Nick Hacheney Was Never Who He Claimed to Be
Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Annette and Craig Anderson in a recent photograph.
[CR Note: Annette Anderson was one of the central figures in the trial of Nick Hacheney, a youth pastor from Bainbridge Island, WA, who was convicted of murdering his wife, Dawn. The Hacheney case is the subject of Gregg Olsen’s book, A TWISTED FAITH. The case will also be featured on Dateline NBC on Friday.]
By Annette Anderson
As I walked into the basement meeting room of my local Police Station I had no idea what I’d be in for. The Kitsap County Prosecutor who accompanied me, assured me that I could take as many breaks as I needed to get through what was sure to be a stressful meeting. Though I’d previously been interviewed by both police detectives and county prosecutors, meeting with Nick’s defense attorneys was sure to hold an entirely different agenda, if not a most unpleasant experience.
An air of adversarial posturing became immediately apparent, as both of Nick’s attorneys’ shook hands with those around me, barely glancing my way. Their small talk with each other indicated that they were just passing through. The side trip through my town would soon be over and they’d be on their way to more preferable activities; skiing in the mountains. They’d endure their time with me, as much as I with them.
Though I was still unclear about the details of Nick’s crimes, or what my role as a witness for the prosecution entailed, I knew that he’d been charged with murder and was in jail awaiting trial. My memory reached back to the Nick that I thought I knew. While it was true we were no longer friends – having not spoken for nearly two years – I wondered if I might find a reason to doubt the charges against him.
With the onslaught of questions, the objective of our meeting became clear to me. Nick’s defense team didn’t appear to be looking for facts, but for information with which to discredit me and the other prosecution witnesses that I knew.
“So you loved Nick?” they sneered. “What about Bob Smith, he was your Pastor, did you love him too?”

Gregg Olsen's book is the subject of a Dateline NBC broadcast.
I looked around for an advocate for myself, but found none. Sure the prosecutor who sat next to me was on my side, so to speak, yet she made no attempt to stop the insulting innuendos coming my way.
Maybe she couldn’t?
A voice recorder perched in the middle of the oblong table silently imposed, as the defense team sought to create a verbal record with which to bind me during trial. The final blow came when one of Nick’s attorneys’ suggested my incompetence, intrusively asking me if I’d ever been officially diagnosed with a mental illness.
With this one question I was confronted with a stunning epiphany; Nick absolutely wasn’t who he’d claimed to be. If he was willing to defend himself on my back, I assumed him capable of anything.
“No,” I answered, my resentment deflecting their disappointment.
The meeting ended soon after.
Many years have since passed. I’ve since become aware of so much more detail, so many events placed within a context I didn’t know about at the time of this meeting. How these interwoven events relate to the murder of Dawn, and the abuses surrounding that dreadful time so long ago, have only served to clear my head and solidify what I’ve now accepted – Nick never was who he’d claimed to be.
Note: More about the case can be found in the case file at www.aTwistedFaith.com.






















It’s a genre that is magnetic as it is enthralling, and people are drawn to it like moths to a flame. Crime fiction, especially the books that tell a good story and make you sweat till the end to reveal the villain, are natural best sellers. A rainy afternoon stuck at home, a boring flight where you have nothing else to do, or even a free weekend when you prefer to stay at home curled up with a good thriller rather than socialize – there is no fixed time to read a great crime fiction novel.
[CR Note:
arle, N.C., sheriff’s office talking about his brother’s murder and pointing at Betty. For 22 years, Al was ignored. Finally, fast forward, there’s a new sheriff in charge. After talking to Al and nosing around, Granny Betty is arrested and booked.
ough the scenic ski town, I heard familiar refrains. This time they came from Boggs’s neighbors and friends, about how the lifetime bachelor had been hoodwinked by a manipulative and cunning woman, who used flattery and an air of needy vulnerability to reel him in. Coit cemented the relationship by pretending, although she’d had a hysterectomy years earlier, to be pregnant.