Most youth subcultures are functionally harmless and provide teens with a way for like-minded individuals to bond with each other. Every once in a while, however, someone takes it too far. Saturday, January 4, 1997 was a typical gray, gloomy, damp winter day in Seattle when a pair of school-aged boys playing in a Bellevue park discovered a dead body hidden under some brush just off a trail. They rushed home to tell their parents who promptly called police. SPD detectives arrived to analyze the scene. It was the body of a young white female, blonde haired, clad in hiking boots, blue jeans, and a white T-shirt. The cause of death was immediately apparent; a rope wrapped around her neck, but there was no indication that she'd struggled with her attacker or attackers. Her driver's license quickly identified her as Kimberly Wilson, DOB 9/21/76, and she lived only a short distance from the park.
Detective Jeff Gomes and prosecutor Patti Eakes had the unenviable job of informing Kimberly Wilson's family that their daughter had been the victim of a homicide. The two store wooden frame house still had Christmas lights hanging out front and the Wilsons' two cars were parked in the driveway. However, it seemed dark inside and knocking on the door elicited no response. Gomes discovered that a glass sliding door on the side of the house was unlocked. He opened it and called inside. Still there was no answer. Having a sinking feeling about this, Gomes drew his gun and cautiously entered. Upstairs he found a scene of horror that even a 23 year veteran detective had a hard time processing.
Blood stains were splattered across the walls. In the master bedroom, a middle aged woman lay in bed, her head crushed from multiple blunt force injuries, and her throat had multiple stab wounds. Nearby was another bed with a middle aged man in it, his head also crushed. He had multiple stab wounds to the neck, head, and face. Just down the hall, in another bedroom, lay a teenage girl with similar injuries. In her case, it appeared she had fought her attackers as one forearm bone was broken and she had defensive wounds to her hands.
The victims were quickly identified as William Wilson, 53, Rosalie Wilson, 46, and Julia Wilson, 17. William was an accountant for a metalworking company in Kirkland, while Rosalie worked in the University of Washington Library. Julia was a senior at Bellevue High. Interviews with friends and colleagues found that all three Wilsons were good workers and well-liked. Julia had several close friends at school and was excited about going to the University of Washington after finishing high school next spring.
And what of Kimberly? The elder of the two Wilson children, she was something of a rebel. She had graduated Bellevue High in 1995 and enrolled in AmeriCorps. Kim had been undergoing basic training in San Diego, and was visiting home for the holidays. Because of her strong-willed attitude, she quarrelled with her parents on numerous occasions (for comparison, her sister Julia was described as "sweet-natured and docile.") In fact police had been called to the house only a week before the murders over a domestic disturbance call involving a fight between Kim and her parents.
The autopsy findings found that, aside from being strangled with a rope, Kimberly had broken ribs and injuries to her kidneys and spleen from being beaten or kicked. Her clothing had not been removed and the autopsy found no indication of rape. Her parents and sister died of head injuries and stab wounds.
Police continued to interview friends and relatives of the Wilson family. They found that several of Kimberly's friends were involved in the Goth subculture. Goths wear dark clothes and makeup and are interested by death, the occult, and the supernatural, sometimes roleplaying as ghosts, witches, demons, and other supernatural entities. For most Goths, these are just harmless games. For a few less stable individuals, they can sometimes take it too far. Kim wasn't a Goth herself, but a few of her friends were part of a club that liked to meet at Denny's on Saturday nights. Two members of this club, Alex Baranyi and Dave Anderson, both seniors at Bellevue High, were seen as being a little weird and sometimes talked about murdering people. The others just thought they were pulling everyone's leg.
Detectives visited Baranyi and Anderson at their homes and both had a valid alibi, claiming they had spent Friday night, January 3 at the former's house playing video games. The cops wanted to see their shoes as a distinct shoe pattern had been found at the crime scene. Baranyi showed them a pair of brown work boots, which he claimed were the only shoes he owned. However, Baranyi's parents disputed the claim that they'd been at the house playing video games on January 3. It came out that he had another pair of boots that looked like the ones that had left a bloody print in the Wilsons' house, and it had also become apparent that not one but two persons had been in the house.
>Kim wasn't a Goth herself, but a few of her friends were part of a club that liked to meet at Denny's on Saturday nights
you can't be a nonconformist if you don't drink coffee
On January 8, the cops came back to talk to Alex Baranyi. They read him his Miranda Rights and he nodded and replied that he understood. Baranyi then launched into a rapid fire confession. He and an accomplice, whom he would not name, had murdered the Wilsons. Baranyi said he encountered Kimberly in the Bellevue Park on the afternoon of January 3, attacked, and strangled her. Then he remembered that she'd told her family she was going to hang out with him that evening, so he figured he'd better kill them too. He went over to the Wilsons' house with a combat knife and a baseball bat to find everyone asleep in bed. First, Baranyi entered the master bedroom and beat the sleeping Rosalie Wilson with a baseball bat. William woke up, tried to stop him, but Baranyi beat and stabbed him to death before finishing Rosalie off with his knife. Then he went to Julia's bedroom, beat, and stabbed her. He took a telephone, VHS player, and a CD player as loot and went back home.
