Former WCU graduate student Derek Nicholas Anderson, 32, was denied a hearing, which was intended to prove he is not a fugitive from North Carolina, by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Daniel A. Noonan.
Anderson has been incarcerated in Milwaukee County 10 months since being indicted in North Carolina on a first-degree murder charge for the death of his father, Allen Krnak.
Investigators discovered bones on a creek bank off Moses Creek road in Dec. 1999, which were identified in early 2001 as those of Krnak, 55.
Krnak, his wife, Donna Krnak, 52, and their other son, Thomas Krnak, 21, vanished July 2, 1998.
Anderson’s mother and brother have yet to be found.
Anderson reported all three missing six days after they disappeared, and later changed his name from Andrew Krnak. He denies any involvement in their disappearance and in the death of his father.
Unless Anderson and attorney Neil McGinn appeal Noonan’s ruling, Anderson may be extradited to North Carolina, where he could face the death penalty if convicted.
Anderson asserted that he was entitled to a hearing in attempts to prove he was not a fugitive from North Carolina because no evidence has been presented linking him to the murder nor to being in North Carolina when his father’s body was dumped here.
But Noonan noted that Anderson has not proved the contrary. “Anderson has not, as a part of his petition, alleged any evidence to show that he was not in North Carolina at the time the crime was allegedly committed,” Noonan wrote in his decision.
“This is not a situation where this court is refusing to allow Anderson to present evidence in support of an argument that he is not a fugitive. Rather, Anderson has simply failed to indicate that he has any evidence to present.”
McGinn said he and Anderson would seriously consider an appeal.
