Son-In-Law Faces Murder Charges -- Two Killed, One Hurt Before Puyallup Fire

TACOMA - Dennis Laverne Anfinson said he was in a cocaine-induced blackout when he allegedly attacked his wife and her parents with metal skillets and a knife, then set the Puyallup home on fire, leaving them all for dead early Tuesday, according to court documents.

Pierce County prosecutors yesterday charged the 30-year-old man with two counts of aggravated-first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in the slayings of the Puyallup couple and the assault on their 25-year-old daughter.

Anfinson pleaded not guilty and was being held in lieu of $1 million bail while awaiting a pretrial hearing next Thursday.

Deputy Prosecutor Gerald Horne said the death penalty may be sought in the killing of George Andrews, 51, and Betty Andrews, 50. The prosecutor's office has until Aug. 15 to file notice.

The suspect's wife, Kathleen Anfinson, 25, was in stable condition last night at Good Samaritan Hospital. Her 8-year-old son was also in the house at the time of the fire but escaped through a window without injury. He is staying with an uncle, police said.

The papers filed in court yesterday paint a scene of drug-fueled violence at the rented home on 26th Street Southeast in Puyallup early Tuesday morning.

Anfinson told police that he met a friend in downtown Tacoma and smoked cocaine before heading to the Puyallup home, the court papers say.

He showed up at the house with a male friend and a female prostitute, then left them in his pickup while he went in through a window searching for money to buy drugs, court papers say.

His wife, Kathleen Anfinson, told police her husband beat and stabbed her parents, then chased her down the stairs of the house, the court papers say.

After he cut her arm with a knife and beat her with a skillet, Kathleen Anfinson pretended to be dead, according to the papers. She saw her husband pour gasoline in the downstairs room and then light it, the court papers say.

Neighbors in the neighborhood were awakened when Kathleen Anfinson ran out of the burning house and started banging on doors for help. A neighbor across the street called 911.

More than half the house was burned in the fire.

Anfinson has a criminal history in the county. According to Pierce County Superior Court records, he pleaded guilty to second-degree assault in July 1986. His sentence included time for chemical dependency. His record also includes convictions for first-degree robbery in 1992, second-degree burglary in 1991 and a drug charge in 1988.