Episode 531: Tom Bird and Lorna Anderson Eldridge

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I'm ash and this is morbid.

Oh my God, it's morbid again. Oh my God, how have you guys been?

How have you been good? Tell us right now, bad.

Painless, I hope not. Everybody's like, it's been a long year and it's like, that meme that's like, we're three days in.

We're three days in, but you know, it's all right. It hasn't been that long of a year.

It's okay yet.

You know, there were beautiful little, whimsical flurries in the air this morning.

Really.

For a little bit, and I said, Oh, and then they went away. I didn't see those.

Um, there's going to be big old flurries this weekend, and I'm actually pretty excited. It didn't snow at all last year.

Yeah, it didn't snow, literally at all, and the girls love snow, and I can't wait to see Sydney and Blanche in snow. Oh, that's going to be cute.

See, the thing that I like about the snow is staying out of it, but watching it. I like being in my house, like, cozy as hell, make it cozy as hell. I like to make some pancakes from scratch if it's a snow storm, and then maybe have, like, a little, a little pancake party.

A little pancake party, I like that.

Watch a documentary or like a movie?

Just like Cozy see with kids of a certain age. You just know that your snow day is going to be spent putting on and off wet snow suits all day.

Yeah.

And having red cheeks, red cheeks, but also having so much fun because sledding with them is hilarious.

Oh, I love sledding with them.

And also with dogs, now it's going to be cleaning up all the dog like shenanigans when they run in from the snow, so it'll be a pretty relaxing weekend.

Yeah, I have, like, a couple more years before I have to do that.

And even after that, a couple more years, because newborns don't go in the snow, yeah, no, I'm not going to take my newborn in the snow.

That's a bad idea, I think they advise against that. You're good for a little while. Yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of nice.

Once they hit two, you're doomed.

So I got like, five years, yeah, hopefully anyways. Well, that's my timeline. How's yours?

You're like, Well, babies.

Babies, that's my sole focus, but anyways, um, my sole focus for this hour is really, really tragic true crime case.

Oh, what a lovely truth. Sole focus.

Yeah, that's my job right now, that's my job, that's my job, that's your job.

Yeah, that's our job.

So yeah, um, I have a story about, like a a love rectangle, a love rectangle, correct or square if you will.

You, the the affairs that your cases have been shedding light on.

I am in a place of affair with my cases.

Well, thank you for adding with your cases, of course.

Absolutely, I quite literally just got married and I would quite literally never have an affair, and, uh, Drew quite literally would never. Because woo, oh my god.

Oh yeah, and they're all cheating on each other.

That always has an affair. This is not high society.

This is just a fair.

It's just a Kansas affair.

And you love Kansas, too.

I love the, I love the yeah, oh shit.

Kansas was in my last story. The vibes of your cases are right.

You were in Kansas earlier this week.

I was in Kansas. Yeah, hey Kansas.

Auntie M. Auntie M. All right, so let's start.

I'd say, we're not in Kansas anymore, but we are, but we are. I was like, you can't.

Say that because here we are in Kansas, I thought it was really like, I said, in Kansas, you definitely did.

That's what she said. We're in Kansas.

We're in Kansas.

Here we are in Kansas, reporting from Okay.

We'll get it to it eventually. But sometimes on TikTok I get like, news gone wrong clips, so did you ever get those? And it's like, the girl and she looks at the camera and she goes, I so pale, and the lady's like, We're, we're live.

I'm glad we could be with you through that, so we can hold your hand through that.

Don't touch me. So let's start. When Tom and Sandy Bird packed up their three children and left West Memphis, Arkansas, for Kansas in 1982, everybody assumed that they were off to bigger and better opportunities. Tom had graduated with a master's degree in Sacred Theology in 1976. Which, like that, I feel like that'd be like, kind of a fun degree to get.

Is he, is he the preacher? Correct? What gave it away? So that, if you know it's sacred theology, to me, just felt like it might be something a preacher would take.

But doesn't that sound? I think I would take that.

It sounds very, uh, important.

It sounds whimsical as fuck.

Sacred theology, yeah.

I'm not saying it sounds easy, like I don't want anybody to get that impression.

Very interesting, yeah.

I feel as though I would be interested in that, but anyways, uh, he had graduated with that master's degree in Sacred Theology.

Sounds like Hollywood it does.

Sacred theology. It's just whimsical.

It's like, you have to say it.

Yeah, but then, ever since that, he had been working as an associate pastor in Little Rock, like, you know, pastoring, yeah. His big hope, though, was to one day lead his own congregation. And the opportunity finally came in 1982, when the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod assigned Tom the task of establishing a new congregation in Emporia, Kansas.

I'm listening.

Raising their three children ages two, three and five, which I'm like, just do.

Damn alone.

And, like, you're a hero in my eyes. She was also teaching part-time at Emporia State University and at the same time pursuing a graduate degree in computer mathematics. Like, I'm sorry, what?

Bomb's breach alert Did you just say superwoman?

I did.

Did you just say wonder woman?

Synonymous?

Yeah, cause that's what I heard, Sandra.

