Missing woman's ex-husband arrested for kidnap, rape of current wife
12/09/2016 12:00 pm PST
UPDATE September 23, 2019:
More than a decade later, New York State Police investigators continue to comb the case to figure out what happened to Corrie Anderson, WGRZ-TV reports.
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December 9, 2016:
A strange and shocking twist in the mysterious disappearance of young mom Corrie Anderson: Her husband, Ken Anderson, has been arrested on charges of abducting, raping and imprisoning a woman he married after Corrie vanished.
And now news of his arrest has given police and Corrie's family hope that it could be the break in the case they've been waiting for.
It's the latest chapter in a tale of marriage, deception, bigamy and ultimate tragedy revolving around Corrie, a much loved 36-year-old librarian and mother in the small upstate New York town of Jamestown. Corrie Anderson suddenly vanished without a trace on Oct. 28, 2008.
There was one thing about Corrie her family didn't like, and that was her other half: Ken Anderson, who Corrie had met online after her divorce from her first husband, the father of her two daughters. But Corrie had fallen in love with Ken at first sight, and they were married within months. Corrie and Ken had a son, Zachary, now 14, and for a while they seemed happy.
Their marriage collapsed when Corrie made a shocking discovery while looking through some of Ken's papers: He wasn't really her husband, he was a bigamist who never divorced his previous wife, his fourth.
A horrified Corrie managed to track down Ken's first wife Stephanie, who had married him when she was just 16 and pregnant with the first of four children they had together. Stephanie told Corrie horror stories about her 12-year marriage to Ken, whom she claims would padlock the doors when he went to work in the mornings and leave her captive in her own home. She also alleges ken often beat her and once threatened to kill her. Stephanie says she became so afraid of Ken that she took the children and finally left him to save her own life.
And she says she advised Corrie to leave Ken too, for her own safety.
"The only thing I could tell her is you got something to nail him, because I figured for sure he would go to jail for bigamy," said Stephanie.
Ken escaped that fate. But learning the terrible truth about his apparent dark side may have been too much for Corrie, who had reportedly told her family he had also abused her.
"Their marriage really wasn't valid at that point, and Corrie was pretty upset about that. So she left," said Huffington Post Crime Writer David Lohr.
Lohr, who's covered the case from the beginning, says Ken wouldn't let Corrie go so easily.
Mother of three Corrie Anderson knew she needed to get away from her husband Ken. Friends say she was afraid of his violent temper and what he might do next.
Corrie had left Ken after she learned he was a bigamist who never divorced his previous wife.
"So therefore legally Corrie was not married to him," said New York State Police Trooper Joseph Smith.
And she'd found a new man. But Ken reportedly wanted her back, and Corrie claims he was stalking her. Corrie's worst fears were confirmed when she discovered Ken had attached a GPS device to the underbody of her car. Corrie reported Ken to the police and was granted an order of protection.
"He was arrested for that and about two weeks later he was arrested again for violating the court order that was issued after the first arrest," said Smith.
Then, as the formal dissolution of their marriage approached, Corrie suddenly vanished.
Corrie was reported missing when she failed to pick up her daughter and son after school.
Police say the last person known to have seen Corrie was her boyfriend when she dropped off some lunch for him at the car dealership where he worked. Police say Corrie told her boyfriend she was going home.
Two days later Corrie's van was found abandoned in a secluded wooded area about a mile from her home.
Corrie's family immediately suspected Ken might have had something to do with her disappearance. But police could not connect him to Corrie's disappearance. The case went cold for the next eight years.
Then police located evidence that's being processed. And in November, a huge and unexpected break.
Ken Anderson was arrested on charges of kidnapping his sixth wife, whom he'd married after Corrie vanished, allegedly taking her from Jamestown, New York to Richmond, Kentucky, raping her, holding her against her will in a hotel room, and then reportedly threatening to kill her if she tried to escape.
Now police are hoping they may uncover new information from Ken about what happened to Corrie. While police have made no connection between the Kentucky case and Corrie's disappearance, news of the arrest has at least given Corrie's family hope they might finally learn what became of her.
Ken Anderson has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
