Robert James Anderson (May 29, 1966 – July 20, 2006) was an American criminal convicted and executed for the murder of a five-year-old girl. He was born in

Great Lakes, Illinois Naval Station Great Lakes (NAVSTA Great Lakes) is the home of the United States Navy's only boot camp, located near North Chicago, in Lake County, Illinois. Important tenant commands include the Recruit Training Command, Training Support Center ...

Crimes

Anderson kidnapped and murdered five-year-old Audra Ann Reeves, in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

on June 9, 1992. Anderson told police that he kidnapped Reeves as she was returning home from playing in a park. He took her inside his house and

raped Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or agai ...

her. He beat, stabbed, and drowned Reeves, then stored her body in a styrofoam ice chest. Her body was found that day by a neighbor throwing out trash. Anderson was identified as the person who discarded the chest, was apprehended by police, and confessed almost immediately. Anderson said he committed the crime after a dispute with his wife of eight months. The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

quoted Anderson as saying, "The whole day revolved around the fight. She stormed out of the house and said when she returned she didn't want to find me."

Execution

Anderson was

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

and was executed by lethal injection in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

on July 20, 2006. He is buried at

Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery The Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery is the main prison cemetery of the U.S. state of Texas, located in Huntsville and operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The colloquial name for the cemetery is Peckerwood Hill. The name originat ...

Footnotes

References

Offender Information
''

Texas Department of Criminal Justice The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the U.S. state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice for adult offenders, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails ...

''. Retrieved on 2013-07-11.
Last Statement
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''. Retrieved on 2013-07-11.
Robert James Anderson
''The Clark County Prosecuting Attorney''. Retrieved on 2007-11-17. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Robert 1966 births 2006 deaths 1992 murders in the United States 21st-century executions by Texas 21st-century executions of American people American murderers of children American people convicted of murder Executed people from Illinois People convicted of murder by Texas People executed by Texas by lethal injection American people executed for murder People from Great Lakes, Illinois

Crimes

Execution

See also

Footnotes

References