Superwoman, Wonder Woman doing it all. And the thing was, both of them at this time, were both thriving in their new roles. And by the end of the year, the Faith Lutheran Church had become an established part of the community, with the church elders praising Tom as one of the best spiritual leaders they ever had.

The church elders always sounds like it's from Middle Earth, doesn't it?

It really does.

Like, I know that's a real thing, and I know, like, there's like, town elders and shit.

There's town elders.

I think so in some towns, that's cool, I feel they had them in Gilmore girls.

I think those are just townies.

No, they call them the town elders. They had to speak to for Luke to buy a certain house. You know, you guys don't care, but they had to talk to the town elders about it in Asana.

Yeah, so that's where I would be if I was a town elder. Catch me in Asana.

Church elders and Tom It was a Tom elders, uh, any kind of elders I feel like, is very middle earth.

Yeah, I agree, you know, just like the elderly.

Just, yeah, just the elderly is very middle earth.

The elderlyism If you listen to Buffy and Mikey just said, he's the pod lab elder you are.

I thought you were just going to say, you're the pod lab, I'm just the pod lab.

No, but anyways, these elders of the church, they said that he was the fucking tits, except they didn't say it like that.

I was wondering, no.

From the outside, Tom and Sandy's marriage, of course, looked strong. That doesn't bode well for reality. It was the type of relationship that their friends and family admired and actually aspired to. But like I'm always saying, behind closed doors, things between the couple were not how they appeared to be. To everybody on the outside, Tom's work at the church was keeping him busier than he'd ever been before.

Oh, geez.

So it's like they were both just really steering away from each other at this point in time.

Yeah, growing apart.

Yeah, definitely. Outside of the church, Tom's greatest passion was for sports, and he wasted no time getting involved in local athletics, which totally cool to have a hobby. But if you feel like your wife has no time for you and you're trying to make time for each other, why go out and join all these sports teams?

Grab a hobby that's like, away from each other.

Yeah, because he joined the Optimist Club basketball team and then he became the first baseman for the church softball team. So it's like you didn't even get one hobby, you got two, but anyways, it was through sports that he met. Martin Anderson and his wife, Lorna Martin, and Lorna Anderson, had moved to Emporia from Hutchinson, Kansas, in the mid 1970s.

I'm sorry that escalated so fucking quickly.

Sure, did.

It went from like, they're pretty Instagram curated on the outside and like, some shit's, you know, kind of unraveled a little bit on the inside. To like. She was actively trying to get a hit on her husband.

I think that's how the friend that she asked felt like, Whoa, this? This really escalated? I know you guys were like, growing apart or whatever, but.

I always wonder.

What kind of friend do you think you have?

What kind of friendship do you have where you feel comfortable asking that person if? They? First of all, confiding that you would like your husband murdered, and then two, thinking your friend knows somebody that could get your husband murdered. It's like there's many dynamics involved in that friendship that I myself am just not privy to in my friendships. I would call that pointing your columns. But yeah, like, I have one. I love my friends, but um, one, I don't want to kill my husband, but two. I don't think any of them know someone who would if I wanted to.

Well, don't ask, cause you'll end up in a story later.

It's just always kind of wild to me. I'm like, Wow, yeah, it's like when two serial killers find each other, I'm like, how'd that conversation start?

It's true.

Like, did one of you be like, Hey, do you, you know what? I do sometimes? And it's like, the other one's like, same, where does that happen? That's it. Lorna just feels like I'm like, that was bold.

It was bold, and her friend felt that way too bold and reckless. Yeah, cause her friend was like, I don't actually know anybody that would kill anybody specifically, not your husband.

She's like, weird, weird conversation we just had.

Like, this was kind of alarming, but Lorna was like, Oh my God, I'm just kidding, JK just joking, girly.

I'm so jokey.

But that incident obviously hinted at the problems that would later escalate, way beyond measure.

No, it's hysteria, it's all in your head, it's not physical. You're, oh my gosh, you're exaggerating.

Is this the largest mass hysteria since the Witches of Salem, or is it something else entirely? Something's wrong here, something's not right. Leroy was the new dateline, and everyone was trying to solve the murder.

So the man you were fully willing to have killed talked you out of divorcing him. I feel like you should be like, No, this is better for both of us. Yeah, very much for you. You would think, yeah.

Well, in early 1983, Lorna appeared to be the quintessential Midwestern housewife. She was delicate, vulnerable. She doted on her husband and children. She was always quote, quick to smile and quick to cry. That's how people described her.

Oh, this is upsetting.

Privately, she told friends that Martin was abusive toward her and sometimes toward the children. Oh, no, I don't know how true that is personally. It was that desperation, though, that eventually led her to accept a part time job as Tom Byrd's secretary at Faith Lutheran, just a few weeks after their first meeting. It sounded at first like maybe she was kind of trying to, like, beef up some personal funds and try to become more independent to prepare to get out of her marriage.

I bet.

I'm sure he was, I bet. So the new job got Lorna out of the house and offered new opportunities for.

To people who are married to other people.

Yeah, yeah. Tom insisted, though, that their closeness was quote unquote due to the counseling he was giving his secretary and nothing more. Uh-oh, just like, remember that other case that I did, the Don Hackney murder, and that all had to do with counseling?

