Minister gets parole in wife's murder

TOPEKA, Kan. -- A former minister who killed his wife and solicited the murder of the husband of his church secretary will be a free man soon.

Thomas Bird was granted parole after serving 20 years of a life sentence for killing his wife, Sandy, in 1983 while having an affair with his secretary, Lorna Anderson.

Bird hadn't been scheduled for a parole hearing until December, but the parole board approved a special request to see him Monday 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.

Bird was acquitted in 1990 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. Kothe was a friend of Bird's and a classmate at the Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Ill.

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 parole office in the area where he plans to live, said parole board Administrator Colene Fischli.

Kothe said while in prison at Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Bird established Bible study classes and helped establish a halfway house for spouses of inmates. He also established marriage counseling for inmates and their spouses, and coordinated a fund-raiser for the Ronald McDonald House.

Lorna Anderson was convicted of second-degree murder and two counts of solicitation of first-degree murder.

In 1983, she and her husband and their children pulled to the side of a highway because she complained of feeling ill. She got out of the family's van, dropped her keys and asked her husband to help find them.

Martin Anderson was shot by a masked gunman while looking for the missing keys.

She was denied parole in 2000 and is eligible for another parole hearing in 2005.