Prosecutors: Teens Had `Hit List' -- Kimberly Wilson Was Among Intended Victims; Baranyi Pleads Not Guilty

David C. Anderson and Alex Baranyi, the teens charged with killing four members of a Bellevue family, compiled a "hit list" of potential murder victims that included Kimberly Wilson, prosecutors say.

Anderson had boasted to acquaintances for more than a year that he had devised a plan to kill Kimberly Wilson and her family, prosecutors say in papers charging each of the two 17-year-old high-school dropouts with four counts of aggravated first-degree murder in the slayings of the entire Wilson family Jan. 4.

Anderson showed at least one person a baseball bat and several knives he claimed he would use to kill the family, prosecutors say in charging papers filed yesterday. No murder weapons have been found.

Anderson and Baranyi, described as inseparable friends, are accused of strangling and beating to death Kimberly, 20, early Jan. 4, and then going to her house and bludgeoning and stabbing her parents, Rose, 46, and William Wilson, 52, and sister Julia, 17.

Prosecutors and Bellevue Police say they continue to explore the possibility that other suspects may exist, but they wouldn't elaborate.

Baranyi pleaded not guilty today in King County Superior Court, where his attorneys indicated they may challenge the 1994 law that allows the state to try 16- and 17-year-old suspects as adults.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Patricia Eakes said after the arraignment that the state expects to try both teens together and as adults.

"Obviously this is one of the most hideous and violent crimes we've seen," Eakes said.

Relatives of the Wilsons attended the arraignment.

Baranyi was arrested last week and charged Tuesday. Anderson was arrested this week and charged yesterday. Both face life in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors have declined to comment on the "hit list," or on how many people may have been on it, or why those named were targeted.

Why Kimberly Wilson was targeted also wasn't revealed.

Prosecutors contend that Anderson beat Kimberly Wilson while Baranyi strangled her. Kimberly Wilson's body was discovered at a small neighborhood park in Bellevue. Prosecutors say the pair then went to the Wilson home and killed the other three members of the family to cover up the slaying of Kimberly.

Baranyi refused to directly implicate Anderson in the slayings, prosecutors say. But Baranyi conceded after questioning that Anderson was his best friend and that an accomplice beat Kimberly Wilson and later accompanied him to the Wilson home in Bellevue's Woodridge neighborhood.

Clues in home, pickup

Two different sets of bloody footprints were found in the Wilson home, along with part of a black T-shirt. A similar portion of a T-shirt was found in a small pickup authorities say Anderson drove the night of the killings.

Also found in the truck, prosecutors say, was a piece of rope that appears "indistinguishable from that used to strangle Kimberly Wilson."

After the pickup was impounded, blood was found in the passenger side, authorities contend.

Police later talked to Anderson's girlfriend, who confirmed that he had her father's truck the night the slayings occurred. But she said Anderson told her he had sat in the truck at a park that night and early morning.

Both defendants were interviewed on Jan. 7, three days after the slayings, and said they were together during the time of the killings - playing video games at Baranyi's residence.

Two days later, Anderson was interviewed a second time and told police he had been driving around the city alone during the time of the slayings. He told detectives he'd lied the first time when he told them he'd spent the night playing video games.

Anderson has no criminal record, but law-enforcement reports show he was investigated for property damage in a hit-and-run incident, for attempted arson for lighting a political yard sign and for grand theft in the disappearance of a cash-machine card from his parents' house.

About $1,800 was missing from his parents' account. No charges were filed in any of those cases.

Anderson also was reported by his parents as a runaway in late 1995, police records show. His parents wouldn't accept him back home.

`Gothic' and `hyper'

Anderson has been described as Baranyi's inseparable friend, whether at an Eastgate bowling alley, in a window booth at Denny's or on the streets of Bellevue after dark.

Anderson grew up on Southeast 25th Street in Bellevue, two blocks from where Baranyi's family moved in 1989 and less than five blocks from the park where Kimberly Wilson's body was found.

The boys attended Chinook Middle School, Bellevue High School and the alternative Off-Campus School together, dropping out within days of each other last November.

At 17, both had left home and moved in with friends.

Together, they played video games, crafted swords out of duct tape and cardboard, and impersonated "Beavis and Butt-head," the ne'er-do-well teenagers from an animated MTV program and movie.

Anderson and Baranyi dressed alike, in the dark colors and occasionally whitened faces of the "gothic" scene, and enjoyed role-playing games.

When they needed a job, they both worked brief stints as laborers at Rite-Way Waterproofing in Seattle, where Anderson's older brother was employed.

Their falling-outs were frequent, one friend said. But it was never long before the two were together again, walking in their black trench coats through their suburban neighborhoods or laughing raucously over coffee at Denny's.

"They were always joking around and being hyper," said Rich Mack, who lived with Anderson and Anderson's girlfriend in a Renton apartment for about a month in November.

It was in a crowd that their differences showed.

Baranyi often seemed to shrink around large groups of teenagers, sometimes appearing sullen or aloof. But Anderson, outgoing and energetic, was buoyed by attention.

One acquaintance described Anderson as a "goth jock," into the gothic scene of dark clothing and early-morning hours, but also into sports.

Zach DeJongh, who has been hanging out with Anderson and Baranyi for three years, said Anderson is a good wrestler who at times has started fights.

"He's got a slight mean streak," DeJongh said.

But he could also be friendly, even charming, and a hit with girls his age, acquaintances said. Baranyi, on the other hand, seemed to fumble around girls.

And Baranyi talked more about violence, friends said, sometimes embarrassing Anderson with his bragging. Baranyi had a sword and knife collection.

Like Anderson, Baranyi has no criminal record, but he was questioned in an April 1996 alleged assault of a 16-year-old girl. Prosecutors didn't file charges.

Both sets of parents have declined to comment on their sons' arrests.

Information from Seattle Times staff reporters Susan Byrnes, Ronald K. Fitten, Putsata Reang and Duff Wilson is included in this report.