Yep, not good, that's always the excuse.

Now, in no time at all, Tom became Lorna's primary confidant. He was a shoulder to cry on every time. Things weren't going well at home, and within a few months of starting the job, the relationship became sexual. Oh, looking back, she said. He told me that I was not what he needed in a wife, but that he could make me into what he needed.

Um.

And you wanted to continue that, what?

I feel like that should have been his. Like, how he breaks up with you, like, I don't know how, that that doesn't sound like a compliment.

And I can make you into what I need.

I don't like that at all the fuck. And he's like, You're not what I need for like a life partner, but like, I could, I can, like, mold you into what I need right now. It's like, what about that? Sounds appealing.

Couldn't tell ya.

Oh boy, yeah, sad.

But as Tom and Lorna's relationship grew, so did the suspicion and the rumors about them spreading around the church. According to journalist Scott Craft, witnesses described an electricity between the two and said they had pet names for each other. Oh, Ew guys, you should try to hide this a little better.

And like, you're having an actual affair.

But to try to avoid being found out, they started meeting in nearby towns or renting motel rooms. In the, Uh, in the country, where they knew that they could be together, away from the prying eyes of small town Emporia. Despite their efforts at secrecy, though, Lorna couldn't help but tell someone about her relationship with Tom.

This is where it begins.

One night in January, before her affair with Tom had actually begun, though, she went out for drinks with one of her friends and actually her supervisor, Jan Mead, when the conversation turned to guys relationships, all that. Lorna stunned Jan when she told her about her crumbling marriage and admitted that she had cheated on her husband more than once in the past. And again, that was before she had even started sleeping with Tom.

Oh damn yeah.

With that second confession, it was most likely less of a surprise when, just a few months later, Lorna told Jan that she had taken the job at the church to be close to Tom.

Oh, so, she had like intentions going into this. It wasn't like, I just want to.

According to what she told Jan, That's what it sounds like now. She told Jan. Tom and I are seeing each other. And this is the, uh, this is one chance that we have to be alone. And I enjoy working there. Just a few months later, she would tell Jan. I know this sounds really awful, but I just wish something would happen to Marty and Tom's wife. So we could be together for the rest of our lives.

There's like, such I. What is the word divorce? I think it's divorce is what could happen for both of you, yeah.

And then you could be together, just know that you want that be final in your terms. Like, you're not going to be able to talk me out of this. I want a divorce.

Yeah, and it's like, that's the thing, and it's like, we don't know like what cause. Lorna was claiming later that Martin was abusive, right?

So we don't know what the situation was.

So there's also that to take into consideration. Cause, like, I immediately I'm like, just get a divorce, like Tom, get a divorce from your wife, just divorce your partners and be together. If that's what you really want. Like, you don't need to have an affair.

No.

If that is true that he's abusive towards her and the children, then maybe that is the most dangerous time for somebody in an abusive relationship is trying to get out of it.

And that's important to say.

So there is that to at least hang on to there when we're like, Guys, what the fuck, right? Still not saying. It's awesome to, like, have an affair, cause it's with somebody else's husband too, and it's like, also kind of your friend.

Yeah.

Well, a little bit, I guess.

Sort of like, not really, not really.

But like, you knew that he has a wife, you know, and you knew of her.

Yeah, like, you know of her.

Yeah, so that's not cool. But like, I guess me quickly saying like, get a divorce is like me saying it without having knowledge of being in an abusive relationship that, allegedly, you know, an allegedly abusive relationship.

Exactly.

It's important to at least consider in that situation.

It is a consideration. Very good point. But Lorna wasn't the only one trying to escape a crumbling marriage. As we know, Tom and Sandy's relationship was also falling apart, which was pushing Tom closer to Lorna. Like the other members of the church, Sandy just recognized it for what it was.

And it's definitely not his um, sports hobbies and having a full blown affair. No, it's definitely Sandy's work and education and taking care of the children.

That's the other thing I love, like, you're complaining that, like, she's taking care of the kids too much, yeah.

Taking care of those kids, she's working, bettering herself. What about me? educating herself? Here I am playing baseball.

And pursuing my own dreams.

And she's the problem.

And like, that's the other thing. It's like, okay, she's pursuing her dreams. Yeah, you're acting like you don't have any dreams to pursue. You're pursuing your dream right now.

If you had a strong relationship, then this would not be a problem. And you guys could understand that. It might be a little tough for a little while and you might not see each other as much. But you're working towards goals and once you get there, things will be different. Yeah, kids will get older.

And I think the thing was Tom had always envisioned a marriage where his wife would be content just being a pastor's wife.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And that seemed like it to me.

That's not Sandy. And I had to imagine that part of him knew that getting into the marriage, you must've known that she had all these aspirations. Or maybe I'm just assuming.

And I, well, and I mean, she's already doing this stuff. Like, you know, she's a very motivated, highly like, you know, dedicated and just like, uh, driven, driven, exactly like driven human being. And it's like, So why is this a shock to you that she's still that way, right?

And I feel like that's what happens a lot in marriages that like that, like, we cover. When we hear this, it's like, Well, I always wanted this, and it's like, but that's not what you sought out.