Baranyi eventually admitted he didn't murder the Wilsons alone but had a helper. He stubbornly refused to name this individual, but added that Dave Anderson was his only real friend. He said he'd wanted to murder somebody for about a year because he was feeling depressed and decadent. Given the extensive details Baranyi provided in his confession, it was obvious he had to be telling the truth and wasn't making anything up.
The detectives obtained a search warrant for Baranyi and Anderson's houses. In the former, they found the Wilsons' phone, VHS, and CD player. The VHS player had blood spots on it and testing confirmed it to be William Wilson's blood, and a fingerprint from Baranyi was found on the CD player. A pair of bloodied shoelaces was found in a trash can; the blood matched William Wilson's. At Dave Anderson's house, they found a pair of boots in his bedroom, which his girlfriend confirmed to be his. The boots had blood stains on them and testing found both William and Julia Wilson's blood was present. The splatter pattern of the blood confirmed that the wearer had been within a few week of Julia as she was beaten and stabbed to death.
Acquaintances of Baranyi and Anderson indicated that the two boys were best friends and almost inseparable. Alex liked wearing a ponytail in emulation of the TV show Highlander, which featured a Conan the Barbarian-like sword-wielding hero. Baranyi had gone to the Bellevue alternative high school, had dropped out a few months earlier, and often hung around Bellevue High where Julie and Alex were students. He was shy and something of a recluse. Both Baranyi and Anderson had been kicked out of role playing groups for going too far. In addition, it came out that the two had been planning to off the Wilsons for some time, and since late 1995 they'd been talking about wanting to murder somebody with knives and a baseball bat. Supposedly someone had told Kimberly about their plans, and she had been meaning to talk to Alex and dissuade him from it.
The detectives also impounded the black '93 Toyota truck and found a cut black T-shirt and part of a rope inside. The rope was identical to the one used to strangle Kim. Blood was found on the floor, but could not be matched to any particular individuals.
>The detectives obtained a search warrant for Baranyi and Anderson's houses. In the former, they found the Wilsons' phone, VHS, and CD player. The VHS player had blood spots on it and
man i love the 90s
Dave Anderson claimed to police that it had been a year since he'd last talked to Kim, however his pager number was written on a piece of paper in her bedroom as well as a promissory letter dated June 1996 and promising to pay Kim $500 in owed cash within three months. Dave had apparently borrowed money from her several times over the previous two years and he had told acquaintances that he was upset about that and wanted to kill her. Also a couple photos of Anderson were found in Kim's bedroom.
It turned out that they'd dated sporadically over the last three years but the relationship evidently never progressed to sex. Kim had told friends shortly before her death that she was a lesbian and Dave had complained to a friend about his inability to get in bed with her. On other occasions he said he planned with Alex to lure Kim to some place where they could kill her. Still, Baranyi wouldn't say who his murder partner was but detectives felt they had enough evidence by this point. Anderson was arrested for first degree murder. Although both boys were 17 at the time of the murders, they would be tried as adults.
During their trial in King County Superior Court, numerous witnesses testified for the prosecution talking about Alex and Dave's involvement in the Goth subculture, their love of Dungeons & Dragons, and their frequent talks of murdering people with baseball bats and knives. Psychologist Karen Froming testified that Alex told her he'd been depressed lately and had considered suicide. He wondered if the murders had really happened, as they didn't feel real to him. She speculated that he was unable to distinguish sword and sorcery fantasy from reality. Froming also said that, from what she gathered, Anderson had killed the elder Wilsons while Baranyi had taken out Kim and Julia.
After three weeks in the courtroom, Alex Baranyi was found guilty on four counts of aggravated first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. A week after that, Dave Anderson's trial began. From interviews with friends and acquaintances, it came out that Kimberly Wilson had once had a crush on Anderson despite his being three years younger than her. Dave was not super-impressed with Kim, whom he considered clumsy and not attractive. However he played along with her and was not above borrowing money from her. When Kim demanded that Alex pay her $500 back, something in his head snapped. He became enraged and vowed to wipe her and her entire family from existence.
