The Murder of Penny Anderson (Massachusetts)
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When a woman was found murdered in her springfield, massachusetts apartment during the spring of one thousand nine hundred eighty four, IT only took a matter of days to sega, win on a suspect and secure an arrest and then a trial. A jury decided Edward right was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The new england innocent ce project has since taken up his case.

So who really killed penny Anderson? Was IT the man serving a life sentence for her death, or someone else? I'm kindly low. And this is the case of penny .

Anderson on dark downest.

A resident of an apartment building in springfield, masa husic ts was in a deep sleep when something cut through the quiet of his lumber just before four A M. On may fourteen, one thousand and eighty four, blinking the dark get took a moment for him to register what he was hearing. A woman was screaming, and IT sounded like IT was coming from the building next door.

The man rose, then crossed the room to his window. His eyes tilted upward to lights on insiding neighbouring apartment. In the same direction of the noise, he could just barely make out the words, please don't do IT SHE was yelling.

The woman was calling out for someone to call the police, but the neighbor stood their helpless. He didn't have a phone for fifteen long minutes. The screams continued before the night went quiet again.

Then all he heard was the distant sound of a cars engine turning over and driving off. Hours later, around two P. M. That afternoon, a woman pressed her ear up against the door of her daughter's second floor apartment at three o six White street street extension in springfield.

SHE could hear a baby, her grandson, crying on the other side, but when SHE knocked and called out to her daughter, no one came to the door. The woman soon returned with her husband in an official from the springfield housing authority who owned the apartment building. IT was just after three P.

M. When they stepped inside the unit to a terrible scene. Twenty four year old penny Anderson was lifeless on the living room floor, lying in a pool of blood in the next room, still crying, but thankfully unharmed.

In his crib was pennies, eight months old sun. The baby was safe in the arms of his grandmother. A springfield police were called to the address. Court records show that penny was fully closed when her body was found, but her hands were bound with a blood soaked length of pink ribbon, according to reporting by synthesis, mis for the republican in autopsy revealed that sheet man stabbed sixty times and died from a faddle wound to her juggling vein in one to the corrodi artery. Tests also indicated the presence of seminal fluid and sperm cells in penny's body.

SHE likely died the same day he was found between midnight and six fifteen A M, but the medical examiner could not determine a more precise time of death. What was clear, though, was that this was a violent homicide at penn's apartment. Detectives could see no signs of forced entry or any indication that IT had been rainsford.

Helen lights stone reports for the morning union that there was no weapon at the scene and no foreign fingerprints to speak of either. However, police collected at least fifteen pieces of evidence from the scene, including blood samples. They found a bloody shoe print in the kitchen and photographed the visible tread pattern.

Conversations with witnesses helped to piece together the final hours of penny's live permille ageing taxi reports for the republican that penny was last seen alive on sunday night at the club for eighteen lage, a few blocks down from her apartment building. Penny previously worked at the lounge as a dancer, but was reportedly between jobs at the time of her death. A dancer at the club who knew penny told police that he saw a pending there around eleven thirty P.

M. On may thirteen, SHE watched as penny screamed at a man and hurried out of the bar. Penny was pointing at the guy as he yelled and dropped her person in the process, spilling the contents all over the floor.

SHE left soon after the man penny was reportedly yelling at that night was a former boyfriend all in miles. When police tracked him down for a conversation, Allen confirmed that he was at club for eighteen land on sunday night. He explained that he'd known penny for about six years.

And yes, they dated for a time, but he ended things with her in the summer of one thousand nine hundred eighty two. According to his sign, but not sworn statement, Allen saw a penny at the club several times over the course of that evening. At one point, he said he saw a man whispers ing in penny's year, and then penny left with that same man around seven P.

M. As for the heated exchange that the other witnesses, Allen's version was that penny was on her way out the door and he asked her where he was going, and SHE told him he was going to pick up her son and then was going to bring the guy back to her apartment to have sex. Allen told her, quote, don't go home because i'll be there when you get there and quote, penny reminded Allen that they weren't together anymore.

And then he left. He said that was the last time he saw penny that night. Allen told police he left the nightclub soon after and drove home on his moped. He said he was pulled over and ticketed for a motor vehicle violation on the way.

