Hi-Fi Killers Tortured Victims Before Execution-Style Killings

The murders of Carol Naisbitt, 52; Stanley Walker, 20; and Michelle Ansley, 19, will go down as the most brutal in Utah’s history.

The three individuals were shot in the head in the basement of the Hi-Fi Shop in Ogden, Utah on the evening of April 22, 1974. Responding officers found Stanley’s father, Orren Walker, upstairs, while shop employee Cortney Naisbitt, 16, was left unconscious with the other victims.

All five of the victims were shot and tortured in a robbery-turned-killings, as highlighted in the series “Violent Minds: Killers On Tape,” premiering April 2 at 7/6c on Oxygen. 

Though Cortney and Orren were rescued by medical workers, they were left with life-altering injuries caused by not just the gunshot wounds — they had also been forced to drink Drano, a liquid drain cleaner, after which the perpetrators taped their mouths closed. 

Responding officers found Orren Walker upstairs, before locating Cortney Naisbitt, 16; Carol Naisbitt, 52; Stanley Walker, 20; and Michelle Ansley, 19, in the basement. Cortney was barely conscious.

"When I went in to view the scene, I couldn't believe what I had seen. I couldn't believe it had happened, particularly in Ogden," Hi-Fi prosecutor Robert Newey told the Deseret News in 1992. "It was very, very grisly. It was so needless."

The men tried to kill Orren five different times with varying methods, yet he managed to give officers a description of his attackers. He told them that two Black men had held the group hostage, stating that the taller of the two talked more, while a shorter man with a Caribbean accent was quieter, according to the Deseret News.

With Orren’s tips and help from the community, investigators apprehended two U.S. Air Force officers: Dale S. Pierre and William Andrews. At the time, Pierre — who later changed his name 27 times — was 21 and Andrews was 19.  

According to Salt Lake City’s ABC4 News, Pierre was previously named a suspect in a separate murder tied to an alleged auto theft ring shortly after being stationed at the Hill Air Force Base in Utah in 1973—the same year he enlisted in the Air Force, according to Gary Kinder’s book “Victim: The Other Side Of Murder.”

Pierre, as well as Andrews, was ultimately convicted of two counts of aggravated robbery and three counts of murder and sentenced to death by lethal execution. He was executed on Aug. 29, 1987, according to UPI. 

Less is known about Andrews, who stated in the appeals process that he didn’t deserve to die because it was Pierre who pulled the trigger, not him. 
Ultimately, Andrews was executed in July 1992, according to the New York Times. He was 37 at the time of his death.

A third man, Keith Leon Roberts, who was 19 at the time of the murders, was arrested and charged with murder and robbery. A jury acquitted him of the murder charges, as none of the witnesses or survivors ever saw him at the Hi-Fi Shop. He claimed that he planned on acting as the getaway driver, but fell sick and returned to the base, where he fell asleep. Despite his claims, he was convicted on two counts of aggravated robbery.

Roberts was released on parole from the Utah State Prison in May 1987, after which he moved to Oklahoma with family, according to Deseret News. He later killed himself in August 1992, according to multiple reports.

To learn more about the murders, watch "Violent Minds: Killers On Tape," premiering Sunday, April 2 at 7/6c on Oxygen.