By Brady Averill

Staff Writer

A grand jury will convene on Nov. 27 to decide whether Michael John Anderson should be charged with first-degree murder.

Scott County Judge Mary J. Theisen granted a Scott County prosecutors’ petition Friday morning (Nov. 16) during a pre-trial hearing. Anderson, 19, of Savage was charged Oct. 30 with the second-degree murder (without premeditation) of Katherine Ann Olson. That charge carries a possible sentence of 40 years in prison. In Minnesota, it’s up to a grand jury to decide whether to charge someone with first-degree murder.

Michael Anderson
Anderson is accused of luring 24-year-old Olson to Savage through a Craigslist web advertisement for babysitting. She went missing after answering the ad on Oct. 25. Police determined that Anderson placed the ad, looking for a babysitter to work at his parents’ home on Kipling Avenue. Olson’s body was found in the trunk of her vehicle on the
evening of Oct. 26 in the Rudy Kraemer Park Preserve, just over the Burnsville/Savage border.

Alan Margoles, Anderson’s defense attorney,
requested that his bail be reduced to $150,000 with several conditions, but Judge Theisen denied the request. Margoles argued that the $1 million bail is excessive and impinges upon the defense team’s work. The judge adhered to the current bail and added the condition that
Anderson not be allowed to use the Internet. She also imposed a second bail of $4 million, but without conditions.

Scott County Attorney Pat Ciliberto told reporters that the current bail is necessary, given the seriousness of the crime and the potential flight risk.

Theisen also granted another request from prosecutors to obtain 25 pubic hairs from Anderson. The prosecutors want the hairs
pulled instead of cut because the roots contain DNA evidence. Pubic hair was found on the sleeping bag that covered Olson’s legs when her body was found.

Margoles argued that the procedure is painful and that there is no evidence that it’s necessary to pull the hairs instead of obtaining them other ways.

Ciliberto said after the hearing that the DNA request is fairly standard and he believes it would lead to the truth of what happened.

Margoles also asked that the judge allow Anderson to take a polygraph test in jail and that it not be discoverable in court without Margoles’ consent. Theisen granted the request; however, she said she wanted to talk to law enforcement officials at the jail before she ordered them to allow a polygraph test to be conducted there.

Anderson will return to court Feb. 5 for an omnibus hearing. However, that date could change pending the grand jury’s decision.

After the hearing, Rolf and Nancy Olson -- Katherine’s parents – released a brief statement. They said they will keep their comments to a minimum out of respect for the legal process.

“It remains the wish of the entire Olson family that Katherine be remembered as the incredibly vivacious and compassionate
young woman she was. We continue to grieve her senseless murder,” they said. “Our personal loss is compounded by the loss to the world of this great gift. Katherine’s legacy should not be that of an unfortunate victim, but as a person who lived a good life, a life of faith, a life full of hope, and a life full of concern for people.”

The case:

The case started unraveling on Oct. 26, when someone found a purse in a garbage can near the horseshoe pits at Warren Butler Park –also referred to as Pacer Park – on Ottawa Avenue in downtown Savage.

Police placed a routine call to Olson about the purse, which was returned later in the day by her mother, Nancy Olson, who said she or Katherine would pick it up. Nancy Olson also told police she had not been able to contact her daughter.

When officers called Nancy Olson back, they learned it was unusual for her not to be able to contact her daughter. Nancy Olson told police that she’d been in contact with her daughter’s roommate, who told her that Olson went to Savage on Oct. 25 for a babysitting job.

Police then contacted Olson’s roommate, who told them about the Craigslist ad. He added that Katherine had commented to him after
talking to the woman who posted the ad that “the woman seemed kind of strange.”

Upon investigating Olson’s e-mail account, police found she’d been talking with someone named “Amy” at 12649 Kipling Ave. about a babysitting job. Police subsequently matched up Olson’s e-mail with Anderson’s e-mail and cell phone number.

Police went back to the park and looked in the garbage can for additional evidence. There, they found a garbage bag with a blue-colored towel in it that had numerous red-colored smears that appeared to be blood stains. Wrapped up inside the towel was a smashed
and broken cell phone, belonging to Olson. The blue towel also had Anderson’s name written on it in black marker.

A ground search was conducted in Warren Butler
Park and the surrounding area and when it was unsuccessful, a State Patrol helicopter was brought in with a heat-seeking device to scan for a possible body.

The search of the park in Savage was unsuccessful. But as the helicopter was leaving and flying east on Highway 13, the pilot reported there was a vehicle parked in the lot at the Rudy Kraemer Park Preserve, just over the Burnsville/Savage border. The vehicle was identified by the license plates
as Olson’s and a search of the vehicle resulted in the discovery of her body in the trunk.

According to the criminal complaint, Olson’s body was lying face up with her legs bent at an angle. A sleeping bag covered her lower legs, and her ankles were tied with red twine. The medical examiner concluded she was shot in the back.

Back at Anderson’s house, police gathered evidence that included blood spatter in several locations. Blood drag marks were
found down the stairs and while the bottom of each step had been cleaned, the riser of each had blood stains. There were also drag marks
at the bottom of the stairs and spots of blood.

In Anderson’s bedroom, officers found a .357
magnum handgun and a shell casing. There was blood on the walls of the room and on the mattress of Anderson’s bed.

Anderson was arrested that night as he left his job at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where he fuels planes.

Brady Averill can be reached at baverill@swpub.com