And by the time he finally made IT back around three thirty in the morning, everyone he lived with his already asleep back at pennies apartment building, police spoke with that neighbor who'd heard screaming coming from pennies apartment and then a car driving away. This narrow the estimated time of her death to a little after four A M. Detectives also interviewed another neighbor who said he saw penny drive up to the apartment building in a car with a man, and they both went in japanese apartment around twelve forty five A M.

So who was that man? Police believed he could have the answers about what happened to penny, so tracking him down with top priority as interviews with witnesses continued in penny y's case across town. A man named artha Turner was recovering from a long night.

He'd been travelling home from a trip on the night of may thirteen when he got into a car accident, according to court documents Arthur finally made at home to spring field around one a clock out afternoon. A few hours later, the phone ring and a tired Arthur picked up. The caller said IT was ed artha only knew one person named dead who might be calling his mother famous boyfriend at word right, but adam film a weren't on good terms at the time.

Film a had recently filed for a protective order against ad, and Arthur and ed weren't exactly best budget either. Theyd known each other for about three years and had lived in the same house at one point, but they hadn't talked on the phone before. Court records described the ed in Arthur s.

Relationship pass, hostile, still. Artha listen, as the color explained that he'd done something wrong. He killed someone. A White woman in springfield. Ed gave author the address. Three o six died street extension during the thirty six minute long conversation, a collar went on to say that he had sex with the woman before stabbing her with a fourteen inch knife. He claimed he did this because he fired a gun at him.

The caller said the victim was possibly under the influence of drugs, which he referred to as tech, and he called the woman a majority term, often directed that individuals engaged in sex work. He told a third to watch the news or read the paper to learn the victim's name. Artha did read about the murder in the paper the next day, and that phone called from the night before was freshen his mind.

Arthur told her sister about IT, who told their brother and the brother decided to go to police. Arthur spoke with investigators on may sixteen and told them everything the color said about the murder. He then signed a statement prepared by police without making any changes.

Edward g. Right junior was on the case radar before Arthur even signed that statement. In fact, on may fifteen, police showed penny's former boyfriend, Allen balls, a photo array to see if he could identify the man he left the club with on the night of her murder. Allen pointed to ads picture when .

the warrant was issued .

for adds arrest in connection with the murder of penny Anderson. He was already being held by wilmington, delaware authorities for an unrelated charge. An hour after his arrest on the murder charges, ed gave a statement to a delaware police officer, and he admitted to being with penny on the night he was killed.

He said that they went to pick up her son and then went back to pennies apartment together, where they drink beer and had sacks. But ad insisted that he was alive and a sleep when he left her apartment around one I am. During this interview with delivery police, ed reportedly made comments about penny being under the influence of drugs that night using the term tech, and he called her a derogatory word for sex worker.

IT was the same language and terminologies at the color used during that phone call to Arthur, but i'd denied having that conversation with Arthur. He maintained that he was not responsible for penn's death. Police seized dead's shoes as evidence and processed the vehicle he was driving on the night of me thirteen into the early hours of may fourteen.

In the meantime, at was held in delaware for about five months until he was extradited in october, officials from massachusets traveled with him back to the northeast, where he would appear in springfield district court to be arrange. Ed was charged with first degree murder, accused of the deliberate, premeditated homicide with extreme attractive and cruelty. Ed entered a not guilty plea inhaled in county superior court and was held without bail at the county jail.

The investigation of pennies murder had uncovered enough evidence for an arrest and entitlements, but the case was not entirely without doubt. When the analysis of ed's shoes came back, the grid pattern on the soul of the sneakers appeared to match the bloody footprints in penny apartment, but that wasn't necessarily conclusive evidence that ed had been in the apartment at the time of pennies murder, because the shoes very common style at the time, and IT didn't point exclusively to his sneakers as the contributor of those fd prints. There was actually no trace of blood found on the sneakers themselves.

However, investigators did find traces of blood on the floor of the car at was driving, as well as the steering wheel turn signal, gas peddle and headlight switch. But again, this didn't conclusively link add to the murder court record show that a chemist was unable to termine if the blood was even human or how long the blood had been in the car. Interestingly, police interviewed the owner of that car and he told them that a few weeks earlier, ed himself had been attacked and stabbed.