And it's like, and you should be upfront about that.

Yeah.

Like, let someone know.

But I wonder if it was when he started having an affair with Lorna that he realized what he wanted. Yeah, I wonder if that's really what it was.

Yeah.

And what he wanted, he often complained to Lorna, was someone who, quote, considered being a pastor's wife a full-time job. Good luck, interesting. So the more time he spent away from home, the more Sandy began to worry about the marriage.

Oh, I just want her to get out of there, yeah, cause I'm like, it's perfectly acceptable. If some somebody wants to consider being a pastor's wife a full-time job. If that's what fulfills you, then like more power to you.

If that's what you want.

But if that's not you, then, like somebody else, bye, yeah.

But by summertime, Sandy's attitude towards her husband's not so subtle infidelity had changed. Her mother, Jane, explained to reporters that Sandy felt like her life was good in the eyes of God. And that it was up to Tom to make sure that his was. And in early June, she ended up getting a promotion at Emporia State University. So that meant she was going to begin teaching additional classes in the fall, which, to her, was a welcome distraction from the increasingly dysfunctional marriage. Yeah.

Okay, then leave them.

And that's the thing. Their problem could have been somewhat remedied by getting a divorce. Obviously, we've talked about Lorna's particular issues surrounding that.

Potential issue?

Potential exactly.

Which we have no proof whether that's true or not. Exactly. So it's like, if that's the case, then yeah, that's a roadblock, that's a roadblock, for sure.

But the other thing was, and this is according to later witness testimony. And this is a quote. Lorna didn't want a divorce because Martin Anderson had a large insurance policy and she wanted money, not the divorce.

Okay.

So that was at least a part of it, according to witnesses.

Okay.

And divorce also wasn't a permanent solution to what they really wanted. At the end of the day, Martin and Sandy completely out of their lives.

Don't have children with people that you want completely out of your life, because that will never be the case.

Exactly, but at the end, if they had just divorced their respective spouses, Tom and Lorna would have likely found themselves with a net deficit. He would end up paying alimony and a lot of child support with three children, and she would be responsible for four small children with little more than alimony to support them. So instead, together, they devised a wicked scheme where they would kill Sandy and stage the scene to look like an accident. And then they would use the money from Sandy's life insurance policy, which was valued at $300,000, to hire somebody to kill Martin Anderson.

Wow.

And then they came up with that together, evidently.

Damn.

In May 1983, Lorna contacted her friend and former lover Daryl Carter and asked him to meet her at the church, saying that she had something important to discuss with him. He went to the church a few days later, completely unaware of what Lorna actually wanted to talk to him about. And when he arrived, Lorna introduced him to Tom, who was also there to meet Daryl Carter. They explained that they were in love and wanted to be together, but that couldn't happen as long as they remained married to other people. Lorna explained that they had come up with this plan to murder Sandy and Martin, but they needed Daryl's help in order to pull it off.

Same question everybody's having. They're like, guys, there's an easier way.

But Tom explained that he loved Lorna and was going along with the plan in order to help her get out of an abusive marriage. He told Carter, Uh, Carter, Lorna didn't want a divorce because Martin Anderson had a large insurance policy and she wanted the money. And Daryl Carter explained, Uh, that he wasn't a killer and he had never engaged in anything like what they had planned, to which Tom replied Haven't either. I'm a man of God and I'm going to kill Martin Anderson, implying that his actions were rooted in love for Lorna. Wow, but that he was still a man of God.

I feel like that's a pretty, uh, solid one. I think that's a big one. I think that's one that's like, there's really no interpreting that any different, yeah.

I don't know, like, word on the street, Yeah, I don't know. That's kind of a big one, but who knows?

My god.

If they went with this scenario, Daryl Carter's role would be to pick Tom up at the accident site and drive him back to the house. Leaving Lorna at home all night with an alibi. The second option involves staging a robbery at the home where Martin stayed each month during his Army reserve duty, and shooting him to death. Making it appear like a robbery gone wrong. And actually, if they went with the second option, they wouldn't actually need Daryl's help, so Daryl was like, Okay, a lot to unpack here.

I was just going to say, that's a lot to consider.

He's like, upsetting that I know you.

Yeah.

So he left the church completely stunned after telling both of them that he was going to need some time to think about this. Before getting back to them. A few days later, when they still hadn't heard from him, Tom actually ended up paying a visit to the construction site where Daryl was working and was like, Did you make up your mind, dude? But Daryl told Tom that he still needed more time to think about it. And a short time later, he called Lorna and told her that he couldn't help them with their plan and assumed that without his involvement, they would drop the whole idea. I was like, Wow.

That's the thing you could have saved two people's lives at the end of the day.

Now, on the evening of July 16th, just a few days after learning about her promotion at the university. Tom suggested that he and Sandy go out to dinner and a movie to celebrate the occasion. After the movie ended, they went home around 9 30 p.m. And Sandy ran inside to grab a bottle of pink champagne for herself and a bottle of whiskey for Tom. And she told the babysitter that they'd be back in about an hour, according to Tom. They then went back to his office at the church, where they had a couple of drinks and then parted ways. When Sandy left to go to her office at the university, with plans to return a short time later to pick up Tom after he had gone over his sermon for the next morning, which, like this, already sounds weird.

