SCOUTING YESTERDAY | Serial killer trial kicks off in Sioux Falls

This week in South Dakota history: Feb. 28 - March 5

Serial killer Robert Leroy Anderson (Photo: Argus Leader)

The trial of serial killer Robert Leroy Anderson began twenty-five years ago this week.

Already serving a life sentence for a conviction two years prior for the kidnapping of Piper Streyle, new evidence would allow the state to seek justice for the heinous crimes that took the lives of Streyle and Larisa Dumansky.

Arrested just days after Streyle went missing from her rural Canistota home, Anderson also became a suspect in the disappearance of Dumansky due to the similarity of the crimes. Missing since her late night shift at John Morrell & Co. on Aug. 27, 1994, Dumansky’s van was found in the Morrell’s parking lot with a flat tire and keys in the door. With a lack of leads, the case went cold.

Years later, the killer would stop at the Streyle residence with interest in the Bible camp ran by the couple, leaving his name and address on a piece of paper. Anderson later returned, abducting Streyle at gunpoint in front of her children, one of them able to provide key details and identify Anderson as the “mean man” from a photo lineup.

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