‘Murder Ordained’ Figure to Be Paroled

A former Emporia minister who killed his wife in 1983 and solicited the murder of the husband of his church secretary soon will be a free man.

The Kansas Parole Board on Friday granted parole to Thomas Bird, who has served 20 years of a life sentence for killing his wife, Sandy, while having an affair with his secretary, Lorna Anderson. Bird hadn’t been scheduled for a parole hearing until December, but the board approved a special request to see him after three public comment sessions last month in Topeka.

He was convicted in 1984 of solicitation of first-degree murder for trying to get someone to kill Anderson’s husband, Martin Anderson. A year later, he was convicted of first-degree murder in his wife’s death. But Bird was acquitted in 1990 in Geary County of the first-degree murder of Martin Anderson.

In July 1983, Bird killed his wife, pushed her car over an embankment of a river near Emporia, then placed her body in the car, authorities said. Bird’s story was the focus of a 1987 television miniseries, “Murder Ordained,” and a book published in 2000 titled “Caged Bird,” which maintained his innocence.

“This is wonderful, praise the Lord. I am so happy,” said the Rev. Kenneth Kothe of Burnsville, Minn., a former theological classmate of Bird’s.

Sandy Bird’s mother and stepfather, Jane and Jerry Grismer of Little Rock, Ark., said they had no comment on Bird’s parole. The couple had pleaded with the parole board in Topeka last month to deny parole.

Bird will be released after his post-release plan has been approved by the local parole office, said parole board administrator Colene Fischli.

“He does have some special conditions of parole, but they relate to programming issues, so those are confidential,” she said.

“He will have to abide by those standard conditions of parole, as well as the conditions imposed by the board ... and any conditions the parole officer may place on him.”