Court records show that on main s one thousand and eighty four ed sustained injuries in a knife attack and was bleeding pretty badly when his friend gave ed a ride to the hospital in that same vehicle. Hospital records and photos of ad injuries backed up this story, so it's possible that the blood in the car was from ad injuries weeks earlier, but IT didn't explain away the location of the blood on the steering wheel and other controls in the car, presumably only touched by the driver. But what the case lacked in conclusive physical evidence, the witness statements seemed to make up for there was that phone call from someone who said their name was ed, admitting to the murder. Kenny former boyfriend who saw her leave the club with ad, and the neighbor who saw penny drive up to her apartment building and go into her unit with a man that neighbor later identified at as the man I saw with penny, and identified the vehicle head borrowed from a friend as the one penny drove up in on the night of her murder.

The case proceeded to trial with jury selection beginning in April of one thousand nine hundred eighty five. Judge William w. Simons questioned potential jurors about many issues, including racial bias.

Ed is a black man, and the judge had cautioned ed and his attorney y that asking these questions about racial bias could quote activity latent racial bias and may not uncover the true feelings of jurors so prejudice that they may not admit they are, and who Edward, still one of the questions asked. And when the jury was finally seated, all but one member was White. There was one black woman on the panel and no black men.

One of the jurors was an axillary springfield police officer. During the murder trial of Edward right, the jury heard from a number of witnesses, including the neighbor, who said he heard a woman screaming for help in her apartment next door, but that he couldn't call police because he didn't have a phone. A delaware police officer who interviewed at following his arrest testified to the statement had made admitting he was with penny on the night of the murder, but that he was alive when he left.

Testimony from Arthur Turner would be a big part of the case the commonwealth was building against ad artha had previously signed a statement in testified before a grand jury that ed admitted to killing a woman who lived at pennies address during a phone conversation the day after the murder. But when Arthur was called to testify during ed's trial, his stories changed. He said that he could not positively identify ed has the person he talked to on the phone that day.

Arthur said he received the phone call, but couldn't be sure that was the color. Now phone company records showed that the phone number used to call Arthur traced back to add sisters s address and deliver where ed was staying at the time. The call connected at four forty one P.

M on may fourteen and lasted thirty six minutes. Just before that was a four minute phone call to Arthur's aint. Arthur's on also testified at trial, saying he got a call from someone SHE believed was had that day asking for author's phone number.

However, as sister mary right testified, but SHE actually placed all the phone calls on may fourteen, including that call to Arthur. Artur was so sure about the identification of that color before. So why was are the waivers now? At trial, the prosecution believed IT was because ed and Arthur's mother, s girlfriend, had since reconcile.

As for ed and the defense, he wanted his lawyer to request a jury instruction that Arthur could have missed dentists. Ed, the color, after all, artha had gotten into a car accident hours before the call, and he was up most of the night. Perhaps exhaustion had influences his memory, as Arthur signed that statement, saying that the color was indeed at right.

Ultimately, though, ed lawyer did not request this is identification instruction one of many issues that would point to when he asked the judge mid trial to have his quota pointed, lawyer dismissed, ed felt the lawyer wasn't handling the case, how he thought I should be handled. However, the judge denied his request, saying the attorney was a highly regarded, experienced council in a move you don't see often in a murder trial, ed decided to testify in his own defense on the stand and underage. I admitted to being with penny on the night he was killed, failed, known each other since one thousand nine hundred eighty two and he had seen her at club for eighteen many times since then on the night of me thirteen th, one thousand and eighty four he said he met up with penny at the club around ten P.

M. He said they left together and got into the car he was borrowing at the time and started to drive off, but then turned around in a parking lot so penny could run back into the club. Ed testified that he saw penny's old boyfriend, Allen, who was standing outside the club, walk inside as penny was crossing the street.

Ed went to get gas and then return to the club to find penny as they were leaving together again. Edge said that Allen grabbed penny's ARM, which made her drop pa purse, as penny gathered all her things that were now scattered around the floor, ed said that Allen took a few of the items and talked them into his pocket. That's when penny and Allen got into a loud argument.