I'm like, No, I don't think so.

Maybe, but it's just a little weird and also wow to get your sermon done.

Well, that's what really struck out to me, yeah.

So Tom claims that he went out for a jog to think about his sermon and returned to the church. Expecting to find Sandy waiting because she was supposed to pick him up, but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. After a little while longer, he got concerned and walked around town for a little while, looking for Sandy, before finally returning to home to relieve the babysitter without Sandy. On the morning of July 17th, Sandy Bird's body was discovered by Kansas State Trooper John Rule when he stopped to investigate what looked like an accident when a car went over an embankment on Rocky Ford Bridge. When Rule made his way down to where the car landed, he found Sandy's body lying face down in the river, just in front of her overturned car. Based on the scene, it looked like Sandy had missed the two 90 degree S curves leading to the bridge and then went through the railing and over the embankment to the river below. Obviously causing fatal injuries in the process.

Hinky.

I like that for one thing. There were no skid marks anywhere on the road leading up to the point where the car went over the bridge.

That would stick out.

So that's strange, um, and while she might've missed the original curve sending her in the direction of the railing, surely she would have tried to stop the vehicle at some point before it went over the edge.

You would think, right?

The lack of skid marks on the road were not the only problem. There was other evidence that directly contradicted what had ostensibly happened on Rocky Ford. Bridge. Officer rule found Sandy's watch under the bridge, far away from the car and the body, with no obvious explanation as to how it had gotten there. And even more troubling were the spots of blood that he discovered on the bridge, on the guardrail and on the leaves, uh, on the trees below. Oh, geez.

Yeah.

He told Kraft I thought something happened on that bridge, but before he could investigate any further. Additional officers and emergency workers arrived on scene and they started trampling on any evidence as they removed the car and Sandy's body.

Awesome.

And he's not like a an a homicide officer, he's just he just happened to be the officer that stumbled upon this. So that's not even like his expertise. But he brought his concerns to the sheriff, who immediately dismissed his theory, telling him it was highly unlikely that anyone would kill a preacher's wife.

What? Why is this like a weird running idea, isn't it? That, like preachers and preacher's wives are, like, just immune to all the things, like no one would kill a preacher's wife?

Somebody who's mad about religion.

Maybe somebody who's fucking a preacher. Yeah, I feel like somebody who's like, what are like, things happen, like people are not good all the time, like, what?

Of course, have you not seen that?

Evil is in the world like it doesn't just cause you have a job where you walk around saying that everybody should stop being shitheads, and I'm the extra, not shithead because I'm a pastor.

Right, doesn't mean that you're not a shithead. Have you ever heard of a wolf in sheep's clothing? exactly?

I'm like anybody, like, they're not above it. No, they should be, but they're not.

I can name you, there's a whole fucking show dedicated to it, exactly. But Rule later said there was a mountain of evidence down there if you had been working a homicide. I was sure she didn't die in a traffic wreck, but I didn't have the training to prove otherwise.

Oh man, that must be infuriating.

So frustrating to feel it in your bones that, like, you know what you saw and what you saw wasn't right. And to have everybody tell you no, nobody would kill a preacher's husband or a preacher's wife.

To prove this, but I don't know how, and he doesn't want to, like, fuck it up more.

Right?

So he's just like stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Right, and if I mean, you're reporting to the sheriff, like?

Yeah, you don't, and you don't want to contaminate shit or make certain things if you did find it be inadmissible, you know.

Or get yourself into trouble, like, there's a whole laundry list of things that would make this incredibly frustrating. So the coroner essentially agreed with the sheriff that Sandra Bird's death was the result of a tragic accident, and nothing more. In his autopsy, Dr. Juan Gabriel noted that many of Sandy's injuries could have resulted in death, but the low. The most likely cause of death was a transacted kidney, which he stated was the kind of injury people receive in motor vehicle accidents.

And it's like, we're just going to ignore all the other stuff, like no skid marks or anything.

Wipe your hands of that. No, wow, Preacher's wives don't use their brakes.

No.

They're immune to that, like, what? So? When Officer Scott Kronk delivered the news to Tom Bird that morning, he was surprised by the preacher's reaction. And he started to feel a little bit like Officer John Rule was feeling. Tom responded to the officer, asking What was she doing out there?

What?

First of all, so many questions.

Second of all, strange questions.

Strange questions. And you're really going like, right off the bat, being like, she's never gone there.

We never go there, I've never seen that road. What is it?

What's a road? What is a road? who's a car?

A vehicle?

What, huh? nope.

Talking about a pterodactyl, what?

I don't know what that is. It struck Kronk as strange that Tom would immediately assert that his wife never went to the location she was discovered before, even knowing where that location was. By the way.

That's tough.

Because he said, We, we never go there, where is it? You don't know where it is, but you also know that you've never gone there.

I just know that we have never been there.

You don't even know where it is.

Like, what?

What? But that wasn't the only thing that seemed off in Tom's version of events. When Sandy didn't arrive to pick him up, he ran around town looking for her. It seemed a bit strange, at least to this officer and a few others, that he wouldn't just call the babysitter first to find out if Sandy had just gone home and maybe forgot to pick him up immediately, he assumed the worst.

