Serial Killer: Duct Tape Killer Part 2

Investigation Continues

On August 1, 1996, new photos were taken of Robert Anderson in a baseball cap and put in a lineup with other men in hats.  Vance was immediately able to ID Anderson as the man who had stopped by his house on Friday, July 26.  The police used the same deck of cards approach with Shaina using the new photos and she was able to say that he was the man who took her mommy.  

An extensive search was underway around the Streyle property and it was split into nine sections of 36 square miles.  There were volunteers along with law enforcement on foot, horseback and in helicopters searching for Piper or any clues to find her.   For the next week, police followed up on all leads and tips they received, including those from two different psychics.  On August 10, they called for more volunteers to do another search.  Five hundred people showed up including the Governor of South Dakota, Bill Janklow.  They also had dogs helping in the search.  There were also flyers put up around the area. 

Investigators now had Anderson’s statement, Shaina’s ID of him and an explanation as to why the blue Bronco Anderson owned was described as being black.  On August 2, 1996 just after midnight, a warrant for Robert Leroy Anderson’s arrest was issued.  At 1:30am, DCI agents went to Morrell’s and arrested Anderson without incident.  He was read his rights and charged with the first degree kidnapping of Piper Streyle.  He was placed in an isolation cell for his own protection and his bail was set for $500,000.  He was not able to make bail.  The single charge of first degree kidnapping carried a max sentence of life in prison.  Anderson could not afford his own attorneys, but was appointed two highly sought after attorneys named Sid Strange and Mike Unke.

Anderson’s wife, Elaine, stood by her husband and made a statement.  She said that he really went to the Streyle’s to inquire about the Bible camp for their children.  However, it was noted that their children aged five, three and one, stayed with a neighbor while Elaine worked the day shift and Morrell’s.  Anderson also had a son from a previous marriage that he did not see.  

Searches Continue

In late September of 1996, the plants that had been found in Anderson’s Bronco had been ID’d by a botanist at South Dakota State University (SDSU).  Dr. Gary Larson helped police locate where these types of plants could be found.  He took them to an area on the Big Sioux River and law enforcement began their search.  They contacted the National Guard to help with the search and they found more wadded up duct tape next to half of a white and black shirt ripped from neck to bottom.  The ripped shirt matched the description of what Piper had been wearing.  They also found a battery operated vibrator and about 100 yards out, they found a half burned orange candle.  The shirt and duct tape were sent to the state crime lab and it was determined the duct tape found had a ripped edge that matched that of the roll Anderson had. 

In the fall of 1996, the police were working closely with the media to gather as much evidence as they could for the upcoming trial.  A man named Joel Wudel was with his girlfriend when she read that the police were looking for half of a black and white shirt.  Wudel contacted police and told him about the black and white cloth that he had found on the side of the road on July 29, 1996.  He had been on his way home from a funeral and had seen something in the road.  He pulled over and when he realized it was part of a shirt, he threw it under his seat to use as something to wash his car with.  He confirmed that it was between 1:30pm and 2:00pm on July 29.  He found the shirt a mile and a half from where the police found the other half.  

Another article the police had media put out contained information about a tire popper as items to be on the lookout for.  A woman named Amy Anderson, with no relation to Robert, saw this and contacted the police.  

What Happened to Amy Anderson?

On November 10, 1994, Robert Anderson again tried to rope his friend, Jamie Hammer, into working with him, but he refused.  Because of this, Anderson asked his good friend, Glen Walker, who once again, assisted.  *remember this*  

Around 9:00pm, Amy was dropping her friend off after having dinner.  Unknown to her, Anderson and Walker were tailing her.  In his vehicle, a maroon Monte Carlo, he had several tire poppers, a knife, duct tape, ether (a highly flammable liquid) and handcuffs.  Anderson would come up behind Amy, then pass her, then slow down, and this would go on until he finally sped off and Amy believed the car was gone for good.  

Shortly after this, though, Amy drove over the tire poppers.  She wasn’t initially worried as she didn’t realize what she had actually hit.  When she got to her friend’s house, she saw that one tire was slowly leaking air.  The closest place to fix this was a service station a few miles back and she thought she would make it.  

