Thomas Sanders Declared Dead in 1994 Wanted for Kidnapping and murder of girl 12

[Hellsbells]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A man declared dead 16 years ago was charged Thursday with the recent kidnapping of a 12-year-old Nevada girl whose body was found by hunters in Louisiana.

Authorities said 53-year-old Thomas Steven Sanders, legally dead in Mississippi since 1994, apparently had been living in Las Vegas where he met Lexis Roberts and her mother, Suellen Roberts, a few months ago. Lexis Roberts' remains were found in east-central Louisiana in early October.

Relatives told investigators the girl and her mother had known Sanders for two or three months, said Robert King, the FBI agent in Alexandria heading up the investigation.

Investigators are trying to piece together what happened to Sanders since relatives declared him dead after not hearing from him for seven years.

"He just walked away one day and never came back," King said.

However, officials said security cameras showed Sanders, who has a record of crimes against children, buying ammunition on Sept. 3 at a Wal-Mart in Las Vegas. The bullets he bought were consistent with the weapon used to kill Lexis, police said.

Sheriff's officials in Arizona's Coconino County told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the girl was seen Sept. 4 with her mother and Sanders at the Bearizona Drive-Thru Wildlife Park off Interstate 40 in Williams, Ariz. Her mother is also missing. He was discovered to be alive only since the girl disappeared. Authorities are trying to track down family in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Sanders was last seen driving a silver 2001 Kia Spectra with damage on the passenger side.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/11/04/us/AP-US-Declared-Dead-Charges.html?_r=3&ref=us

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg28/twa0523/jji.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg28/twa0523/13446931_BG3.jpg

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg28/twa0523/190-714Remains_Found_sff_embedded_prod_affiliate_80.jp g

[TwiztidAngel]

you can charge dead people now?

ps...how'd this end up in the intro section? :cheers:

[Aslan]

Hold the phone


However, officials said security cameras showed Sanders, who has a record of crimes against children, buying ammunition on Sept. 3 at a Wal-Mart in Las Vegas. The bullets he bought were consistent with the weapon used to kill Lexis, police said.


Um. Don't they check things like ID and stuff when it comes to selling bullets and guns and such? Not that I think it would have made a difference, if this ass was intent to kill that little girl he would find a way. It's just a bit...unsettling that Wal-Mart (of all places) gave him the means in which to do so with not even so much as a background check.

"Sorry sir, we can't sell this to you because according to our system you're dead"

[Dakota Valkyrie]

On the FP too: http://www.dreamindemon.com/2010/10/28/skeletal-remains-found-in-louisiana-identified-as-those-of-missing-las-vegas-girl/

[Obsolete]

Stores don't run background checks or check id for purchasing ammo, just the guns themselves and he very well could have gotten the gun from somewhere other than a store.

*unless of course you look underage*

[Hellsbells]

The front page never gets updated


ps...how'd this end up in the intro section? No clue lots of shit has been going on with this site

[Dakota Valkyrie]

The front page never gets updated
When I find a story that's on the front page, I update it there. As it says in the Reality Bites! description (http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/index.php):

If a story in here is also on the Main Page PLEASE update the FP with the info as well. Thanks!
That shit don't happen by magic ;)

[Nell]

That sucks that the mom didn't check into the man's background. He probably started the relationship just to get at the daughter. I am sure mom is dead also. Sad.

[biteme]

Hold the phone



Um. Don't they check things like ID and stuff when it comes to selling bullets and guns and such? Not that I think it would have made a difference, if this ass was intent to kill that little girl he would find a way. It's just a bit...unsettling that Wal-Mart (of all places) gave him the means in which to do so with not even so much as a background check.

"Sorry sir, we can't sell this to you because according to our system you're dead"
As I recall in Nevada, if you have a Nevada resident drivers license you can buy a gun/bullets and walk out with it, no back ground checks
If your from a State like California, you have to wait a couple of weeks while they do a check or you can just have a resident buy it for you.

[Alf]

Not quite. If the buyer has a carry or purchase permit then there's no background check (on the assumption that the background check was done to get the permit). Without either then there is a background check, and if it comes back ambiguous then there is a five-day waiting period. If it comes back positive then the sale can be completed on the spot. If it comes back negative then the sale is declined. States may apply waiting periods as they wish.

