U.P. man already serving life in prison receives life sentence for Wisconsin murder

GREEN BAY, WI - A man from the Upper Peninsula who is already serving a life sentence for murder in Alabama was sentenced to life in prison Monday in connection with a 2022 murder in Wisconsin, according to the Associated Press. Caleb Anderson, 25, was sentenced in a Green Bay courtroom after pleading no contest last month to the murder of 65-year-old Patrick Ernst on Aug. 1, 2022.

Anderson, who is from Caspian, Mich. was accused of killing Ernst as part of a crime spree that spread over three states and resulted in two people being killed. Before killing Ernst, investigators say Anderson assaulted a woman who was jogging in Gaastra around 6 a.m. on Aug. 1. The woman was able to escape and provided police with a description of her attacker.

From there, police say Anderson drove to Wisconsin where he killed Ernst and stole the victim's car. While searching Ernst's apartment following the murder, investigators found a hand-written apology letter and a Bible verse written on the victim's wall. Police later found pictures on a cell phone belonging to Anderson of himself posed with Ernst's dead body.

Anderson then drove to Alabama in Ernst's car, where Anderson eventually killed another man, 50-year-old Dwight Dixon. Anderson was convicted of Dixon's murder and sentenced earlier this year to life in prison without the chance for parole.