Anna Benson Was Once Charged With Murder

In 1996, Anna Benson, then Anna Warren, was charged with murder after an 18-year-old man was found executed in the weird graffiti-covered Knoxville apartment she shared with her boyfriend. The murder charges against Benson were eventually dropped, as were later accessory charges, because of a lack of proof. The same year the charges were dropped, she met Kris Benson.

Michael Evans was murdered following an argument in the apartment after which Warren allegedly told her boyfriend Paul Dejongh to "get rid of him." Part of the reason Warren's charges never stuck is the ambiguity in that statement, but Dejongh apparently took "get rid of" to mean "kill."

In the mid-1990s, Warren was living inside a filthy Knoxville apartment, its walls covered with disturbing anti-cop graffiti and satanic messages.

“The only good pig is a dead pig,” read one message reported in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Someone scrawled “666” on one wall. Written on another, in felt-tip pen, was “187” — the California penal code for murder of a police officer.

By 8 a.m. on Jan. 22, 1996, those walls were spattered with blood. Detectives called to the apartment found a gruesome scene: Evans’ lifeless body splayed facedown near the front door – two bullet holes in his head.

Warren and Dejongh fled and a manhunt ensued. The two were apparently even featured on America's Most Wanted. Warren was captured two years later in June 1998 but never gave any statement. Dejongh was captured two months after Warren and was eventually convicted of first-degree murder. The conviction was later reversed on appeal and he pleaded to second-degree, earning a 21-year sentence. He died in prison.

The whole story is disturbing and crazy for many reasons, including that it's only now come to light.

Related: You can find the America's Most Wanted episode featuring Benson right here.

Photo credit: AP

Anna Benson, the hot 'Baseball Wives' star, once implicated in a murder [NY Daily News]