An ammo purchaser must be 18 to purchase ammunition for a rifle or shotgun and 21 to purchase ammunition for a handgun. I declined more than one sale when I was still in the business to people buying rifle-caliber rounds (223, 30-30, 22 Hornet, 45-70, etc.) for handguns.

Having a resident buy a firearm for somebody not eligible to purchase one in that state is called a "straw man sale" and is illegal. The buyer, straw-man buyer, and seller can be imprisoned. I had to be very watchful of that so I wouldn't wind up in jail.

--Al

[Obsolete]

The story doesn't say he bought the gun, just the bullets. I buy ammo all the time and it's treated the same as cigs or alcohol...since I look over 18/21 they don't ask for id or anything.

Hell, he could have had the gun for years for all we know.

[brokenandtwisted]

Since this was in the intro section I was secretly hoping the killer had returned from the dead to post here...much like a certain fellow with a phone...

[biteme]

In Nevada you need no permit of any kind, at gun shows you buy you walk out
There are people all around the casino parking lots carrying pistols, rifles and ammunition no problem
Been there done that

This is strange, I’ve been to gun shows in Reno Nevada and

You just show your drivers license to prove you’re a resident and they hand you the fire arm on the spot and you walk away, like I said been there done that, guess they do a check later ☺
http://www.nsrpa.us/legal/nevlocal.html

Brady Background Check
All counties implement the national background check through the Nevada Highway Patrol. By State Law, any private party may access Nevada's background check system for the purpose of checking the background of a potential gun purchaser. Currently, the check costs $25.00. Call your local NHP if you wish to access this system.

Gun Shows
All Federal, State, and local laws and ordnances apply to the sale, possession, purchase, and transportation of firearms at gun shows just as they do elsewhere.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Thomas Sanders arrested in Mississippi
The man, who authorities believed abducted 12-year-old Lexis Kaye Roberts of Las Vegas, has been arrested by FBI Agents Sunday morning in Gulfport, Mississippi.

Around 7:00am 53-year-old Thomas Steven Sanders, was arrested at a Flying J Truck Stop by Gulfport FBI Agents of the Jackson Division and Harrison County Sheriff's Deputies.
http://www.8newsnow.com/story/13500555/breaking-newsman-authorities-believe-kidnapped-vegas-girl-arrested-sunday

[Hellsbells]

A nationwide manhunt led federal marshals to the rural Louisiana home of Candace Tarver, Sanders’ first wife and the mother of his three adult sons.

She last saw him 23 years ago. Sanders had said he was leaving to find a job and promised to return with a new washer and dryer.

With no word from Sanders for seven years, Tarver and Sanders’ parents and brother successfully petitioned a Mississippi court to declare him dead in July 1994.

“I almost passed out,” Tarver said after agents told her that her ex-husband was alive and a suspect in the murder of a young girl. “He’s destroyed my life and he’s doing it again.”

Tarver told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday that she feared for her safety because Lexis Roberts’ remains were found just 150 miles from her home.

Tarver said her former husband previously had exhibited a disturbing attraction to young girls, but she didn’t think he was capable of murder.

Sanders, a handyman and scrap metal collector, was discovered in a compromising position with a girl, 6 -- by the child’s father -- Tarver said.

“That girl’s dad beat the hell out of him,” Tarver said.

Sanders, however, told his wife that the bruises and gashes were caused by a hammer that fell on his head.

“I didn’t believe him,” she said, adding her husband was always disappointed they never had a daughter. “He wanted girls.”
After leaving his family behind, Sanders settled in Buford, near Lake Lanier Islands, public records reveal.

He moved to Winder, where, in 1994, he pleaded guilty to two counts of child battery.

He was sentenced to one-year probation for repeatedly hitting a boy on the legs and buttocks and then rubbing a pair of underwear in the child’s face.

Outside of the Barrow County charges, there’s little to link him to Georgia.

His last known address was in Bumpus Mills, Tenn., three miles south of the Kentucky border. At some point, he made his way to Nevada, where he befriended Suellen Roberts, 31.

