GREEN BAY – A Michigan man serving life in prison for a murder in Alabama was convicted Thursday of killing a man in Green Bay two years ago.
Caleb Anderson, 25, pleaded no contest to first-degree intentional homicide for the slaying of 65-year-old Patrick Ernst, of Green Bay, in 2022. A no-contest plea means he accepts a guilty verdict without admitting or denying any guilt.
Anderson is currently held at the Brown County Jail on $2 million bond. He was extradited to the jail after he was convicted of capital murder in Alabama for killing a 52-year-old man and given a life sentence with no possibility of parole.
His sentencing in Brown County Circuit Court is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sept. 23.
Anderson left note behind at crime scene: 'He didn't deserve this.'
Police found Ernst dead in his home on Packerland Drive Aug. 2, 2022, while conducting a welfare check from someone concerned he had not shown up for work or been in touch with family in more than a day, according to a criminal complaint. On a piece of paper left on a chair near Ernst's body was a handwritten note saying, "I am so sorry he didn't deserve this."
Written on the wall near Ernst's body was a Bible verse, the letters RIP and the date Aug. 1, 2022.
Ernst had around 51 stab wounds, a Brown County forensic pathologist determined.
Investigators found Ernst's vehicle was not parked in his usual spot outside his home. Parked in the spot instead was a vehicle registered to Anderson, according to the complaint.
Investigators soon learned law enforcement in Michigan were looking for Anderson as the primary suspect in an assault investigation from the previous day.
Anderson was arrested Aug. 3, 2022, following another homicide in Alabama.
Anderson said he downloaded dating app to find people to kill
In a police interview in Alabama, Anderson "confessed to all three incidents," and provided details, the complaint says.
Anderson told police on the morning of Aug. 1, he woke up around 5 a.m. and considered driving to a military and mining equipment warehouse where he used to work to "take care" of a few people "he couldn't stand," the complaint says.
While driving in Michigan, he saw a woman jogging and thought about killing her. Anderson told police he got out of the car with a can of cologne and a roll of tape. He said he had the woman in a chokehold at one point and hit her a couple of times, but let her go after he "started thinking of his mom."
The attack on the jogger was before 6 a.m. Anderson said he then drove to his mother's house. When he realized she was not home, he went inside, took pepper spray and drove "out of town," the complaint says.
Anderson said he drove to Green Bay, bought a phone from Walmart and then installed a dating app. He created a profile using images he found online, he told investigators. When a man sent him a message, Anderson asked him indirectly if he had a vehicle.
Anderson went to the man's home, where he killed him with a knife he hid in a hoodie, he told investigators.
After killing Ernst, Anderson said he drove back to Walmart to purchase some items, then returned to the house. Walmart's security cameras captured Anderson's vehicle before the homicide, and Ernst's vehicle after the homicide, according to the complaint.
In his conversation with police, Anderson said ever since he was 14 or 15 years old, he "always just wanted to kill somebody," the complaint says.
Anderson also told investigators he used the dating app "just to get somebody alone to kill them."
Anderson said he left Ernst's apartment around 10:30 or 11:30 p.m. to drive to Alabama.
There, he met another man through the same application and also killed him with the same knife, he told investigators. Alabama media outlets identified the second victim as 52-year-old Dwight Dixon.
The complaint says Anderson also told police about meeting another person in Alabama but deciding not to kill them, and attempting to set fire to a church.
At his plea hearing Thursday, Anderson confirmed with Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh that the facts written in the criminal complaint are accurate.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 orkarseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at@ArseneauKelli.
