Annie Anderson

In the winter of 1924, Annie Anderson, a 39-year-old wife and mother, was known as a reliable and dedicated business owner in Billings, Montana. Together with her husband, Nels, she operated a bustling barber shop and an adjoining marcel parlor on Minnesota Avenue. The couple lived nearby on Custer Avenue, raising their four young children. Annie was not the type to stay out late; her life revolved around her family and the business she and her husband had built in the fast-growing "Magic City."

The evening of Saturday, December 6, 1924, was the last time anyone saw the Andersons alive. They were preparing to close their shop and head home with groceries they had purchased. The next morning, their housekeeper, Anna Erickson, grew worried when the couple hadn't returned home to their children. She notified the police, who went to the shop at 2912 Minnesota Avenue. There, they found the family's car still parked outside. Peering under a drawn window shade, officers saw the first sign of the horror within: Nels Anderson’s hand dangling over a chair.

After breaking down the door, Billings Police Corporal Charles Heagney and Officer William Laurelle uncovered a brutal crime scene. Nels was found sitting in a barber chair, still in his overcoat and wearing one glove. Annie, still wearing her hat and fur coat, was discovered in a shed at the rear of the property. Investigators determined she had been attacked and killed in the marcel parlor, where blood spray covered the grocery packages they had been about to take home. Her body was then dragged to the shed. She had suffered four deep lacerations. Both Annie and her husband had been bludgeoned to death with an axe that the couple kept on the premises for splitting wood.

The initial investigation by the Billings Police Department quickly ruled out robbery as a motive. The cash register had not been disturbed, and both Annie and Nels still had money in their pockets. There were no signs of a struggle, suggesting they were taken by surprise just as they were about to leave for the night. The killer appeared to have washed their hands in a basin inside the shop and wiped down the axe handle, as police were unable to find any usable fingerprints. Detectives combed through the Andersons' correspondence, looking for anyone who might have had a conflict with them, and the search for suspects extended to nearby towns, but no arrests were ever made.

One witness, a young woman who walked past the shop around 9 p.m., told police she heard loud talking inside, possibly an argument between Mr. Anderson and a man she described as "dark." However, this lead went nowhere. The prevailing theory at the time was that the killer might have jumped on a train and left the area for good, vanishing without a trace. The shocking double homicide became one of the oldest and most infamous unsolved cases in the history of Billings and the state of Montana.

Over the decades, the story of the Anderson murders has been passed down, a chilling piece of local history. The couple's four children were left orphaned by the violent act. One hundred years later, in December 2024, the couple's grandson, Glenn Pomeroy, traveled from California to Billings to visit their graves and the site of the murders. He recalled how his mother, who was only four at the time of her parents' deaths, treasured their memory. "Their lives are not in vain because they live on in our hearts," Pomeroy shared.

As of February 2026, the murders of Annie and Nels Anderson remain unsolved. The case is no longer listed as an active cold case with the Billings Police Department, but family members, including grandchildren and great-grandchildren, remain keenly interested in finding answers. The brutal killing of a hardworking couple on the verge of heading home to their children is a story that still lingers, a century-old question waiting for an answer in the heart of the Magic City.