Introduction
Many in Milwaukee were unsurprised by the story. Northridge Mall, once a prestigious location in a wealthy suburb, was going through a major demographic shift. African Americans have been historically concentrated on the city’s north side, in neighborhoods that have been described as among the most segregated in the United States. Those African Americans who could afford a middle-class lifestyle and homeownership found that communities like Northridge Lakes, across the street from the mall, were convenient and safe, being only a few miles north of those predominantly black areas. Rumors and fears of crime and violence followed them into these new surroundings, causing many whites to flee the area for more distant northern suburbs like Cedarburg and West Bend.
The Andersons, a typical white middle-class family from Cedarburg, were instantly relatable victims to the same types of people who were already beginning to fear Northridge. Jesse was a well-respected local businessman who had recently lost a close election for city council, and Barbara was a homemaker who cared for her three children. Local television news reports covered the story breathlessly, giving the Andersons glowing and sympathetic coverage, while radio hosts warned about the dangers of areas like Northridge. One local resident interviewed on TV, when asked about the case, simply responded “They’re moving north.”
Barbara succumbed to her injuries two days after the stabbing, and her husband appeared at her funeral in handcuffs. Milwaukee police had arrested Jesse Anderson for the murder of his wife, which he had staged and attempted to blame on a stereotype of criminal black men. Although Jesse never admitted to the crime, he was easily convicted and no credible black suspects were ever found. While the initial reports had disturbed local residents, this turn in the story escalated the sensation of the case and cast doubt on the local media. Few Milwaukeeans could ignore the story which had taken over the local conversation.
Today, however, the case is remembered mostly as a strange footnote in the story of fellow Milwaukee murderer Jeffrey Dahmer, who had been arrested the previous summer. Anderson and Dahmer ended up in the same prison, and in 1994 they were assigned to clean a prison bathroom together with fellow inmate Christopher Scarver. When the three inmates were unsupervised, Scarver bludgeoned both Dahmer and Anderson to death with a stolen piece of exercise equipment.
Northridge Mall, meanwhile, never recovered from the blow to its reputation, even after the truth behind the murder became known. The white flight that the area had already been experiencing accelerated, and the mall’s last stores closed in 2003. For nearly two decades, the building has stood vacant and abandoned, with weeds overtaking the parking lot and windows boarded up, a frequent target of vandals and trespassers. Condemned by the city, the mall’s owner has refused to obey a series of demolition orders issued in 2019, and so it still stands as nothing but an unintentional monument to bigotry and fear.