As she made her way down the road toward the service station, she realized that she wouldn’t make it and pulled over.  She saw the Monte Carlo pull over and thought they were stopping to help even though they had been driving so erratically earlier.  She thanked them for pulling over and stepped aside for them to grab the jack from the trunk.  He reached in the trunk, but then withdrew his hand so Amy leaned in to grab it but was shocked when the man grabbed her around the waist and tried to drag her away from her vehicle.  Amy fought back, screamed, shoved and was able to knock Anderson off balance.  She ran into the night and flagged down a vehicle that had two teenage boys in it.  The kids drove her to the service station where she called 911.  Unfortunately, not much was able to be done in her case without a license plate number.

Anderson’s Kidnapping Trial

There was a lot for the prosecution to prepare leading up to Anderson’s trial for the first degree kidnapping of Piper Streyle.  It was determined that only the first hour of Anderson’s initial interview was admissible in court because he had requested to leave.  The prosecution wasn’t too worried about that because he had admitted to being at the Streyle residence in that first hour and had changed his story several times. 

Unfortunately, Amy Anderson’s near abduction as well as a story from a 17-year-old girl who Anderson had allegedly restrained would not be allowed in court.  Any evidence in regard to tire poppers was also not admissible. 

The prosecution intended to have 3 ½ year old Shaina on the stand as a witness, but it did bring about a lot of concern.  The defense prepared 124 questions to ask the little girl.  The judge ruled that Shaina’s testimony would be done from the local library and broadcast to the courtroom over the State’s Rural Development Television Network.  Shaina was appointed an attorney to watch over her welfare as well as a child therapist.  Dr. Cynthia Pilkington explained that Shaine still had not recovered and was experiencing bad dreams and guilt.  Shaina blamed herself for letting the bad man into the house.

The trial began on April 8, 1997 with Judge Boyd McMurchie presiding.  A small courthouse in Aberdeen, South Dakota was used.  For Anderson’s protection, there were five locks added to various doors and one entrance was temporarily blocked.  There was security around the clock and a metal detector was set up at the only entrance to the third floor where the trial was taking place.  Anderson was hated so much that there was concern that a vigilante would come and attack him.  There were so many people that wanted to attend the trial that a ticket system was put into place.  There were colored tickets for family members, the media, jurors and a handful of spectators. 

There was evidence presented that there was a DNA match from the hairs found on the bondage board in the back of the Bronco matched DNA evidence found in the Streyle home.  There was blood found on the crotch of Andersoon’s pants that matched the blood from the used sanitary pads found in the Streyle home.  That’s what made him not wearing any underwear at his interview so important.  

When it was time for Shaina’s testimony, she was given a security blanket like she had been given in therapy sessions and would put it over her head if she didn’t want to answer a question.  Shaina was first asked her age and she held up four fingers.  She was then asked to identify the bad man from a series of photos in front of her, but she immediately put the blanket over her head.  She was asked three more times, but she didn’t answer.  Shaina did not testify at the trial.  However, they did play the audio of the voicemail Vance had left on the machine.  As Vance was hanging up the phone, Shaina picked up and the machine kept recording.  The courtroom heard, “I hope he calls again.  Papa?  Papa?  Please! Please, call back!”  

Piper’s parents had driven up from Texas for the trial and her father had threatened to kill Anderson.  He was pulled aside and told that if he meant that, the attorney would need to tell the judge.  He said that he meant it, he would kill Anderson.  Judge McMurchie ruled that he was banished from within a mile of the courthouse and was to meet a DCI agent every morning in the hotel and every evening while Anderson was being transported.  For the remainder of the trial, Anderson wore a bulletproof vest.

A jury of ten women and two men deliberated for five hours.  They took three separate votes and each time, unanimously voted guilty.  About a year after Piper went missing, on July 18, 1997, Judge McMurchie sentenced Robert Leroy Anderson to life in prison. 

Anderson’s Cellmate & Ultimately His Demise

At the state penitentiary, Anderson was able to request a cellmate and he requested Jeremy Brunner.  Since the two didn’t have anything better to do than talk, that’s what they did.  Jeremy was the kind of guy who knew his way around a prison and had false stories about his rap sheet and things that he had done.  This had gotten to Anderson and was why he requested him to be his cellmate.  Anderson learned that Jeremy had been able to pin his crime on someone else and hoped that he could help him do the same.  

When Anderson asked Brunner if he could help him, he was told that he would need to give him all of the details.  And oh he did. 

