A Canyon Country man serving a life sentence for killing his ailing wife and sister in 2013 has died in prison.
Lance Holger Anderson, 64, died Sunday in the California Medical Facility of Vacaville Prison, Bill Sessa, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, told The Signal Tuesday.
Anderson died of natural causes after serving just over a year of his life term.
Anderson was given a prison sentence of 100 years to life on Aug. 10, 2016, after a judge found him guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with the special allegation of intentional discharge of a firearm causing death, Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Julie Kramer said at the time.
Anderson fatally shot his 68-year-old wife, Bertha Maxine Anderson, at their Canyon Country condominium on Dec. 11, 2013.
He then drove to a North Hills nursing facility and fatally shot his 58-year-old sister, Lisa Florence Nave, the same day.
In a recording played during trial, Anderson explained to detectives he killed his wife because she had health problems, including breast cancer, brain damage, panic attacks, hot flashes and cataracts.
“She didn’t want to live like this,” he said in the recording. “It was brutal.”
However, Anderson said his wife never directly asked him to kill her.
Nave had suffered a heart attack and was bedridden for five years.
Early in the investigation, a Los Angeles Police Department lieutenant described the deaths as “mercy killings.”
Prosecutors argued, however, that Anderson had attempted to control both women, describing the murders as the ultimate form of control.
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