The Hi-Fi Murders

Date: 22 Apr 1974 to 22 Apr 1974
Location: 2323 Washington Boulevard, Ogden, Weber County, Utah
Surnames/tags: Walker, Naisbitt, Ansley hi-fi murders

This Space is a Memorial for those injured or killed during the infamous Hi-Fi Murders.

Just before 6 p.m., on Monday, April 22, 1974, two men, D.P. and W.A., ages 22 and 19, respectively, entered the Hi-Fi Shop at 2323 Washington Boulevard, in Ogden, Utah. Only two other people were there, both of whom were Hi-Fi Shop employees: Stanley Walker, age 20; and his girl friend, Michelle Ansley, age 19. D.P. and W.A. escorted the two employees, at gun point, to the basement, where they tied them up.

Then the robbers went upstairs and gathered electronic equipment worth approximately $25,000, which they intended to steal.

Shortly thereafter, a boy named Cortney Naisbitt, age 16, arrived, to visit his friend, Stanley Walker. The robbers took him to the basement, and left him tied up with his friend.

Eventually, Stanley's father, Orren Walker, age 43, became worried because his son, Stanley, had not returned from work. (Stanley still lived with his parents and younger brother, in a house on the west side of Kiesel Avenue, between 15th and 17th Streets, across the street from the LDS Chapel they attended. The Ogden 3rd and 10th Wards shared this chapel. Seen from above, it appeared to be a boxy C, with the mouth of the C open towards Kiesel Avenue. Since then, this building became an Apostolic Assembly of Faith, and a new, significantly larger LDS Chapel was built on the northern third of the block, between Kiesel Avenue and Washington Boulevard. These churches and the Walker home were approximately one mile north of the Hi-Fi Shop, which was in the heart of the downtown area, approximately two blocks from the infamous 25th Street and the Union Train Station. Washington Boulevard was the main street in Ogden, Utah.) Worried about Stanley, Orren went to the Hi-Fi Shop, where the robbers added him to their collection of hostages in the basement.

Then the robbers went outside to their van, and returned with a bottle of blue liquid in a brown paper bag. They told Orren to persuade the other hostages to drink the liquid. Orren refused, so they gagged him and placed him face down on the floor.

Later, Cortney's mother, Carol Naisbitt, age 52, became worried about him, and went to the Hi-Fi Shop to see if Cortney's friend, Stanley, knew where he was. The robbers added her to their collection of hostages in the basement.

The robbers propped their hostages up into sitting positions, and forced them to drink the blue liquid, telling them it was vodka laced with sleeping pills. It was Drano. D.P. was inspired to serve the hostages Drano by a similar scene in a Dirty Harry movie, titled Magnum Force (1973). In the movie, the hostages who drank Drano died quickly. D.P.'s hostages didn't die; their lips, tongues, and throats blistered, and the flesh peeled away from their mouths.

Michelle Ansley begged the robbers not to force her to drink the Drano, so they spared her this indignity.

They forced Orren to drink the Drano last. He didn't swallow it, but let it dribble out of his mouth; however, he screamed and flailed like the other hostages in order to make the robbers think he swallowed the Drano.

D.P. became impatient with the victims for not dying quickly, like the Drano victims in the movie, so he shot Cortney and Carol Naisbitt in the back of their heads. Then he fired at Orren, but missed. Next, he shot Stanley, and then Orren, again, the bullet grazing his head this time.

Then D.P. took Michelle to a corner of the basement, away from the others, where he obliged her to undress, after which, he raped her.

When D.P. was finished raping Michelle, he allowed her to go to the bathroom. When she came out, he dragged her back to where the other hostages were, threw her to the floor, and shot her in the back of the head.

Orren still appeared to be alive, so D.P. tried to strangle him to death with an electric cord. Then he stomped a ballpoint pen through one of his ears and out his throat. Finally, as Orren was lying face up, D.P. stood over him with a shotgun, and shot him in the face.

Then the robbers departed.

Later, Orren's wife, Joyce, and their youngest son, Lynn, age 15, went to the Hi-Fi Shop to see what was keeping Orren and Stanley. They heard horrible noises coming from the basement, so Lynn, who was larger than most men, although he was only 15, broke down the door to the basement, and they discovered that Orren and Cortney were still alive.

The robbers were soon taken hostage at Hill Air Force Base, in Clearfield, Utah, where they were sttationed with the U.S. Air Force. Eventually, both of them were executed for their crimes.