He told him all about what he did to Larisa Dumansky and how his best friend, Glen Walker, assisted him.  Anderson and Walker were driving around and Anderson was detailing what he intended to do to Larisa.  Walker agreed to help Anderson and they made their way to the Morrell’s parking lot in the Monte Carlo.  They parked near Larisa’s minivan and Anderson let the air out of its front tire.  Just after 1:00am, they heard footsteps approaching and there was no one else in the lot.  While Larisa was putting her key in the lock, Anderson snuck up behind her and grabbed her from behind.  He said, “Don’t say a word or you’re dead.”  Larisa was struggling so he threw her to the ground, got on top of her and put a knife to her neck.  Walker came over and bound her wrists with duct tape and then the two men put her in the trunk of the car.  

They drove toward a remote area just outside of town that Anderson had previously picked out.  Before they made it, Walker decided he wanted out and Anderson agreed to take him home.  After dropping Walker off, he pulled Larisa out of the trunk and made her find in the front seat with him.  She told him that she had never been with another man besides her husband and asked what was going to happen to her.  He told her, “That depends on you.”  

Over the next four hours, he repeatedly raped Larisa while she pleaded for her life and told him that she was pregnant.  She said that she wouldn’t tell anyone what he had done if he would just let her go.  Anderson had planned to strangle and resuscitate Larisa over and over again, but changed his mind.  After he raped her for a final time, he slowly taped her mouth and nose shut with duct tape.  He left her eyes un-taped so he could watch as she died.  

After her last breath, he carried Larisa’s body and put her back in the trunk of his car and drove home to get some sleep.  He decided to keep her necklace as a trophy.  He decided that Walker was going to help him dispose of her body and waited for him to get off of work the next day at 4:00pm.  They headed toward Lake Vermillion and dug a grave under a chokecherry bush. 

The night before he first went to the Streyle home, Anderson began worrying that Walker would use Larisa’s body as leverage if he ever got arrested.  He decided to move her body from where he buried her under the chokecherry bush and scatter her remains where they would never be found.  He dug up the grave and used a shovel to break apart her skeleton.  He then broke each tooth from the skull to prevent dental records from being used.  He drove around and threw pieces of Larisa’s skeleton into the river, down ravines and into overgrown ditches. 

He also told Brunner about everything he had done to Piper Streyle.  When he knocked on her door on July 29, Shaina answered and he asked where her mom was.  She pointed to a back room and with his pistol pointed, he rushed in and met Piper in the hallway.  He told her to lie on her stomach but she refused.  He pushed her and she fell into her kids’ room.  Piper grabbed for the gun and it went off in the struggle.  Piper fought but he got her on her stomach and handcuffed her.  Piper yelled for Shaina to take Nathan and hide.  He continued to overpower Piper and shackled her ankles.  

With the gun pointed, he asked her where the paper with his name and address was.  He took the paper and then led Piper in bare feet, her underwear and a black and white nightshirt while she kicked and screamed to his Bronco.  He threatened her with his gun and fired a warning shot.  In the car, Piper told him that she was menstruating and he told her that he didn’t care about that.  Piper also told him that her husband was the only person she had ever been with.  

Anderson drove for 40 miles in the opposite direction of where Larisa had been taken.  When he got to his predetermined place, he parked and got his bondage board ready.  He repeatedly raped Piper on the bondage board then strangled her while he looked into her eyes.  He told Brunner that he dumped her body on private property on the river and put her body in a spot where it couldn’t be carried away. 

Anderson also told Brunner everything about the tire poppers and what he used the wooden dowels for.  Brunner told Anderson that Walker would get pinned for everything and he would get a mistrial.  Brunner also asked for items to plant as evidence.  Anderson initially didn’t want to give up his jewelry trophies, but ultimately told Brunner about Larisa’s heart-shaped pendant and Piper’s Black Hills gold wedding band.  He also told him about two sets of handcuffs and his 9mm pistol.  He told Brunner that they could all be found in the ceiling rafters at his mother’s house.  

Brunner told Anderson that in order to do it, it would cost him $2,000.  He would need to deposit $500 into his brother’s account now and the balance was to be paid once he got out.  Brunner also had him draw up two separate maps for him.  One map of the floor layout of his mother’s house pointing out where the items were hidden and a second map of Glen Walker’s home.  

After gathering all of this information, Brunner called him mom and the two of them decided that he needed to speak with someone about this.  Brunner had his mom call the prison about speaking with him in regard to the information he had.  He had his mom call because it would be more reputable than if he said he had information.  

