Emporia State University’s William Allen White Library will be hosting a free event revisiting the infamous Bird/Anderson Murders of 1983 this weekend.
Revisiting the Bird and Anderson Murders, hosted by the William Allen White Community Partnership, will be held on Sunday on the first floor lobby of the library and will feature reporters Bobbi Mylnar and Nancy Horst, the individuals who investigated the murders back in 1983. Organizer Lynda Schrek says they are very fortunate to have the two reporters in attendance, noting they were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize as a result of their investigative efforts.
Schrek adds that the presentation is a timely one as it comes just shortly after William Allen White’s birthday, and with construction underway on a new bridge adjacent to the historic Bird Bridge where the murder occurred.
The murders included the death of Sandra “Sandy” Bird in July of 1983, when she was found dead in her vehicle in the Cottonwood River. In November of that same year, Marty Anderson would be shot and killed near Junction City, with the two cases later being linked and deemed to have been committed at the hands of Sandra Bird’s husband, Reverend Tom Bird and his mistress, Lorna Anderson, the wife of Marty Anderson, who were both convicted for their involvement.
Anderson was convicted of conspiracy and solicitation in the murder of her husband, while Bird was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder.
The murders inspired the television film Murder Ordained starring John Goodman and Kathy Bates, which was filmed in Emporia in the fall of 1986 and released in 1987. Tom Bird was paroled in 2004 and released from supervision in 2006, while Lorna Anderson was paroled in 2007 and released from supervision in 2014.
The event is free to the public and will begin at 2 pm.