No, you cannot consider that ever. Oh, you just can't.

So, although he had acknowledged the coroner's determination that Sandy's death was accidental, Officer John Rule just couldn't shake the feeling that everyone had either gotten something wrong or was just simply ignoring the obvious. Yeah, he recalled. I kept thinking, what was she doing out there alone after dark? And although he struggled to imagine someone wanting to kill a preacher's wife as well, because at this point, it's been put in his head, I guess. He was convinced that he had come upon the scene of a homicide that night, and he wasn't ready to let it go. So he quietly continued to pursue the case on his own.

Oh, John Rule, I know John rules. Yeah, he does.

She struck him with her motor vehicle, she had been under the influence, and then she left him there.

In January 2022, local woman Karen Reed was implicated in the mysterious death of her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe. It was alleged that after an innocent night out for drinks with friends, Karen and John got into a lover's quarrel en route to the next location. What happens next depends on who you ask. Was it a crime of passion?

If you believe the prosecution, it's because the evidence was so compelling. This was clearly an intentional act. And his cause of death was blunt force trauma with hypothermia.

Or a corrupt police cover up?

If you believe the defense theory, however, this is all a cover up to prevent one of their own from going down.

This video presents the most in-depth analysis to date of the sensational case in Karen. You can listen to Karen exclusively with Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Of course not.

You know that this is happening, but nobody wants to talk about it. That's even more Sus.

Yeah, where there's smoke, there's fire.

MM hmm. Friends and family might not have wanted to speculate on whether Tom was having an affair. But that didn't mean that they didn't want to talk about Sandy altogether, they did. Ruhle spoke to those who knew her best, and what emerged from those conversations was a portrait of a woman that Ruhle described as very, very diligent, very intelligent. And the sort of person who ran at 100 miles an hour, 18 hours a day.

Oh, Sandy.

Just like we heard, she did it all, sandy. And he also learned that, among other things, she was a stickler for safety and always wore her seatbelt.

I could, you know what? That makes sense, of course, it does. Obviously none of us know Sandy, but it's like that, just like fits. That vibe of like she was doing everything she needs to do, working hard. She would be one of those. That's like, wear your seatbelt.

Put your seatbelt on, idiots. Well, she's got three young kids, you know, that's the thing. It just makes sense.

Oh, Sandy breaks my heart.

Truly so. The fact that Sandy always wore her seatbelt was yet another thing about the scene that didn't make sense. When Ruhle initially made his way down to the crash site, he discovered Sandy's body face down in the creek. Suggesting that she had been forcibly ejected from the car when it went over the rail.

Yeah.

And then there was also the interior of the car itself. After it had been removed from the site, Ruhle learned that the driver's seat had been adjusted. Much farther back than would have been safe or even comfortable for Sandy, who stood at 5'1".

As someone who's also 5'1, you are smashed up against that steering wheel to reach those pedals.

And like I've seen when John drives the car before you, how far back you are.

Yeah, like, he can't, or like, when he tries to get in after I've been on it, he can't get in without moving the seat back. Yeah, there's a very noticeable difference.

So obviously that suggested that somebody much taller had been driving the car when it went off the bridge.

I mean, that alone should be a massive red flag, that should be a massive red flag. Yeah, it's very easy to tell when someone 5'1 has been driving a car.

Let me tell you, because you've even driven my car before and I can't get in. As Ruhle continued quietly investigating Sandy's death, Tom and Lorna began putting the second phase of their plan into action. Because, remember, they wanted both of their spouses dead.

Oh yeah, we're not content with just one murder.

Only Sandy is dead now. In September, Lorna placed another call to Daryl Carter, who again declined to help them, so Lorna reached out to Daryl's brother, Danny Carter Jesus and enlisted his help.

I gotta wonder that myself, Lorna.

The thing was, Danny also wasn't a killer, but he thought he knew someone who was and agreed to act as a middleman. OK? A few days later, Tom cashed a $5,000 check, which was a portion of the proceeds from Sandy's life insurance policy, and delivered that money to Danny, who claimed he quote sent it to a man in Mississippi who was to arrange the job. Several days passed, then a week, but neither the couple or Danny ever heard back from the contact in Mississippi. On the afternoon of November 4th, 1983, Lorna and Martin, along with their four children, drove out to Fort Riley to pick up a new uniform for Martin's Army reserve position.

Their four children are in the car right now.

Yes.

What the fuck is about to happen?

Something terrible. Oh boy, yeah. It's very sad that their kids were in the car when this happened. So she claimed that she felt sick. She pulled over and ran into an adjacent field to vomit.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah, according to a statement given to the press by Tom Bird a few days after the killing.

I'm sorry, what?

So Tom Bird gave a statement about Martin's murder.

Which he was not present at.

Yes, allegedly. Yep. He said. The man went berserk shooting. He shot Marty a number of times.

And why are you telling me what happened when you weren't there?

Well, he's her counselor.

So excuse me, don't forget also everybody, how are the kids doing, I know, in this whole planned thing that just was done in front of your children?

