PORTAGE, Wisconsin — On November 28, 1994, Jesse Anderson was killed by Christopher Scarver while serving a life sentence in a Wisconsin prison for murdering his wife.
It was a case that garnered less attention but was equally as shocking. Anderson, already serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife, was attacked and killed by Scarver just moments after Scarver also killed serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.
Anderson’s violent death had roots in his own crimes. He had been serving a life sentence for the 1992 murder of his wife, Barbara. The two were found brutally attacked in a parking lot in Milwaukee after Jesse had claimed that two unidentified Black men had assaulted them in a robbery gone wrong.
However, the investigation took a turn when it was revealed that Anderson himself had fabricated the story, and that he had actually been the one to attack his wife. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 60 years, but his sentence was never carried out.
While in prison, Anderson’s racist actions and behavior led to his being targeted by Scarver, who saw an opportunity to take out both Anderson and Dahmer. He attacked Anderson and Dahmer with a metal bar, leading to their deaths. Scarver later revealed that he believed Anderson to be racist, as evidenced by Anderson’s defacement of a painting of Martin Luther King Jr.
In the end, Jesse Anderson faced the ultimate justice for the cold-blooded murder of his wife, even if the news of his death barely made a blip in the media alongside headlines about Jeffrey Dahmer’s demise.