A horrible secret lurked in Dennis Ray Anderson's northwest Harris County backyard.

Sheriff's homicide investigators first heard of it last week through a Crime Stoppers tip, and when they went to Anderson's home in the 7500 block of Split Oak Court on Thursday, they made the gruesome discovery.

Located in Anderson's backyard was a rusty barrel containing a female's decaying body covered in dirt. The victim's legs were tied together with wiring, which also extended to and wrapped around her neck, a criminal complaint shows.

She has not been identified.

Anderson, 64, remained missing early Tuesday morning — but he is charged with tampering with evidence, specifically a human corpse, a second-degree felony offense. His bail is set at $50,000. Sheriff's homicide investigators are continuing to search for him.

Anderson was sentenced to life in prison in 1972 and again in 1973 after being convicted of murder with malice for stabbing a grandmother to death and drowning her 3-year-old granddaughter in a toilet bowl during an antique shop robbery in the East Texas town of Kountze, The Associated Press reported at the time.

He served nearly 17 years behind bars before he was paroled. But since being freed, he has landed in trouble again — first on a robbery charge in Harris County earlier this year, now for the body in the barrel.

Crime Stoppers tip

The body was discovered when an informant called Crime Stoppers on Oct. 18 alleging that Anderson had confessed to strangling someone and placing the body in a barrel stashed at the side of his house.

When sheriff's homicide investigators went to Anderson's home Thursday, his roommate, who had been living there only two weeks, gave officers permission to check the backyard. Investigators found a number of large metal drums there, many capable of containing a body — but only one of those barrels was bolted shut.

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After prying the barrel open, investigators found the unidentified woman, whose head was sticking above the dirt packed inside the container.

Her knees were pulled up to her chest, court records show. Under the dirt, a bedsheet was wrapped around the female's body, and two trash bags were wrapped over the sheet.

Homicide investigators estimated the victim appeared to have been dead for several months. How she died has not yet been determined.

The woman was not wearing any pants or underwear but had a T-shirt on marked with a blue-flowered pattern and the word "Cherokee," according to the search warrant.

Anderson has lived at the house for at least seven years, his roommate told investigators, and appraisal district records show Anderson owns the property.

The roommate, Edd Hanson, told investigators he had just moved into the house two weeks ago.

Hanson told the Chronicle he last saw Anderson on Wednesday morning when Anderson left for his new job as a mechanic.

"He never came home," Hanson said. "He had to have been tipped off."

Hanson, 53, said Anderson seemed to be a nice, intelligent guy just trying to get by. Anderson told him that he was a handyman and said he was looking for work when Hanson moved in after responding to Anderson's advertisement for a roommate on Craigslist.

Anderson explained that he was cleaning up after old tenants, so Hanson said he assumed the barrel was part of the clutter being thrown out.

The bolts on top of the barrel containing the victim's body were rusty, homicide investigators said in their report. Grass extended high around the barrel, indicating the container had been there for some time.

Paroled after 17 years

Anderson has a string of serious convictions from the early 1970s, according to state prison records.

He received two life sentences after being convicted of murder with malice in 1972 in Bell County and again in 1973 in Smith County for the slayings of Mabel McCormick and her granddaughter, Leslie Bowman, during the robbery of McCormick's antique shop and home on Jan. 5, 1972, old newspaper articles show.

The Associated Press reported at the time that McCormick was stabbed to death and her young granddaughter was drowned in a toilet bowl. But the Beaumont Enterprise reported in 1972 that McCormick died from hammer blows to the head and suffered a slashed throat, while her granddaughter was smothered before her head was stuffed into a commode.

Anderson also was convicted of arson in Hardin County in 1973 and was sentenced to 20 years in prison for that offense. He also was convicted of theft in Hardin County that same year, receiving 10 years in prison.

Despite his two life sentences, Anderson was paroled in 1989 after serving nearly 17 years in prison on the murder convictions. He was ordered to remain on parole supervision for the rest of his life in Harris County, state records show.

Anderson was charged in Harris County in February with robbery causing bodily injury. In that incident, he was accused of striking a woman named Veronica Lozano with his hand while trying to steal property from her on Feb. 17, court records show.

Anderson pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of theft from a person in July and was convicted, court records show. He was sentenced to 180 days in a state jail facility.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles considered whether to revoke Anderson's parole for that incident but decided not to after he completed his jail sentence, noting it was his first parole violation in the 21 years since his release from prison.

Aided staff in prison riot

While incarcerated for the 1972 slayings, Anderson violated no serious prison rules and helped prison staff during a riot by holding off other inmates who were rioting and attacking prison officials, the parole board said.

He also earned an associate's degree and an additional 60 hours toward a bachelor's degree.

Anyone who sees him or knows his whereabouts should call Houston Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS or the Harris County Sheriff's Office Homicide Division at 713-967-5810.

peggy.ohare@chron.com

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