A prison caseworker named Darin Young spoke with Brunner.  Brunner told him that Anderson took Nathan’s tent from the Streyle house because there was a bullet hole in it, not to dispose of Piper’s body.  He told Young to check out the room and then come back and see him.  Young contacted police and they went over to the Streyle home.  When they lifted up the carpet in the kids’ room, they found a bullet hole in the floor.  They searched under the trailer and found a 9mm slug.  

The prosecution spoke with Brunner and he told them everything that Anderson had told him.  He said that Anderson told him that he would do it again if he got out and that Brunner could work with him and that he wanted to do what he did to Larisa and Piper to the prison nurse.  Brunner gave the prosecution the maps that Anderson had drawn and a warrant was signed to search his mother’s home.  Within five minutes, they found the items Anderson said would be there. 

Bill Dumansky had never stopped looking for his wife, even hiring psychics and private investigators.  By this time, Vance had accepted that Piper wasn’t missing.  On August 26, 1997, both Bill and Vance received phone calls asking them to come down to the police station to identify some of their wife’s belongings.  The two arrived at the station at about the same time.  When Bill was shown his wife’s necklace, he was very upset and Vance took him into another room to speak with him privately.  After some time, the two men came out and Bill was ready to move forward with the next steps. 

Finding Larisa’s Remains

During all of this, Glen Walker decided to come forward to police and told them that he could lead them to Larisa Dumansky’s remains.  He said that he would do this in exchange for immunity.  The police asked him what he needed immunity for and he said that Anderson had driven him to the remains.  They told him that wasn’t a crime and he didn’t need immunity for it.  So, he agreed to take them to the chokecherry bush.  

When they got to the spot where Walker said Larisa’s remains would be, volunteers dug up the area.  About 200 yards from the gravesite, using a backhoe, they found a rib, fragments of a pair of jeans including its leather patch, duct tape, 15 9mm shell casings and 6 in the grave, two jersey gloves bleached by the sun, a white athletic sock with two foot bones inside and two women’s Dexter sandals one of which had a toe bone inside.  The bones were sent to the lab for DNA testing and using blood samples that Bill got from Larisa’s parents in Russia, they were found to be a match. 

The insane amount of shell casings found were because Anderson would go back to the site and shoot rounds into the grave. 

Murder Trial

After hearing this information from Brunner, finding the evidence at Andersoon’s mom’s house and finding Larisa’s remains, Anderson was put on trial for the murders of Larisa Dumansky and Piper Streyle.  There was one trial for both murders.  Brunner had been released from prison prior to the trial, but the prosecution deposed him while he was still in prison in case anything went awry.  Brunner did get arrested before the trial but was able to testify in court.  

Anderson had told Brunner that he considered himself a serial killer because they keep something from each victim and so did he.  Technically, three murders need to take place in order to be a serial killer.  Because of this, Anderson does qualify as Larisa as six weeks pregnant at the time of her death.  Brunner detailed to the court what Anderson had told him in their prison cell.  

Anderson was found guilty of both murders and sentenced to death. 

Glen Walker, because he didn’t have an immunity deal with the prosecution, was charged with Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping of Larisa Dumansky, Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping and Murder of Amy Anderson, Attempted Kidnapping and Attempted Murder of Amy Anderson and an alternate count of Conspiracy to Commit Kidnapping and Murder.  He was indicted on August 18, 1998 and arrested within a week.  He was also considered an accessory in Piper Streyle’s murder.  He took a plea deal which was for 25 years and transactional immunity meaning he couldn’t be charged with any other crime in Larisa’s, Amy’s or Piper’s cases.  At his sentencing, the judge didn’t buy his story so he was sentenced to 30 years with the eligibility of parole after 14 years.  He was repeatedly denied parole, but was released on December 24, 2015. 

After Anderson’s sentencing, Elaine divorced him and moved on with her life.  Anderson’s cell was searched one day and a razor blade had been found so he was put in isolation.  He was checked on every fifteen minutes.  After a check, he tied a bedsheet to the frame and hung himself in his cell. 

The Families

Both Piper’s and Larisa’s children grew up in happy and healthy homes and are doing well.  Both Bill and Vance remarried.  

Shaina Fertig, Piper’s daughter, published a book in November of 2022 called A Call to Remember about her mother’s kidnapping and murder.