Mongo is a tiny unincorporated community in Springfield Township, LaGrange County, Indiana, near the Michigan border. It is one of those places where everyone knows one another and their business.
So, it is no wonder that locals have a pretty good idea of who committed the gruesome murder of a local man and his wife.
Who was Terry and Darleen Anderson?
Terry Anderson had been married previously and had four children when he met the soft-spoken Darleen Field. One of his children, Nicholas, 10 months old, died in 1970.
Darleen, born in 1948, was single with no children but treated Terry’s children like hers.
Terry and Darleen married in 1980 and had a daughter, Amanda, in 1985.
Terry was a well-liked tree trimmer and supervisor for Asplundh Tree Expert Company. The job suited him well as he loved the outdoors. So, it is no surprise that he enjoyed fishing and hunting. His daughter Sherry Musilek described her father in 2019 as “a good guy. Warm, caring, hard worker.” (French, 2019a)
She further said: “He reminded me of a cross between Jerry Garcia and Santa Claus just in his looks, but,
deep-down inside, he was such a warm person.” (Byus, 2023)
As the saying goes, opposites attract, and Darleen was the complete opposite of her tall, strong husband.
Darleen was kindhearted and would take Sherry and Amanda on shopping trips. The trio would also hit all the local garage sales, spending the day hitting those and estate sales.
Terry and Darleen were the kind of people that others enjoyed being around, and they did not appear to have any known enemies. Unbeknownst to them, they did. Moreover, that person was likely closer to home than they imagined.
Double Murder of Terry and Darleen Anderson
On the evening of Friday, October 21, 2005, Terry, 59, worked in his pole barn while Darleen, 57, clad in her pajamas, grabbed a bowl of popcorn and a book, and plopped on the couch to watch TV for the night.
Sometime after, an unknown intruder entered the Anderson home and brutally beat Darleen to death as she watched TV. Then, the killer made his way to the pole barn, where they savagely beat Terry, killing him, too.
The next morning, Amanda, 20, drove to her parents’ residence to pick up Terry for work. She entered the home at 7:21 a.m. and found her mother dead on the couch with a bowl of popcorn beside Darleen. It is unclear when or if Amanda made the call to authorities. However, Sherry and her husband, Eric Muselik, resided on the southside of Chicago when they received the news that Terry and Darleen were dead. They packed up their can with their then-two-year-old son and drove about 2.5 hours to Mongo.
Because of the large number of police vehicles at the Anderson home, the Museliks had to park down the road, and Eric walked alone to the house to speak with investigators on the scene. In the meantime, a detective entered the Museliks’ car to speak with Sherry, telling her that he had found her dad dead in the pole barn and her stepmother dead on the couch inside the home and “both of them had blunt force trauma,” Sherry later recalled. The police said later that a hatchet or similar item was used, and neither victim bore defense wounds.
Additionally, there were no signs of a struggle, suggesting the Andersons knew their killer and willingly let them into their home, or the killer freely walked inside. Police estimated the murders to occur sometime after 8 p.m. on October 20, 2005, and before Amanda discovered the bodies.
“Whoever did it had to walk through the house to the living room and Darleen would have seen them coming,” Eric told HuffPost in 2014. “She was still sitting on the couch with her legs up. She was comfortable, reading and eating popcorn. It did not appear she had been startled, so I believe someone was in the house who was welcomed.” (Lohr, 2014)
Eric Musilek said Terry’s last moments were similar.
“Terry was hit from behind,” he said. “He had a battery charger hooked up to a John Deer and was facing it, so he was obviously comfortable enough to turn away.”
Another incident occurred that also pointed to the Andersons knowing their killer.
“Rocco, my dad’s bullmastiff, was tied next to the only entrance to the barn,” Sherry said. “If a stranger had walked up, he would have barked. My grandmother lived behind my dad’s and she did not hear anything.” (Lohr)
The obvious motive appeared to be robbery as a few things were taken from the home, such as Terry’s .22-caliber rifle, a crossbow, a few collector coins, and an antique “muzzleloader-type gun that was soldered like 10 times,” Sherry said. However, the contents of Terry’s wallet remained intact, and the intruder did not ransack the home.
According to longtime friend Tom Christian, Terry told him that he was going to buy a new boat and had $10,000 cash on him at the time of his murder. (French). Terry earned that money from assisting in the cleanup following Hurricane Katrina. (French, 2019d)
Sloppy Police Work?
Eric has accused the local police of doing half-assed police work during the crime scene investigation.
Incredibly, investigators allowed him onto the property just hours after they removed the bodies and gave him the okay to clean inside the home before they were finished processing the crime scene.
Sherry: “They said it was okay to be on this property and it’s okay to get rid of the couch that Darleen was on, um, rip the carpet up where the blood stain was! People were coming to the house! We didn’t want them to see this!” (French, 2019b)
So the Museliks got to work, burning the bloody couch Darleen was murdered on, curtains, an end table, and the bowl of popcorn that also had blood on it. They ripped out the carpet and padding, noticing the blood had soaked through onto the wooden floor underneath. The last thing they did was throw a rug over the floor and a chair so nobody would see the blood.
Suspects
There were two suspects in the murders.