Dave's trial relied more on physical and circumstantial evidence, since unlike Alex he never directly admitted to murdering the Wilsons. An ex-girlfriend testified that he was fascinated by knives and talked about using a baseball bat to kill somebody. His former high school sweetheart thought he was perfectly normal and a fascination with knives didn't make him into a murder; in fact the two had often perused knife shops together.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict in the case, meaning that Dave would have to be re-tried. His new trial took place in May 1998, almost exactly a year after the first trial. This time around the defense claimed that Alex Baranyi's colleague during the murders was someone else. The jury had no issues finding Anderson guilty this time around and he was found guilty of four counts of aggravated first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
In Miller vs Hobbes (2012), the Supreme Court ruled that life sentences for juveniles with no possibility of parole violated the 8th Amendment. Consequently, Dave Anderson's lawyers were able to petition for a re-sentencing. Anderson, who did not actually admit to his part in the murders until 2016, was re-sentenced to a minimum of 33 years in prison which means he will be eligible for parole in 2030. Alex Baranyi has not thus far attempted to get a re-sentencing.
The Wilson family were buried together in Finley-Sunset Hills Memorial Park in Portland.
>life sentences for juveniles with no possibility of parole violated the 8th Amendment
oh no, won’t someone PLEASE think of how cruel and unusual it would be to lock a family murderer up for life?!
completely missing the point of the amendment which was to stop brutal old English punishments like having your limbs tied to separate horses and having the horses tear your body apart.
Juvenile offenders doing life aren't just family killers. You can get a life sentence for a lot less, depending on the state.
Like what? A "lot less" meaning killing only 2 people instead of 3?
You can get life without parole for one murder. In some states you can get life without parole for any conviction while having a criminal history ("3 strikes and you're out")
In practice how many youths actually get life for some trivial series of offenses?
Dunno, but it shouldn't even be an option.
>You can get life without parole for one murder.
As it should be.
that should be Jackson vs Hobbs/Miller vs Alabama
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_v._Alabama
also the voting on this case went exactly the way you'd expect
God WHY are living constitutionalists like this
>justices voting yea: Ginsburg, Breyer, Kagan, Sotomayor, Kennedy
>justices voting nay: Alito, Roberts, Thomas, Scalia
Figures.
man what was with the 90s and homosexual Goth teens who decide to go and randomly murder a bunch of people? at least this didn't kill quite as many people as Columbine.
Goths should have their throats sliced
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Dartmouth_College_murders
Oh, and this case (which being from 2001 is slightly too recent to be IQfy). I guess the Shanda Sharer murder would also qualify as death by Gothhomosexuals.
>Shanda Sharer
Oh that reminds me I have this screenshot.
So South Park was right?
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/162095415/kimberly-ann-wilson
this chick was a dog alright. the entire family were ugly as frick.
>ugly
>identifies as a lesbian
>c**ty personality
>fights with her parents
>joined AmeriCorps
>Seattle
if she were still alive she would be the head of some ANTIFA cell that throws Molotov wienertails at 70 year old women who wear a MAGA hat.
Oh man, Silas Cool would be a great Seattle murder case to cover but it was in 1998 so not IQfy until next year. He wasn't a Goth though, just a psychopathic incel who sent a bus full of people off a bridge to their deaths.
>Alex Baranyi
he appears to be of Hungarian extraction so some psychopathy was to be expected
t.Vlad Vladidrescu
at least in this case the detectives were able to figure it out relatively quickly, to many of these threads show prolonged murder sprees
I remember watching a late night news special on this as a little kid, it traumatized me for months.
they never even realized that Frankenstein Girls Will Suddenly Become Sexy was making fun of Goths
>And I walked into the bedroom. The, the dog started barking. I hit the woman on the right side of the bed with the baseball bat.
>I hit the woman with the baseball bat several times on the head. The man got up.
>On left side of the bed. I'm sorry. The left side of the bed. He got up. He, he started yelling like, “What's going on?”And I dropped the bat and went over to him. I took out my knife and I stabbed him several times.
>I stumbled backwards and I went and I got the bat. And when I turned around, he had gone halfway down the bed, down to the foot of the bed and he, he was kneeling down. And I went up to him and I, I just kept hitting him with the bat 'til he fell to the floor.
>I walked out of the room. The hallway light turned on. Julia came out of her room at the end of the hall.
>And I pulled the knife out of my pocket, kneeled down, and started stabbing at her in the upper chest, neck. She had her arms over her face, was fending me off.
>I dropped the knife. I picked up the bat and I started hitting her with it. And she grabbed...or I stopped hitting her for a second 'cause I was getting tired. And she grabbed the piece of closet organizer, I guess, and held it over her head. She was still alive. And I picked up the bat and I started hitting that, trying to get it away from her, and just grabbed it and pulled it away from her and started hitting her in the face with it 'til she stopped moving.
>I dropped the bat and I picked up the knife. And I went back in the parents' room and turned the light on, saw the guy laying there. And the woman was still in the bed. Blood was all over her and she was gurgling. I thought she was still alive. I didn't, didn't want her to suffer so I stabbed her several times in the face and neck and in the head, 'cause her head was sideways, I think.