Add testified that Allen followed him in penny to the exit and then watched as they pulled off in the car together. He said that he drove penny to pick up her baby from her mother's house and then drove them both back to penny's apartment. Ed claimed they parked the car, moved the baby to the front seat and had sex in the back of the car before going inside her apartment for a beer.

He said they talked for an hour or so, and then he left by one or one thirty A. M. ets. Testimony differs here from his original statement made to the delivery police officer had previously said or imployed that they had sex in her apartment, not the car ed repeated during his testimony what he had said many times before, penny was still alive when he left.

However, in contrast to the statement he made to the delaware officer after his arrest, ed said that penny let him out of her apartment between one and one thirty A M. Previously, ed said that penny was asleep when he left at one I am. Ed went on to testify that after he left, he went to a friend's house, the same friend whose car he was borrowing but fell asleep in the car when he woke up the next morning, edge friend drove him to delaware for a preplanned visit to his sister's house, and that's where police would find him and arrest him two days later.

The defense argued that despite blood evidence, testimony placing at at the scene and ed's owned mission that he was with penny on the night he was killed, he had no motive to kill penny, but a motive is not necessary to find someone guilty. And on April tenth, one thousand nine hundred eighty five, after a four day trial and six hours of deliberation, the jury found Edward right guilty a firsty murder in the killing of penny Anderson. The judge immediately sentenced him to a Mandatory life term in state prison with no chance of parole.

During the next three and a half decades following his conviction, ed firmly defended his innocence. He'd return to court time and time again, appeal after appeal, hoping for a new trial because I believed he knew who was really responsible for pennies death and police had been faced to face with the man within hours of discovering her body. In ed ride swaigder statement, he said penny got into an altercation with a different man on the night he was killed.

A dancer at the club saw penny get into this heated exchange with the same man that was Allen smalls, former boyfriend of pennies, and alan smes mother lee brd had SAT in on its trial. SHE knew penny's mother and was there to support the family. But the more he learned about the case, the more I began to question if her son might be the true killer.

In a sworn statement for melony, small's mother liberate lee said that after penny was murdered, Allen was acting strange. He lied about what time he got home the night of the murder, saying he returned much earlier than he actually did, and he had tried to sell a hunting knife to his sisters s boyfriend, lee said. He asked her other daughter to buy the knife off Allen out of suspicion, and then lei gave IT to eds lawyer.

Several days after the murder, Allen's mother said that Allen turned up with some final records and a small gold post that supposedly belong to penny. When asked about IT, Allen told his mother he broke in japanese apartment and stole the staff. According to the statement, lee said that Ellenor's girlfriend at the time, maria Rivera, told her that Allen had threatened her, saying, I will kill you, just like I did.

Penny mario also told me that on the night of the murder, Allen war gloves to drive his moped downe street in springfield, SHE felt this was a potentially significant detail because police hadn't found any fingerprints at the scene of penny murder. Lee said he was coming forward now after ed was already convicted, quote, out of the interest of justice, he was concerned that an innocent man might be serving time for a murder that he did not commit. Lee was willing to testify under oath if given the opportunity to do so. Now ed says that he had wanted to introduce Allen smalls as a potential alternate suspect as part of his defense at trial, but there just wasn't enough evidence to support accusing another person of the crime. But with Allen's mother's statement that changed things .

a year after .

ed was convicted, his new attorney filed emotion with the state supreme court for a new trial. In light of all this newly discovered evidence from library, that court sent IT back to the hand in county y superior court, where IT was originally tried. In october of one thousand and eighty six, a judge heard testimony from liberate as well as leaves daughter tester fied to Allen, trying to sell her boyfriend a knife.

In the days after penny was murdered, two new pieces of physical evidence were presented as part of the hearing to a sneaker that reportedly belonged to Allen and matched the footprints that were left in blood at pennies apartment, as well as the very knife alin allegedly tried to sell. The judge rules the following month denying adwords motion for a new trial, stating that the testimony of librate was, quote, without credibility and not worthy of careful consideration. And quote, you see, much of what lee testified to and stated in the affidavit was here say, meaning the evidence was largely second hand statements.

