‘I felt so bad, like what the hell have I done? I’m a monster.’

WAYNE and Judy Anderson were waiting for their family to arrive for Christmas. One family member did — with a gun.

Michele Anderson (R) pleads non-guilty to six counts of aggravated first-degree murder in Seattle, Washington January 10, 2008, for the Christmas Eve massacre of six of her relatives. REUTERS/Marcus R. Donner (UNITED STATES) - RTX5F92

WAYNE and Judy Anderson were gathered around the Christmas tree waiting for their family to arrive.

It was Christmas Eve 2007 and the couple’s home in Carnation, Washington state, was about to become the scene of a massacre.

They can’t have seen it coming, or if they did, they had little time to react. Police say the killers were the Anderson’s daughter Michele, now 37, and her partner Joseph McEnroe who had been living on a mobile home on the property.

They allege their motivation for murder came down to money.

The first to die was Wayne. Then his wife, who saw it all happen as she was wrapping presents to place under the tree. Their bodies were hidden out of sight in a backyard shed

Then the killers waited.

According to the police case being heard in court at Michele’s trial for six counts of murder, soon after the parents were killed her brother Scott, his wife Erica, and their children Olivia, 5, and Nathan, 3, arrived.

They were expecting to celebrate Christmas — instead they too all were gunned down in cold blood.

Young victims, Olivia and Nathan Anderson.

Scott Anderson was the first to die. The trial has heard he tried to fight her off, but was shot in the face by his sister. Erica called 911 and was connected for a few seconds — where a few faint screams could be heard — before the call was cut off.

Forensic experts have testified in chilling detail about what happened next.

Nathan had his head on his mothers chest when the bullet struck him. Fox 13 reported an autopsy found a strand of Nathan’s hair and bone matter inside Erica’s lungs, proving how close he was to his mother. Prosecutor Scott O’Toole: “In her final, furious last moments of her life, Erica Anderson looked into the eyes of the woman and man killing her family.” She was shot multiple times.

He then described what occurred next. “[Nathan] placed his head against her chest next to her heart and then Joseph McEnroe fired a bullet into Nathan’s head.”

It is the police case that Michele killed her father and brother and then McEnroe killed the other three victims.

Wayne and Judy Anderson.

He faced a separate trial last year and was convicted of six counts of murder. He is now serving a life sentence.

Mr O’Toole said it was the prosecution belief they were both equally to blame.

Michele’s sister told the court of threats she had heard her sister make threats against her parents. She never believed she would act on them.

“Who thinks family is going to kill family? So I didn’t think it was serious, she was angry,” Mary Victoria Anderson said, according to Fox 13.

It is alleged the defendants were angry they had been asked to pay rent in the mobile home located on the Anderson property.

Local media have reported that Anderson tried to plead insanity before the trial but was assessed as being fit to stand trial. However, she has refused to speak with her defence lawyers

Interviews the pair gave after their arrest—where they admitted what they had done — have formed crucial parts of the prosecution case.

Erica Anderson was shot multiple times.

Scott Anderson was shot in the face.

“In fact, Anderson mentioned money as the motive more than 35 times in the course of that interview,” Mr O’Toole told the jury.

Jurors were able to read a transcript of the interview. In it, Michele Anderson admits the story she and McEnroe initially told police, about going to Las Vegas to get married, was false.

“It’s my fault … I’m sorry … It’s not Joe’s fault. It’s all me.” She claimed she had “guilt-tripped” McEnroe into helping her and said she didn’t want him to go to jail, reported The Seattle Times.

Later she claimed only her brother was supposed to die — because he owed her money.

“I’m in a lot of trouble now over some stupid money,” the transcript reads.

During his trial last year, McEnroe and his lawyers claimed he had been coerced to kill by Anderson, who he alleged had moulded him “into an attack dog.”

An aerial view of the home where the massacre happened.

Joseph McEnroe is led into court. Picture: AP

McEnroe told the jury at his trial Anderson “did everything she could, every angle and every way to convince” him to kill her family, NBC affiliate Channel 5 reported.

When the police officer interviewing Anderson asked about why the children were killed she purportedly told him it was because they witnessed the killings and she didn't want them to be “scarred for life”.

“They were clinging to their mum screaming. Sorry,” she said. “I just thought if they saw their parents dead that they’d be scarred for life.”

“I felt so bad, like what the hell have I done? I’m a monster.”

Closing arguments in the trial are expected to begin this week before the jury retires to consider whether she is a monster who killed her family around a Christmas tree eight years ago.

Originally published as ‘I felt so bad, like what the hell have I done? I’m a monster.’