Caged Bird

July 17, 1983, Brian Fletcher spotted an overturned Peugeot station wagon laying in the Cottonwood River, near the Rocky Ford Bridge. He saw the dead body of Sandra Bird floating face-down in shallow water in front of the car. A single car accident on a deserted road? Or a murder? On November 4, 1983, Marty Anderson lay dead in a ditch alongside Kansas Highway 177, just east of Junction City. He had three bullet holes in his head. His wife Lorna and his four little girls witnessed the execution-style murder. A random robbery? Or a cold-blooded, premeditated murder? Rev. Thomas P. Bird served as Pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Emporia, Kansas. Bird knew Lorna Anderson as the church secretary, a friend and a battered woman. Sixty men knew Lorna in a different way. Did the promiscuous woman and the church pastor conspire to rid themselves of their spouses and live together? CBS saw this true story as the perfect plot for a soap-opera-like movie, Murder Ordained. The infamous story of Tom Bird and Lorna Anderson aired internationally, but they got it wrong. So did two out of three juries. Thomas P. Bird entered Lansing Correctional Facility on August 30, 1984. He serves a life sentence as a result of the wrongful conviction of a Lyon County, Kansas, jury for the murder of Sandra Stringer Bird. Book jacket.Racer, Dave is the author of 'Caged Bird' with ISBN 9780970250902 and ISBN 0970250908.