WILMINGTON — A 63-year-old man was sentenced Monday to 18 to 22 years in prison for the killing of his 83-year-old father.
Marshall Todd Anderson was arrested and charged with second degree murder in February 2023 after the his son asked law enforcement for help finding his grandfather, William Thomas Anderson.
The grandson report his William Anderson missing in the early evening of Thursday, February 22, 2024. He reported going to William Anderson’s residence at 905 Marlow Street to check in on his grandfather, who had begun to display signs of dementia.
The grandson found his father, the defendant, at the residence, who told him he had seen William Anderson only a minute before. The grandson also reported his father had history of drug abuse and altercations with the deceased.
When the grandson began to search the house and then the yard for his grandfather, Marshall Anderson told him not to disturb a blue tarp in the backyard under which he claimed there was trash.
The grandson began to search the surrounding neighborhood and called 911. When deputies with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office met the grandson at the residence, they found that Marshall Anderson had left the scene. They thought that the defendant may have been looking for the grandfather; however, it was later determined that the defendant had asked a neighbor to drive him to Walmart as patrol vehicles approached the residence.
Deputies then located William Anderson’s body under the tarp in the backyard. The medical examiner determined that he had been dead for at least half a day, and a pathologist determined the cause of death to be multiple blunt-force injuries.
According to a press release from the DA’s office, the grandson spoke at Monday’s sentencing and spoke about the harm inflicted on his family and loved ones, including the “heartbreak when someone chooses drugs over their own family.”
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