Sanders gave gifts to Suellen Roberts and her daughter, earning their trust, family members told a New Hampshire television station.

“He could be charming,” said Tarver, who met Sanders after he was discharged from the Marines. “He told me he had to act like he was crazy to get out of there. I think there’s always been something wrong with him.”

Jy Sanders, the man’s oldest son, said his father often was cruel. When Tarver was in labor with the couple’s third child, Sanders didn’t drive her to the hospital, he told the AJC.

Asked how he’d react if he saw his father again, Jy Sanders said, “I’d spit in his face.”

http://www.ajc.com/news/man-thought-dead-jailed-741704.html

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Body discovered may be missing mom.

Authorities on Monday discovered the body of a woman believed to be the missing mother of a girl found dead in Louisiana.

Sheriff's officials say the possible remains of 31-year-old Suellen Roberts were found in a remote area off Interstate 40 in northwestern Arizona.

Thomas Steven Sanders was arrested in Mississippi on Sunday in the kidnapping of Roberts' daughter, 12-year-old Lexis Roberts. The girl's skeleton was found by hunters last month in Louisiana.

Authorities say the trio had been spotted in northern Arizona over Labor Day weekend.
[...]

Catahoula Parish Sheriff James Kelly said earlier Monday that Sanders is cooperating with authorities. Sanders was alone when he was arrested at the Flying J Truck Stop. He was not armed and did not put up a fight, Kelly said.

"Right now we have a lot more questions than we do answers as far as his activity since we've been looking for him," Kelly said.

Louisiana authorities want to extradite Sanders to face charges there, though it's not clear how long that could take, Kelly said.
[...]

"Known associates have provided information that Sanders is missing his upper teeth and has only two lower teeth :eek:," the FBI stated. "Sanders has worked as a welder, a scrap metal collector, a night watchman, a pallet fabricator and a handyman."
[...]

In Nevada, Sanders met Roberts and her daughter Lexis a few months ago, the slain girl's grandmother told investigators. The trio was in Williams and Flagstaff Ariz., and the Grand Canyon National Park over the Labor Day weekend, authorities said.

Hunters found Lexis' remains Oct. 8.

"On Sept. 3, 2010, Sanders was captured on film purchasing ammunition at a local Wal-Mart in Las Vegas," the FBI said in a statement. "The forensic anthropologist reported that Lexis suffered multiple gunshot wounds. The ammunition Sanders purchased was consistent with the caliber weapon used during the homicide."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40196134/ns/us_news/

[TKaz]

Ok. So from this thread I learned the site is not magic....dude with two teeth is scary & dangerous....and next time we go to Polar Express in Williams I'm finding that drive-thru park!

Not to make light of the depravity.....but, well, sometimes that's all I have. :P

[Whisper]

JACKSON - A Mississippi man who drifted through several states, including Georgia, after he was declared dead in 1994 will be charged with murder in the slaying of a 12-year-old Las Vegas girl whose body was found by hunters in remote Louisiana woods, authorities said Wednesday.

Thomas Steven Sanders once lived in Buford, and he pleaded guilty to a Barrow County child abuse case in 1994, the same year he was declared dead.

Sanders is scheduled to face a federal magistrate Friday at a detention hearing in Alexandria, La., on a kidnapping charge. Sheriff James Kelly in Louisiana's central Catahoula Parish, where the girl's body was discovered last month, said his department will charge Sanders with first-degree murder once federal prosecutors finish processing the suspect on the kidnapping charge.

Federal prosecutors had charged Sanders with kidnapping Lexis Roberts after he was arrested Sunday at a truckstop in Gulfport, Miss., capping a massive nationwide manhunt. Sanders was transferred to a Louisiana jail the next day.
Sheriff's Investigator Toney Edwards in Catahoula Parish said authorities there expect to book Sanders early next week. Kelly said the suspect would then be returned to federal custody.
[...]
Sanders, 53, also is a suspect in the disappearance of the girl's mother, 31-year-old Suellen Roberts, who is now presumed dead, according to authorities. Officials said remains found Monday in northwestern Arizona are likely those of the girl's mother.
Sanders and Suellen Roberts were in a relationship after meeting a few months ago in Las Vegas and planned a road trip for Labor Day weekend when the woman and daughter disappeared, authorities said.
"It's such a complicated case...a dead man who's wanted for murder. All the different states involved. There's even different jurisdictions within the states that are involved," Kelly said.
[...]
Sanders' family petitioned a Mississippi court to have him declared dead in 1994. The family had not heard from him since 1987 and his wife had divorced him the following year, according to court records obtained by The AP.

