Hi-Fi Murders - Arrests

Arrests

The bodies were discovered almost three hours later, when Orren's wife and other son came to the store looking for them. Orren's son heard noises coming from the basement and broke down the back door while Mrs. Walker called the Ogden police. Stanley Walker and Ansley were already dead; Carol Naisbitt was taken by ambulance to Ogden Regional Medical Center but was pronounced dead on arrival. Cortney, though not expected to live, survived with severe and irreparable brain damage; he was hospitalized for 266 days before being released. Orren Walker survived with extensive burns to his mouth and chin, as well as the damage to his ear caused by the pen.

Hours after news of the crime broke, an anonymous Air Force employee called the Ogden police and told them that Andrews had confided to him months earlier, "One of these days I'm going to rob that Hi-Fi shop, and if anybody gets in the way, I'm going to kill them." Hours later, two teenage boys dumpster diving near Hill Air Force Base, where Pierre and Andrews were stationed, contacted the police after discovering the victims' wallets and purses, recognizing their pictures from the drivers' licenses.

The detective who responded to the scene, believing that the killers might be in the crowd, put on a show for the gathered airmen. Speaking dramatically, he waved each piece of evidence in the air with tongs as he removed it from the dumpster. Later, he noted that most of the service personnel who gathered around the dumpster stood still and watched in relative silence, with the exception of two men, later identified to be Pierre and Andrews, who paced around the crowd, speaking loudly and making frantic gestures with their hands. The detective later received an award from the Utah branch of the Justice Department for his use of proactive techniques.

Based on the two men's reactions to the evidence being removed from the trash bin, and the officer's implication of Andrews, Pierre and Andrews were arrested. A search warrant was then issued for their barracks. Police found fliers for the Hi-Fi Shop and a rental contract for a unit at a public storage facility. Following the issuance of another search warrant, stereo equipment taken from the Hi-Fi Shop, later identified via serial numbers, was recovered from the unit. Also recovered was the half-empty bottle of Drano that had been used on the hostages.

With the collection of the evidence, Pierre and Andrews were formally charged with first-degree murder and aggravated robbery. Another airman, Keith Roberts, who had waited outside the Hi-Fi Shop in a getaway vehicle, was charged with armed robbery.