A North Carolina man, aged 63, has been sentenced to a prison term of 18 to 22 years for the murder of his 83-year-old father. Marshall Todd Anderson was convicted for the 2024 killing of William Thomas Anderson, whose body was found hidden under a tarp in his own backyard. The sentencing was announced by a New Hanover County judge on Monday.
The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office reported that deputies responded to a welfare check request from a family member at around 8 p.m. on Feb. 22, 2024. The elder Anderson’s residence, located in the 900 block of Marlowe Drive in Wilmington, North Carolina, approximately 125 miles southeast of Raleigh, was the site of the investigation.
Upon arrival, first responders conducted a search of the property and discovered the victim’s body concealed in the backyard. The elder Anderson was declared dead at the scene. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
Marshall Anderson was swiftly identified as a person of interest in his father’s death. He was located walking down S. College Road, near a local Best Buy, and was promptly arrested. He was then taken to the New Hanover County Detention Facility without bond.
Further details about the circumstances surrounding William Anderson’s death were revealed in court documents obtained by StarNews Online. The victim’s grandson, who had visited his grandfather’s house due to concerns about the elder Anderson’s early signs of dementia, found his father at the residence. Marshall Anderson allegedly told his son that he had just seen his grandfather a minute earlier.
The report further stated that when the grandson began to search the house and yard for his grandfather, Marshall Anderson warned him not to disturb a blue tarp in the backyard, claiming it covered trash. The grandson then searched the neighborhood and called 911. Marshall Anderson reportedly vanished before deputies arrived. Investigators later discovered that he had asked a neighbor for a ride to Walmart when he saw patrol lights approaching the home.
Authorities estimated that William Anderson had been dead for at least 12 hours when his body was found. During the sentencing hearing, several family members addressed the court, expressing their grief and the hardship inflicted on them by the defendant’s actions.