Chilling details emerge in Wash. family massacre

He then shot 6-year-old Olivia before turning to 3-year-old Nathan, who had picked up the batteries from the cordless phone his mother had used in her futile attempt to call for help.

Satterberg said McEnroe told detectives he apologized to both children before killing them.

"McEnroe told detectives that Nathan held the batteries up in one hand and gave '..the look of complete comprehension ... as if he understood." McEnroe than fired on last bullet through Nathan's head, according to the affidavit.

When asked why he shot Erica, Olivia and Nathan, McEnroe told detectives three times: "I didn't want them to turn us in," according to the affidavit.

Michele Anderson told investigators "it was a combination of not wanting them to have to live with the memories and not wanting there to be any witnesses."

After the killings, McEnroe and Anderson first drove north toward Canada, then south toward the neighboring state of Oregon arriving at neither destination. They then decided to go back and pretend to discover the bodies, Satterberg said.

When they arrived Wednesday, investigators were already there.

Detectives, curious that neither McEnroe nor Michele Anderson asked what had happened at the bustling crime scene, began questioning them and they eventually confessed, according to the documents.

Telephone calls to public defender George Eppler, Anderson's attorney, and Devon Gibbs, McEnroe's lawyer, were not immediately returned Friday.

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