One was Terry Durbin, who worked with Amanda and Terry at Asplundh. Durbin is currently serving a 60-year prison sentence in an Indiana prison for the murder of the 2009 murder of truck driver Pat Cheadle in a drug deal gone bad.
In 2011, the then-Lagrange County sheriff announced Durbin as a person of interest in the murders. Durbin was in prison by this time. A few years later, he began corresponding with ABC57 through letters but demanded $5,000 to interview him in person. All he said about the Andersons was that he visited their home with his ex-girlfriend and Durbin’s three children for a barbecue and riding ATVs sometime in 2005.
His ex-wife later said that the story was false. She told ABC57 that the two had visited the Andersons several times before she and Durbin relocated to New Carlisle, but never with his children. She maintained contact with him after their breakup and said he “abruptly switched vehicles with a friend and went on a drug bender immediately after the murders.” (French) She also claimed Durbin was jealous of Terry and that he had an accomplice in the homicides. (French, 2019c)
Amanda Anderson
Amanda was the only child Terry and Darleen had together. While she had a close relationship with her mother in her childhood, Amanda began using drugs, and her life spiraled out of control. By age 20, Amanda was a full-blown addict and worked with Terry at Asplundh to support her habit. It is unclear how long she had been there or how the relationship was between her and her father.
The possible and likely accomplice of Durbin’s is Amanda. The theory is that she and Durbin killed them for the $10,000 cash and Amanda’s inheritance. Shortly after their murders, Amanda received the inheritance from her parents’ estate and quickly spent all of the money on her drug habit. Close friends of Amanda’s later said they had always suspected her of killing her parents because she had said shortly before their deaths that she wished they would die.
The HuffPost reported that the Indiana State Police SWAT team raided the Andersons’ property on February 19, 2008, and found eight firearms and items related to the manufacturing of methamphetamine. The team arrested Amanda and two men, Robert Lee White, 36, and Randy LaMar Waite, 49, on charges of manufacturing methamphetamine. The arrests were not related to the Anderson murders. (Lohr)
Sherry said she and Amanda had a falling out following the murders, and they did not stay in touch.
On June 18, 2014, Amanda died of a drug overdose at the age of 29, taking with her the secrets she possibly held regarding her parents’ vicious murders. At the time of her death, she lived in Sturgis, Michigan, and owned and operated Absolute Tree Care in Mongo. Furthermore, while Sherry is her half-sister, she is not listed in Amanda’s obituary as a surviving relative.
AFTERMATH
Nearly 19 years after the homicides, the case remains officially unsolved. Durbin has yet to confess, and Amanda is dead. Either investigators need a confession or someone with vital information to come forward.
Following the brutal murders, Sherry held an annual memorial service for several years. Amanda never attended even one.
If anyone has any information regarding the murder of Terry and Darleen Anderson, please contact Crimestoppers at (800)342-STOP.
Sources
Byus, Briana. “Family Cries for Justice in 18-year-old Cold LaGrange County Case.” WFFT.com. October 20, 2023. https://www.wfft.com/news/family-cries-for-justice-in-18-year-old-cold-lagrange-county-case/article_b0727f92-6fc5-11ee-ab48-4b5aa4d2b3eb.html
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132122896/amanda_ella-anderson: accessed April 5, 2025), memorial page for Amanda Ella Anderson (22 Feb 1985–18 Jun 2014), Find a Grave Memorial ID 132122896, citing Mongo Community Cemetery, Mongo, LaGrange County, Indiana, USA; Maintained by Jim Teegardin (contributor 47803654).
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51729684/darleen_e-anderson: accessed April 5, 2025), memorial page for Darleen E Field Anderson (7 Jan 1948–21 Oct 2005), Find a Grave Memorial ID 51729684, citing Mongo Community Cemetery, Mongo, LaGrange County, Indiana, USA; Maintained by MTCTEXAS (contributor 50634650).
Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51729472/terry_a-anderson: accessed April 5, 2025), memorial page for Terry A Anderson (14 Dec 1945–21 Oct 2005), Find a Grave Memorial ID 51729472, citing Mongo Community Cemetery, Mongo, LaGrange County, Indiana, USA; Maintained by MTCTEXAS (contributor 50634650).
French, Clifton. 2019a. “The Mongo Murders: An Introduction.” ABC57.com. February 1, 2019. https://www.abc57.com/news/real-time-investigation-the-mongo-murders-an-introduction#:~:text=MONGO%2C%20Ind.,was%20in%20his%20pole%2Dbarn.
—2019b. “The Mongo Murders: Questions About the Investigation.” ABC57.com. February 8, 2019. https://www.abc57.com/news/the-mongo-murders-questions-about-the-investigation
—2019c. “The Mongo Murders: Who is Terry Durbin?” ABC57.com February 15, 2019. https://www.abc57.com/news/real-time-investigation-the-mongo-murders-who-is-terry-durbin
—2019d. “The Mongo Murders: A Potential Accomplice.” ABC57.com. February 22, 2019. https://www.abc57.com/news/real-time-investigation-the-mongo-murders-a-potential-accomplice
Lohr, David. “Who Killed Terry and Darleen Anderson?” HuffPost.com. August 16, 2014. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/terry-and-darleen-anderson_n_5684263