Even though he had been legally declared dead, Sanders lived unnoticed by authorities despite being arrested several times under his real name. http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=233858

[Dakota Valkyrie]

Sentencing is set for July 28 for 53-year-old Thomas Steven Sanders, who pleaded guilty to the kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old Las Vegas girl.

Sanders pleaded guilty June 28 to federal charges in the death of Lexis Roberts, whose body was found in Catahoula Parish last Oct. 8.http://www.wwltv.com/news/local/125204434.html

[Tundratot]

He's a rabid animal and needs to be put down.

[Whisper]

Declared dead suspect wants indictment thrown out

Attorneys for a man who was declared dead and later charged in the kidnapping and killing of a Las Vegas girl have asked a judge to dismiss one of the indictments against him.
.
Thomas Steven Sanders was declared dead in Mississippi in 1994 after he abandoned his family seven years earlier. He surfaced years later as suspect in the deaths of 12-year-old Lexis Roberts, whose body was found Oct. 8, 2010, by hunters in Louisiana's Catahoula Parish, and her mother, 31-year-old Suellen Roberts, whose body was found the next month in northwestern Arizona's Yavapai County.

Sanders was indicted in Louisiana in November 2010, charged with kidnapping resulting in the child's death. A second indictment in January 2011 added the charge of using a gun in a crime resulting in death.

Sanders attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Dee Drell during a hearing Thursday to dismiss the second indictment. They claim it creates the situation of double jeopardy because both charges could result in the death penalty and arise from the same crime. The attorneys also said the second indictment, known as a superseding indictment, should be dismissed on statute of limitations grounds because it wasn't filed within 30 days of Sanders being charged.

Prosecutors said the superseding indictment is valid and should not be dismissed. They also said that double jeopardy protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal or conviction and multiple punishments for the same offense.

"As an initial matter, at this stage of the proceeding, defendant has not yet been convicted of either count and is not about to be punished for anything," prosecutors said.

The judge said he would rule later on the arguments.
Sanders has pleaded not guilty to killing the child. The trial is scheduled for Jan. 14. Arizona and Louisiana authorities have also said he will face state charges.

Investigators said Sanders confessed to the killings and helped direct them to the mother's body, according to court records. His attorneys have asked for that information to be withheld as evidence because they claim he "affirmatively and unequivocally stated in response to law enforcement questions that he wanted to talk to a lawyer."

"Despite this, the questioning of him did not cease, and counsel was not provided to him," the defense lawyers said in court filings.

Prosecutors have argued that Sanders only wanted to talk to an attorney about certain aspects of the case.

"In this case, each time that the defendant requested an attorney, it was limited to a particular topic, and his request was scrupulously honored by the interviewing agent. The defendant's requests were unambiguous. Nonetheless, law enforcement went a step further by confirming with the defendant that he wished to continue the interview without the advice of an attorney," prosecutors said.

Sanders was arrested in Gulfport, Miss., in November 2010 after a massive manhunt. Authorities said Sanders and Suellen Roberts were in a relationship when they set out on a road trip for the Labor Day weekend in 2010. The last place the mother and daughter were seen alive was in Arizona.

Security footage showed Sanders buying ammunition at a Walmart in Las Vegas about a month before Lexis Robert's body was found. The bullets he purchased were the same type that killed the girl, police said.

The mother and daughter's disappearances worried authorities early on, but the case took a bizarre twist when investigators realized their suspect had been declared legally dead 17 years earlier[...]
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46455284/ns/us_news/

[Silvahalo]

Gawd, what a complete waste of space.
Since he was declared dead, just kill him off already--can skip the formalities after it's done.

Rest in peace Lexis Roberts. and others.