Yeah, that's like, that's really fucked up aspect, that's really gross, unreal. I'm horrified by this.

Oh, but the football players tried.

Yeah. In their own statement to the press, Junction City Under Sheriff John DiPiercio told reporters they were quote interviewing witnesses trying to solve the bizarre killing. But he said they don't have a suspect, they don't have a weapon, and, most importantly, they have no sensible motive for the murder of Anderson.

Except someone's got to come out of here and be like, there is something weird. She is having an affair. So like, somebody, look into this, yeah, that would be my first thing.

So the under sheriff might not have had any suspects or motive. But authorities in and around Emporia were starting to think that they might have some insight into who would want to kill Martin Anderson and why. After hearing the surprisingly detailed, yet also suspiciously vague statement that again, Tom Bird question mark gave reporters on Lorna's behalf.

Yeah, miraculous.

The editor of the Emporia Gazette, Ray Kahl, told another editor If you believe that, I'd like to sell you the Brooklyn Bridge.

That's honestly the truest statement.

Now our friend J. Vernon Humphrey from the KBI also noted the unusual connection between Tom Bird, whose wife had also just died under mysterious circumstances.

That's the other thing. I'm like, you two are reckless. I mean, you're many things, but you're reckless.

You're many things, and Reckless is one of them.

And Reckless is one of them. Because it's like, you have this whole plan that you're going to run away together and just like, be together. After both your spouses die under suspicious circumstances.

And you're just going to raise.

While everyone knows that you're having an affair already.

And you're going to raise seven kids between the two of you.

Seven kids who are going to know what happened eventually to their other parent. Yeah, yeah, wow, yeah, that's that's, that's interesting.

But yeah, like I said, J. Vernon Humphrey was like, there's a weird, fucking connection between the two of these quote unquote, widow and widowers. So he called his colleagues in nearby. I think it's Geary County to let them know of the connection. The tip prompted investigators to look into both Tom and Lorna, where they learned that. Not only had Tom recently received a payout from his wife's insurance and cashed a check of five thousand dollars, but Lorna had also recently taken out a policy on her husband, not long before he was murdered, Ah, weird.

They were just like, let's spill the tea since we're already getting in trouble.

Anyway, they're like, we're not getting down for this, at least alone. So, realizing the very serious nature of the trouble that he was in, Danny Carter told police about his role in the crime. Specifically noting that while he did act as a go between for Lorna and the hitman that was supposed to be hired, he never committed an act of violence. And he also explained that as far as he knew, the person to whom he sent the money had never followed through. So if Martin Anderson was murdered and he was, it wasn't by anybody that Danny Carter knew. Interesting.

So so I don't know what happened here, so I'm not sure the intention was there. We did not do it right.

Based on what Danny Carter told them, the detectives were still missing a lot of pieces to the puzzle. And actually, at this point, really only knew one thing for certain, Lorna Anderson had conspired with the Carter brothers in an attempt to have her husband murdered.

Wow, a week brutal, it's crazy.

A week later, on November 23rd, she was arrested, and on November 30th, she was charged with conspiracy to commit first degree murder. In his statement to the press, chief investigator Al Buskey, or Buskey, excuse me, told reporters. Anderson conspired with Carter to have Martin Anderson done away with five thousand dollars changed hands, and Mr. Carter's function was to find someone to take care of Marty.

Like, don't worry, we got you, yeah.

By the first week of December, detectives had managed to track down Gregory Curry, the man to whom Danny Carter had given money, given the money to murder Martin. So after, Wow, yeah, so many people to keep track of.

Wow, yeah, ok, ok.

What's happening? He collected the money, but he never followed through, so that's why he only got the charge for criminal solicitation. OK during this period. Now, the rumors of an affair between Tom and Lorna were going everywhere, persisting throughout Emporia.

Honestly, that doesn't shock me.

It just shocks me.

It's shocking in my core of my being, but you're like that on the outside. I'm like, this is always. What happens is everyone just goes no way, no way.

And there are plenty of honorable jobs in the world, I would, I would say that like torturers have honorable jobs, nurses do. That's the thing they kill people sometimes.

Everybody in any job could end up mothers kill their children. Yeah, like, let's.

But pastors do not kill.

But pastors don't kill anyone. And it's like, what?

Like, since when it's wild, it's wild.

We've been proven time and time again that they are real people like anyone else, and they can be evil.

Pastors, they're just like us.

They're just like evil people, sometimes, sometimes, and sometimes they're right, exactly.

Don't you dare get that stuck in my head. Love that, love that show so much anyway. So at first, anyway, shockingly, few believed, but that changed on December 1st, when Daryl Carter's girlfriend.

Another, another person coming in here.

Her name was Jennifer Peterson. She got a call from Tom Bird saying that he needed to speak with Daryl as soon as possible. Uh oh. Fearing for his safety, Daryl informed his lawyer of Tom's request and together they went to the KBI.

No, I just saw it when it landed, I didn't even move, it just pitted itself off there.

Sorry, so. Fearing for his safety, Daryl informed his lawyer of Tom's request. And together they went to the KBI. And, sensing an opportunity to fill in some of the missing pieces in the story, KBI agents convinced Daryl to arrange the meeting with Tom and record the conversation. Oh.

