SEATTLE, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Two suspects in the killings of six rural Washington residents were formally charged Friday and could face the death penalty if convicted.
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg told a news conference he would consider seeking execution for Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe and would file the request within 30 days.
Anderson and McEnroe were arrested Thursday for the Christmas Eve massacre of three generations of Anderson's family, including her parents and a niece and nephew ages 6 and 3, at a home in rural Carnation outside Seattle.
The Seattle Times said Friday that sheriff's investigators allege the couple carried out the shootings and planned to escape into Canada. The exact motive was not clear, although the newspaper said money and previous family tensions were proposed by other family members.
In a jailhouse interview with the Times, McEnroe refused to say anything about the events of Christmas Eve. He called Anderson's relatives "my family" and said he missed them.
McEnroe also said he was sorry he had become estranged from his mother and siblings in Minneapolis.
"I never really realized how much I need my family. God, how did I ever get in this situation, you know?" he said. "Tell them I love them, all of them."
