UPDATE:Emily Anderson Murder
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Jerry Anderson in jail; case `only beginning,' Caldwell sheriff says
GREG LACOUR
LENOIR - In November, Emily Anderson told her brother, Mike Griffitt, that
she was getting a divorce, and she asked for his advice.
Should she leave immediately, she asked, or wait until her husband, Jerry,
began running his new business, when she might get a bigger settlement?
"You've been there this long," Griffitt said he told her. "You might as well
stick it out and get as much as you can out of it."
Griffitt remembered that conversation Friday, after learning that Jerry
Anderson had been charged with shooting Emily to death.
"I feel," Griffitt said, "like I condemned her."
On Friday, Caldwell County authorities charged Jerry Anderson with
first-degree murder in his wife's death -- and said the arrest may represent
just the beginning of a long and complicated case.
Investigators refused to answer questions about why, where and when they
believe Emily Anderson was killed; whether they believed anyone besides
Jerry Anderson was involved; what evidence led them to charge Jerry
Anderson; what kind of gun was used; and other details.
They said such revelations would hurt their investigation, which continues.
Sheriff Gary Clark did say that the timing of Jerry Anderson's arrest, at
12:28 a.m., was prompted by calls to investigators from employees at the
Andersons' dairy farm on Sawmills School Road, who said Anderson posed a
threat to them. Clark refused to say what the threat was or how many
employees were in danger.
Investigators searched the Andersons' home and farm last week and "found
what we consider to be very compelling evidence" during a second search of
the farm this week, Clark said. He declined to say what the evidence was.
"This story's only beginning, as far as I'm concerned," Clark said during a
news conference at Sheriff's Office headquarters.
Anderson, 46, remained without bond in the county jail. He's expected to
make a first appearance in District Court at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
He was cooperative during his arrest at his home on Union Church Road in the
Sawmills community, asking only if he could contact an attorney, Clark said.
Despite the arrest, investigators have eliminated no one as a suspect, he
said.
Anderson reported his 49-year-old wife missing on the evening of Dec. 29 --
the day she was killed, according to the warrant for his arrest. Emily
Anderson's truck was found in Duncan, S.C., on Jan. 7; Caldwell County
authorities towed it to Lenoir that day and found her body in the tool
compartment.
Investigators soon learned that Emily Anderson had consulted an attorney in
November about divorcing her husband. The friend of hers who told them so,
Patricia Thorpe of Barnegat, N.J., told the Observer that the marriage had
suffered for at least three years.
"She was very unhappy, and he just at times was not nice to her," Thorpe
said. "She said Jerry was verbally and emotionally abusive to her. I talked
to her many times when she was in tears because of things he had said to
her. He had told her basically that she wasn't smart enough to do anything,
really."
Emily Anderson never mentioned any physical abuse, Thorpe said. But during a
telephone conversation Nov. 26, she said, Emily Anderson said she had
finally made up her mind to leave her husband.
"She just told me she had finally gotten the courage to leave him and
divorce him," Thorpe said. Emily Anderson added that she wanted to make sure
she was out of the house before Jerry Anderson found out she was seeking a
divorce because she was afraid of his reaction, she said.
"From her tone and stuff, I could tell she was afraid," Thorpe said. "I
asked her, `Is it really that bad?' and she said, `Yes, it is.' "
Jerry Anderson was planning to operate a cattle feeding business, High
Mountain Holsteins, with a partner in Mountain City, Tenn. -- a project
that's drawn strong opposition from local residents worried about its
effects on the area's water supply.
Griffitt said his sister talked about the new farm and her divorce plans
when she visited him at his home in Nicholasville, Ky., for four days near
Thanksgiving. Thorpe confirmed Friday that Emily Anderson had told her she'd
decided to heed her older brother's counsel. She never filed for divorce.
Griffitt said he never suspected his sister was in any grave danger,
although he found it strange that Jerry Anderson never attended any Griffitt
family functions during their 4 1/2-year marriage.
"My God, if we had any idea, any idea, we would never have let her go back
to North Carolina," Griffitt said. "I believe she thought she could handle
him."
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/13733652.htm