Go talk to him.

So Daryl was like, OK.

Awesome, this is terrifying.

And on December 10th, the two men met in a local parking lot. Where Daryl secretly recorded the conversation. And where Tom Bird acknowledged the original meeting in the church, where he, Daryl and Lorna all spoke of killing Sandy and Martin.

My goodness.

The recording of the conversation went a long way to confirming what investigators had already come to suspect that Martin's murder was the result of an affair between Tom and Lorna. But while the tape was an important piece of the story, they still needed more evidence if they were going to arrest Tom. Because it wasn't like a smoking gun.

No.

So they spoke to the babysitter who was watching the bird children the night of Sandy's murder.

Oh, my goodness, that upsets me.

Contrary to Tom's claims of having gone for a jog the night of the murder and returning home still in his jogging clothes, the babysitter told police Uh-uh. He came home a little after midnight and he was, quote, wearing dress, slacks, a shirt and tie. But he said that he had gone for a jog to think about his sermon, and then he came back and was still wearing his jogging clothes. And she's like, No, he wasn't.

And she's like, No, no.

No, no, no.

I like that this babysitter was like, No, no, no.

So they kept talking to different people. It took nearly four months, but finally, on March 21st, 1984, Tom Bird was arrested and charged with criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder.

Thank goodness, but also who did this?

The question, to be quite honest, really doesn't get answered.

That's upsetting.

Yeah, I think people have their own opinions, and I have mine that I might not tell you.

And you can have yours.

And you can have yours, exactly.

Okay.

So he was arrested and at the time, Lorna, who had been free on bond, was re-arrested and after dropping the previous charges against her. They were like, Oh, let's get rid of those, it's okay, Lorna. It's not okay, though. Because we're charging you with far more serious things like aiding and abetting. First-degree murder, and we're going to hit you. Also with two counts of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the shooting death of your husband.

So welcome back, welcome back, Lorna.

On May 31st, a preliminary hearing was held during which Daryl and Daniel Carter testified that Tom Bird had solicited both men to help kill Martin Anderson. Daryl told the jury Tom Bird told me at the time he loved Lorna Anderson and that he was doing this to help her because he loved her. Additional evidence at the hearing included the 45-minute recorded conversation between Daryl and Tom that happened in December of the previous year. And based on the evidence presented by the prosecution, judge William Dick ordered Tom bound over for trial. And the date was set for July 1st, 1984..

Let's go.

So many trials are about to happen.

This better end in a way that is satisfactory.

It kind of does.

Man, Okay, man.

And just so many trials are about to happen. Oh boy, so just strap in. So. Tom's trial for the charge of criminal solicitation began in August of 1984, during which one witness after another testified about Tom's relationship with Lorna. They were like, we are ready to talk.

They were so good at hiding it.

Except not at all. The jury also heard critical testimony from Daryl and Daniel Carter and Gregory Curry, who was the one that had been hired but never followed through. Oh, yes, yes, yes.

Just want to keep you updated on everybody, thank you. No, I appreciate it because I was like, Who's Greg exactly? Now? I'm like, I got it.

So they all told of their role in the conspiracy to kill Martin Anderson, although authorities at the time acknowledged that the plot to kill Martin Anderson was never carried out. With Greg shooting the man, Tom was still found guilty and sentenced to two and a half to seven years in prison.

Two and a half to seven years.

Yeah.

That's it.

But don't worry, I told you, there were more trials.

A toddler to a second grader amount of time.

Yeah.

Okay.

Because it's only conspiracy, I mean, I don't mean only.

But in the eyes of the law.

The eyes of the law, it's only conspiracy to commit.

Which, again, seems like that needs an overhaul a little bit.

Well, and also this guy did end up dead.

Yeah, so like the conspiracy kind of went into practice here, I don't know, and I still don't want anyone who conspired to commit murder.

To get out of prison.

To be my pastor.

And to do it again, like, you're going to serve seven years, you could come out, I mean, you could fucking conspire in prison.

Yeah, you're conspiring, I'm saying, it's what you do.

Once a conspirer, always a conspirer.

That's right, I've always said that, I've always said that.

I just said, You know what?

I always have said that, too.

But as Tom began serving his sentence for the solicitation charge, the investigation into Sandy's death had finally gained some traction. Oh, thank goodness.

Because, remember, two people were killed?

Yeah, and in October of 1984, they actually had her body exhumed. And a second autopsy was performed by Dr. William Eckert, a certified forensic pathologist. Hell yeah.

Let's get in there with this forensic pathologist.

I think he may have been involved in other cases that we've talked about because his name sounds familiar.

His name is very familiar. Yeah, it is, but my memory is so bad.

Retweet? And we've done so many cases at this point. But in addition to the injuries noted in the previous autopsy, which were consistent with the accident. Eckert noted a number of other significant blunt force injuries that could not be accounted for by an accident, by a car accident, and injuries to the wrists and arms.

Oh, that's awful.

According to his final report, the latter injuries were consistent with defensive injuries, as injuries caused when a person has his arms outstretched in an effort to ward off blows in the attack.