SHE heard from her son's girlfriend, maria mario hadn't been located to put her own words into a statement prior to the appeal. This denied appeal marked the start of a long journey through the court system for at ride, he would go on to file six direct appeals and several petitions for rid of habeas corpus. And just to demote fy, some of these key terms for you, a direct appeal is a legal process where a defendant chAllenges their conviction or sense by appealing to a higher cord, arguing that legal errors occurred during the trial, such as improper procedure, incorrect rulings or violations of rights.

IT is based on the trial record and is the standard method for seeking review right after a conviction, a writ of habeas corpus, on the other hand, is a legal petition that allows a prisoner to chAllenge the legality of their detention or imprisonment. IT can raise issues outside of the trial record, such as newly discovered evidence in effective assistance of council or constitutional violations that were not addressed during the trial or appeal. So it's numerous appeals and petitions over the years raised new details, new evidence or new allegations that he believes playing role in his wrongful ful conviction for penny Anderson's s murder and in the process, he did eventually track down Allen smalls former girlfriend maria Rivera, who testified under oath to the threats Allen mate against her.

In one thousand nine ninety eight, after more denied appeals at ride filed another petition for a rate of habeas corpus in federal district court.

IT was also denied in the court, specifically called out the fact that ed hadn't presented in afa David for melange girlfriend and that he hadn't pursued forensic testing on the knife at island's mother, claimed Allen sold after the murder so add when after both pieces of evidence in his next attempt at a new trial as attorney contacted Allen's mother, lee, who informed them that his former girlfriend maria was living out of state and he had since Scott married, so he had a new last name. Within weeks, a private investigator tracked maria down and was able to get a statement on tape. SHE later put the statement down on paper.

In an affidavit with that, ed filed another appeal for a new trial and requested an evidentiary hearing. The court allowed the request for a hearing in on october twenty six, two thousand seven. Maria told her story to a judge.

Mario testified that he started dating Allen in one thousand and eighty one or one thousand nine hundred eighty two, but he saw signs that he was probably still interested in his x girlfriend, penny Anderson. Mariah said he saw nude photos of penny in Allen's bedroom, and he referred to penny as his first love. He claimed to the Allen spoke of penny as, quote, mine and only mine and quote mario also stated that Allen had an evil streak and he physically assaulted her throughout their relationship.

Maria and Allen broke up about six months before pennies murder, but then started dating again sometime after penny was killed. And they were together while ed was on trial for penny smarter. Mariah testified that one day after SHE and Allen had gotten back together, Allan drove the mount, a wooded area, and physically and sexually assaulted her.

When SHE tried to get away, he threatened to kill her. Quote, just like he killed penny and quote, maria said he confronted Allan and asked him, point plank, if he really did kill penny, Mariah said he responded, yeah, but nobody's going to find out. A few days later, Allen told her her not to repeat what he'd said. Maria left the state not long after moving to florida away from Allen. SHE said he was afraid of him and was too scared to report the abuse or the threat to police.

After hearing marias testimony, the federal district court judge deemed the evidence credible and enough that a jury was likely to have reasonable doubt as to whether at Wright was pennies killer, but IT didn't get him a new trial eggs next two appeals were denied, while maria's testimony could be perceived as progress in ads attempts at a new trial. The other piece of evidence that ed had sought at the time, the forensic analysis on the knife came back inconclusive testing did detect the presence of blood on the hunting knife that Allen reportedly tried to sell to a sisters s. Boyfriend after the murder, but testing did not determine whose blood IT was or if IT was even human, but add pushed forward with his efforts to get a new trial.

He argued in effectiveness of council and pointed to the inconsistently and author Turners testimony versus his sworn statement in April of twenty twelve had filed another appeal, which was his fifth attempt at getting a new trial that was also denied. The court ruling for that one reads, in part quote, having carefully considered the admissible evidence that the jury did not hear and the evidence that they did, we conclude that in light of the strength of the evidence against the defendant at trial and the meager creative weight of the newly discovered evidence, the new evidence does not cast real doubt on the justice of the defendants conviction, because there is not a substantial risk that the jury would have reached different conclusion had this evidence but admitted at trial and quote. But even after five failed attempts, ed still isn't done trying to prove his innocence, and now his efforts have the legal support of the new england innocence project.

