Tom Bird's illicit
> affair with his church secretary, Lorna Anderson, triggered their
> spouses' murders in 1983.
Thanks for the update, I remember this case well. Do you know what ever
happened to all those children left parent-less by this whole affair, no pun
intended?
td
>
My2Cents
tinydancer
"My2Cents" <dan...@mail.com> wrote in message
news:75a2e6cd.04042...@posting.google.com...
Thanks, now might anyone have a 'mug' of Lorna? I always picture Tom Bird
as looking like the guy who played him in the movie. Can't imagine falling
madly in 'lust' with this guy. ;)
td
Bo Raxo
He looks medicated, or stoned.
Lorraine
wrote:
>Thanks, now might anyone have a 'mug' of Lorna?
http://docnet.dc.state.ks.us/kasper2/offender.asp?id=14565
tinydancer
"Lorraine" <traptox...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e4ek801nv2gmjro0i...@4ax.com...
Thanks, I'd never seen a picture of Lorna before. As usual, she looks
nothing like I'd pictured either.
td
DedNdogYrs
movie.>
Similar but uglier.
Dogs & children first.