Lancaster Man Convicted in 1996 Slayings of 3 in Arizona

A jury Wednesday took just three hours to convict Frank Anderson of Lancaster of killing three members of an Arizona family, rejecting his defense that he was merely a bystander protecting his 14-year-old girlfriend when he cut a teenage boy’s throat.

Anderson, 49, stared straight ahead and showed no emotion as a Mohave County Superior Court clerk read guilty verdicts on charges of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit murder and three counts of first-degree murder.

Anderson, a former trailer park manager, could be sentenced to death. He faces a minimum of life imprisonment without parole for the August 1996 slayings of Roland Wear, 50; Wear’s girlfriend, Leta Kagen, 37, and Kagen’s 15-year-old son, Robert Delahunt.

Under Arizona law, Anderson’s convictions are subject to automatic appeal.

Prosecutors painted Anderson as a murderer who, after abandoning his invalid wife, ran away with 14-year-old Kimberly Lane of Lancaster, hooked up with drifter Robert Poyson and killed three people who were kind enough to take them in.

Poyson and Lane are awaiting trial on the same charges. Poyson, 21, who is scheduled to go on trial March 2, could face the death penalty. Lane, now 15, cannot be executed because of her age, though she will be tried as an adult.

Anderson is scheduled to be sentenced March 18.

His defense placed the blame on Poyson, described by Mohave County Public Defender Ken Everett during closing arguments Wednesday as a “homicidal-maniacal” man who took control of the killing spree motivated by a desire to steal Wear’s pickup truck.

“All the death blows in this case, every single one of them, was by Bobby Poyson,” Everett said.

But jury foreman Scott Cumberledge said the nine-man, five-woman jury didn’t buy it.

“We felt the defendant was a willing participant in all of the crimes and was not threatened or coerced into them,” he said.

In August 1996, Wear and Kagen were found shot in the face in Kagen’s shabby trailer anchored on the outskirts of a remote desert community known as Golden Valley. Delahunt was found badly beaten with his throat cut and a knife protruding from his skull.

It was the first triple slaying in Mohave County in more than three decades.

On Wednesday, Chief Deputy Mohave County Atty. Jace Zack conceded Poyson was directly responsible for the deaths of the victims, but argued Anderson was guilty as an accomplice in the three-way conspiracy.

“The law holds people responsible for their actions, even if they don’t inflict the fatal blows,” Zack told the jury.

During separate police interviews after the killings, Anderson admitted slashing Delahunt’s throat, but maintained he was responding to the screams of Lane, his girlfriend. But then, Anderson told detectives, he helped hold down the teenager as Poyson used a rock to pound a bread knife into the boy’s head through his ear.

The prosecution alleged that as part of the plot to kill the family, Lane had enticed the teenage boy into a kissing session where he could be attacked by the men.

Everett told the jury Wednesday that his client was shocked after Delahunt was killed and terrified he might be Poyson’s next victim. Under duress, Everett said, Anderson complied with orders when he held the lantern to provide needed light so Poyson could shoot Kagen and Wear. Everett said Anderson was also ordered to strike the wounded Wear with the lantern, and hand Poyson the cinder-block used to crush Wear’s skull.

Anderson and Lane met when they both lived at the Lancaster mobile home park he managed. According to prosecution testimony at pretrial hearings, they began a romantic relationship and Anderson convinced her he had Mafia ties in Illinois, where she could become a “Mafia goddaughter.”

According to testimony, Anderson and Lane left the park together in July 1996, bound for Chicago, and got as far as Nevada, where they met Poyson, who was staying with the Kagens.

After the killings, the trio drove to Illinois and split up, according to testimony. Anderson was arrested Aug. 18 while driving Wears’ pickup truck. Lane and Poyson were arrested days later at a homeless shelter where they checked in as a married couple.

After her arrest, Lane gave birth to a child she said she believes was fathered by Anderson. The baby was given to her mother and stepfather, who live in Chino Valley, Ariz.

Zack said he was happy with the outcome of the seven-day trial.

“It’s not our policy in this office to notch our guns and keep track of wins and losses,” the prosecutor said.

“We’re just happy to make sure that justice is served. I feel a sense of obligation to the victims, their families and the people of Mohave County.”