Family Speaks Out As Triple-Murderer Pleads Guilty

An emotional day inside a Grady County courtroom on Wednesday as the man accused of killing three people, including a child, pleaded guilty. Lawrence Anderson admitted to the killings as part of a plea agreement.

“I don't think I can find another case that's going to quite compare to this one,” Grady County District Attorney Jason Hicks said.

Anderson admitted in court that back in February of 2021, he killed a neighbor Andrea Blankenship, cutting out her heart and taking it to his uncle’s house nearby. It was there where he attacked and killed his uncle Leon Pye and Pye’s 4-year-old granddaughter Kaoes Yates. During the gruesome attack, his aunt, Delsie Pye, was maimed, losing an eye. Hicks said the plea agreement was requested by the families.

“They don't want a trial, they don't want to sit in a courtroom and listen to all the gory details of what happened to their loved ones,” Hicks said about the families.

As part of the deal, Anderson pleaded guilty to all five charges against him, three counts of murder in the first degree, one count of assault and battery with a deadly weapon and one count of maiming. In exchange, the state will not seek the death penalty.

The families spoke out during the hearing.

“You’ve taken away my daughter’s first everything,” Taranzo Pye, Kaoes’s father, said. “I can’t walk her into her first day of kindergarten. I can’t watch her walk across the stage for graduation. I can’t even go to a daddy daughter dance. I can never walk her down the aisle and you’re to blame for that.”

Kaoes’s mother added, “every time I open my eyes, I lose my little girl all over again.”

The granddaughter of Leon and Delsie Pye became emotional and had to leave the courtroom after telling Anderson, “You broke our hearts, took everything from us. I hope you rot from inside out; I hate you, I hate you for everything you did to us.”

Andrea Blankenship’s children read their impact statements to the court.

“I have to live the rest of my life knowing every detail of what you did to the woman who gave me life and raised me,” Haylee Blankenship said.

Blankenship’s son, John Blankenship, added, “you are pure evil and have caused so much damage that can never be repaired. You are a murderer; you are a monster, and you are a coward.”

“I think it's fair to say that these families have had enough they've heard enough, they've seen enough,” Hicks said.

The agreement also states Anderson cannot contact the family or agree to any interviews.

“I don't want him writing a book, I don't want him to financially profit from any of this and he shouldn't,” Hicks said. “I think it was really important to the family that they know when he goes in, he's gone.”

Anderson is sentenced to three life without parole sentences and two life sentences, all running consecutively.