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Kendall Anderson, then 16, and his mother Rashida Anderson, 37, of the 400 block of Jackson Street, were fighting for hours the night of Nov. 25, 2011 — the day after Thanksgiving.
“In the statement, he said, ‘We argued all the time and I just got tired of it,’” Assistant District Attorney Carolyn Naylor said of the statement that was read to the court as a requirement for his plea agreement, a deal that will land him 25 to 50 years behind bars.
He then went to his room and the single mother of two went to sleep, he said.
“I grabbed the hammer I had in my room while I was walking back and forth thinking whether I should do it or not,” he said, according to the statement.
He struck her multiple times in the head, face, back and arms with the claw part of the hammer, causing facial and skull fractures, as well as puncture wounds, Naylor said. She also suffered burn marks to her body when he tried to place her in the oven. She died from blunt force trauma to the head, but it is unknown at which point of the attack she succumbed.
Anderson reported his mother missing to police two days later, according to authorities. Further investigation led homicide detectives to an alley behind the Andersons’ Whitman home where they discovered her body covered by items such as a flower pots and cinder blocks.
Anderson and the family agreed to a plea that included 20 to 40 years in jail for third-degree murder, two to four years for possession of an instrument of crime and one to two years each for abuse of a corpse, filing a false report and tampering with evidence, Naylor said. Anderson, who, without the plea, could have faced life in prison for first-degree murder, will begin his sentence at the Graterford state prison in Montgomery County, but will likely relocate to Pine Grove, a juvenile facility in western Pennsylvania.
Anderson, who did not have a prior criminal record aside from an adjudication for a theft, did express remorse in his statement, Naylor said noting she could not speak on behalf of the family.
“They’re in the middle of a situation where the defendant is still here and the mother is not, so I can’t imagine what they’re going through emotionally,” she said.
Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
Also in May’s Court Report:
Drug traffickers
Sentencing to come
Serial robbers face federal charges
Serving five to 10
This week’s Police Report:
Puzzling slaughter
Teen slaying
Police meeting 06-07-12
This week’s Web-exclusive Police Report:
Red-light gunfire
Swiped clean
Crowd shot
Cashed out
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