Anderson had been incarcerated for one count of aggravated burglary in 1971 and three counts of aggravated burglary in 1973. While incarcerated at Utah State Prison, Anderson murdered an inmate, assaulted another inmate, and assaulted a correctional officer. Anderson also admitted to six other contract killings in Las Vegas, Nevada that happened prior to the crime for which he received a death sentence.  On November 24, 1979, Anderson escaped from prison, after which he worked for narcotics traffickers and committed a contract killing in the eastern mountains of Salt Lake County, Utah.

On May 26, 1980, Anderson, then 26, burglarized the house of 81-year-old Elizabeth Lyman, a retired piano teacher. In the middle of the night, Anderson cut Lyman’s telephone line with a knife, and broke into her home by removing a glass pane from her French doors. Anderson checked the house for occupants room by room. When he entered Lyman’s bedroom, she awoke and screamed. Anderson shot her in the face from close range with a .45 caliber handgun causing her death. Anderson then prepared himself a bowl of noodles and poured himself a glass of milk in Lyman’s kitchen. A suspicious next-door neighbor called the sheriff’s department. As Anderson was eating the noodles he had prepared and was watching television, sheriff’s deputies responded to the call and arrested him.

On July 24, 1981, a San Bernardino County jury sentenced Anderson to death. His last meal before the execution was two grilled cheese sandwiches, one pint of cottage cheese, a hominy/corn mixture, one slice of peach pie, one pint of chocolate chip ice cream, and radishes. On January 29, 2002, Anderson was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison. He was pronounced dead at 12:30 a.m.