Ivy Scott reports for the boston globe that on an international wrongful conviction day, october second twenty twenty three, Edward bright filed another appeal to have his conviction thrown out and be granted a new trial at six appeal sites. New DNA evidence found on penny Anderson's clothing that he wore on the night SHE was killed, as well as on a bloody wash. Clothe D N, A on these items, according to adds appeal, does not match his DNA profile and rather belongs to an unknown mail.

The motion also states that adds attorneys from the new england innocence project, alongside council from two international law firms also working on the case. Only recently received police reports from springfield pd that showed investigators were aware of other suspects with motive to kill penny, yet these individuals were not fully expired and the reports concerning the suspects were allegedly withheld from the defense for decades. Further, ed's appeal raises the issue of witnesses, particularly law enforcement officers, who allegedly perjured themselves on the stand during its trial.

The appeal also argues that the analysis of the bloody show print and blood found in the car at was driving that night was faulty and now contradicted by updated forensic analysis. According to the new england innocent ce project, police sent prosecutorial misconduct, flaught ed or misleading friends of evidence, racial bias in effective council and the unavailability of D N A testing at trial, the top contributors to wrongful convictions, all of these elements according to his defense team's argument or present in ed rights case. In a statement that accompanies this latest appeal, ed rights said, quote, since I was first arrested at age twenty two and this nightmare gan, i've lost not only my freedom, but also many family members and friends.

These are people that i'll never see again when you're incarcerated. It's an endless battle to be the person you want to be. Instead of the person they tried to make you to be.

Inside the prison walls, i've tried to preserve some sembLance of my humanity, have tried to learn the law to help fix the wrongs in prison, to help not just myself, but others. And i've never stopped trying to prove my innocence. But after so many denials, I am hopeful that a judge will finally look at all the evidence in my case, not just the horrific facts of the murder.

I just want the truth to finally come out so a court can do the right thing, and I can live out the rest of my life in freedom. And quote. Since adds trial for the murder of penny understand back in one thousand and eighty five key witnesses have died, including Allen small former girlfriend maria Allan smalls himself is deceased.

Ed right continues to be held accountable for penny. Anderson's murder omitted his decades long endeavour to prove he was wrongfully convicted on september twenty fourth twenty twenty four, just a few weeks before I SAT down to record this episode, ad was back in court for a hearing. According to an email statement I received from the new england innocence project, the appearance was a non evidentiary hearing on the sixth motion for a new trial.

They say the courtroom was packed with loved ones, x ony, network members, advocates and legal teen members. Ed is awaiting the judge's decision on the matter. This case continues to develop, and i'll share any updates as I hear them. Now let me just say, justice is not simply about assigning blame, but about uncovering the truth and holding the right person accountable.

While new evidence has brought this case back under review for the sixth time, IT remains to be seen whether the original verdict was the truth about what happened that night, or if a miscarriage of justice needs to be corrected if a mistake was made. Correcting IT not only six justice for ed, but also honors penny by ensuring accountability lies with the right person as this appeal unfolds, as a reminder that justice is a process, not a final declaration. Penny lee Anderson celebrated her twenty fourth birthday just a month before he died on what should have been her thirty six birthday in April of ninety ninety six.

Penny's mother marian runne special in memorial message to her daughter in the republican wspp er penny's mother passed away in two thousand and two at the age of fifty nine. I hope that somewhere SHE in penny are together again. I want pennies, mom, to have the last word in this story, as he wrote in one thousand nine hundred and ninety six, quote, though you have been taken away from me, there is not one moment of the year that you are not in my heart.

Your spirit was as fresh as a morning breeze on a spring day. Your sess for life was as intense as a bolt of lightning from a summer storm. Your personality was as bright and colorful as the fall folia across the mountains. Your quiet side was like the first snow on a winter receive, coming and beautiful in a mysterious way.

For the rest of this life, I will never be able to hug you and tell you that I love you, but through all my sadness, I find comfort for my heart, because I know that when god wes IT they will come, when we will never be separated again. Until then, my darling daughter, you will be in my heart through all the seasons, and my love for you will never fade. Love mom and quote.

Thank you for listening to dark downest. You can find all source material for this case at dark down's dotcom. Be sure to follow the show on instagram at dark downest.

This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm kindly low, and this is dark joist. Dark donis is a production of Kelly media and audio check. So what do you think check you will prove?