Tragedy struck Smith County September 15, when Amanda Anderson was found shot to death in her home in Chapel Hill. Her brother, 15-year-old Mark Nathaniel Anderson was arrested Wednesday after evidence linked him to the crime.
According to an affidavit, there were several inconsistencies in Nathaniel’s story, claiming to have seen several gun shot wounds in which his sister sustained without going into the room where her body was found.
Investigators state clearly, that blood splatter was found on his clothing, and could not have been there without being present when Amanda was shot and killed. Other reports reveal that Amanda was shot four times in the head.
Nathaniel is facing murder charges and is currently at the Smith County Juvenile Attention Center.
Motive at this time is undetermined, but authorities believe that they have caught the suspect who committed the crime.
EDITORS NOTE: As more information is released we will keep you updated. The update is brought to you by tjcnews online of Tyler Junior College and it’s student newspaper, The Apache Pow Wow.
ADDITIONAL ARTICLE BY STAFF WRITER: Haley Smith
Nate Anderson, the 15-year-old brother of Amanda Anderson, has been arrested and charged for the homicide of the Tyler Junior College student.
Amanda was found shot and killed on September 15 inside of her residence in Chapel Hill. According to the arrest affidavit, it was later determined by autopsy that Amanda had four gunshot wounds in the head. Two in the back, one in the front and one on the side.
According to the arrest documents, DPS certified tool mark examiner John Beene determined that three caliber slugs that were recovered from Amanda’s head during the autopsy were .22 caliber. Four guns were taken from the Anderson residence to be examined, all were .22 calibers.
“The examiner determined that three of the firearms left identifying marks on fired projectiles that eliminated them from being the weapon used to fire the slugs recovered from the victim,” according to the Smith County arrest affidavit.
According to the Smith County Sheriff’s Department, the fourth firearm, a .22 caliber Ruger Mark IV semi-automatic pistol, could not be eliminated. This gun was previously identified by Amanda’s father Mark Anderson as the firearm that was given to his son Nate and that Nate regularly shot the gun.
From the arrest documents, Nate Anderson was the only person in the home when the emergency services entered the residence. While the first responding deputies were in route to the Anderson home, Nate Anderson told the dispatcher in a recorded conversation that he looked in his sister’s room but did not enter the room or touch her. He also said that he could tell she had been shot in the head more than once.
According to the Smith County Sheriff’s Department, the crime scene investigators and detectives who saw the position of the body in the residence determined that from standing in the doorway it was impossible to be able to know that she had been shot in the head and especially to know how many times.
According to the affidavit, there was evidence of blood on the clothing that Nate was during the night of the murder, and the blood is distributed on the clothing in a pattern that is consistent with high-velocity impact spatter.
“High velocity impact spatter can only result from the impact of a bullet or projectile discharged from a firearm into a blood source,” according to the Smith County arrest affidavit. “This pattern could not result from touching or being near the body of the deceased.”
From the arrest records, it is stated that the DNA from the blood on Nate’s clothes was consistent with a DNA taken from Amanda’s body.
“The only way for Amanda Anderson’s blood to appear on the clothes of Nate Anderson in the high-velocity impact pattern was for Nate Anderson to be in the room at the time Amanda Anderson was shot, standing in a right-handed shooting position,” according to the Smith County arrest affidavit.
