LEXIS ROBERTS - 12 yo(2010)/ and her Mother, Suellen - Flagstaff AZ

Snipped
What's most shocking is Sanders managed to fly under the radar for 16 years. The FBI says he was declared dead in 1994. He managed to travel around the country with ties to Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, and Nevada working as a welder, handyman and scrap metal collector. He was even arrested several times. We asked the FBI how he could go undetected all those years, the tell us each state has its own death database, there is no national death database.

WTH??????

kiwimom wrote:Snipped
What's most shocking is Sanders managed to fly under the radar for 16 years. The FBI says he was declared dead in 1994. He managed to travel around the country with ties to Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, and Nevada working as a welder, handyman and scrap metal collector. He was even arrested several times. We asked the FBI how he could go undetected all those years, the tell us each state has its own death database, there is no national death database.

WTH??????

That doesn't even make sense. Just some BS answer because they know they fk'd up--big time! Sounds like all of LE did, wouldn't there be fingerprints on file if he was in prison, or even the local pokey?? They all screwed up and cost lives of innocent people.

Grand jury indicts 'dead' man on kidnapping charge


The Associated Press • November 18, 2010

A federal grand jury has indicted a Mississippi man who was declared dead in 1994 in the kidnapping of a 12-year-old Las Vegas girl whose skeletal remains were found last month in central Louisiana.


This is a Nov. 14, 2010 photograph provided by the Yavapai County, Ariz., Sheriff's Department of Thomas Steven Sanders, a Mississippi man who drifted through several states after he was declared dead in 1994 and who 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. (AP Photo)

Thomas Steven Sanders is scheduled to face a federal magistrate Friday at a detention hearing in Alexandria, La., on the kidnapping charge.Stephanie A. Finley, a U.S. Attorney in Louisiana, said in a news release that Sanders could face the death penalty if convicted of the kidnapping that resulted in the death of 12-year-old Lexis Roberts.Sanders also is suspected in the disappearance and likely death of the girl's mother, 31-year-old Suellen Roberts. Arizona authorities believe they found the mother's body Monday, but are trying to make a positive identification.

'Legally dead' man pleads not guilty to kidnapping


Alexandria, La. —
A Mississippi man who authorities thought had been dead for more than 15 years pleaded not guilty Friday to kidnapping a 12-year-old girl whose body was found by hunters in remote Louisiana woods. Thomas Steven Sanders, suspected of shooting Lexis Roberts of Las Vegas before dumping her body in central Louisiana's Catahoula Parish, said little Friday during the hearing in federal court in Alexandria, La. Shackled and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, the 53-year-old Sanders spent much of the hearing leaning forward in his seat and reading documents with his lawyer. Sanders had shaven off the bushy, white beard seen in police photographs before his capture.
Sanders wouldn't say anything when questioned by reporters about the case outside the courtroom. His public defender, Rebecca Hudsmith, said she had met with him for the first time Friday and wouldn't comment on his mental state or whether he'd offered any details about the case. A federal kidnapping charge in a case that results in death is punishable by life in prison or death, said Lisa Langley, a spokeswoman with the U.S. attorney's office in Louisiana. As of Friday afternoon, prosecutors had not indicated whether they would seek the death penalty. James Kelly, sheriff of the parish where Roberts' body was found by hunters Oct. 8, also was at the hearing. Kelly said he'll charge Sanders with first-degree murder in state court when the federal government finishes processing him, possibly early next week. Authorities said security footage showed Sanders buying ammunition Sept. 3 at a Walmart in Las Vegas. The bullets are allegedly the same type that killed the girl. Sanders also is a suspect in the disappearance and likely death of the girl's mother, 31-year-old Suellen Roberts. Investigators are using dental records to determine whether a body found Monday in Arizona is hers. If that body turns out to be Suellen Roberts, it's likely Sanders will at some point be charged in Arizona state court. Arizona, Louisiana and federal officials have been working together on the case. "We're kind of third in line," Yavapai County Sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said Friday. "Fortunately, he's in custody so we have the luxury of time." Sanders was arrested Sunday in Gulfport, Miss., after a massive manhunt to find the missing woman and her daughter. Authorities say Sanders and Suellen Roberts were in a relationship and took Lexis on a road trip for the Labor Day weekend. The last place they were seen alive was in Arizona. The case took a bizarre twist when authorities realized their prime suspect in the disappearances had been declared legally dead in 1994. Sanders' parents, brother and ex-wife petitioned a Mississippi court for the death declaration in 1994, saying nobody had heard from him in seven years. Even so, Sanders drifted from state to state unnoticed despite being arrested in Georgia and Tennessee under his real name. Sanders was arrested in January 1994 and charged with two counts of cruelty to children in Winder, Ga., where prosecutors said he repeatedly hit a boy on the back of the legs and put a pair of soiled underwear in the boy's face, according to court records. Sanders was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $500. In November 2002, he was arrested in Clarksville, Tenn., for driving on a revoked license. Police records indicated he had Tennessee identification even though he was from McComb, Miss. He listed his address as a room at a motel where many transients live. Sanders was arrested in Tennessee again in March 2003 for alleged possession of drug paraphernalia. Little else is known about Sanders' life after being declared dead. He didn't buy property or establish many bills in his name, things that create paper trails for most people. He has worked as a laborer, a welder and a scrap metal collector. Authorities said he sometimes gave his name as Tom or Steve or the nickname "Spider."
http://www.leesvilledailyleader.com/news/x291609411/Legally-dead-man-pleads-not-guilty-to-kidnapping

Body Identified as Mom of Girl Found Dead in Louisiana




FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Authorities have confirmed that the body of a woman found in northwestern Arizona is that of a Las Vegas mother whose daughter was found dead in Louisiana.
The remains of 31-year-old Suellen Roberts were discovered last month.
Yavapai County sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn said Tuesday that Roberts had a gunshot wound to her head, but there was no definitive cause of death.


read more....
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/crime/body-identified-roberts-apx-12212010

Roberts had a gunshot wound to her head, but there was no definitive cause of death.

---Hmmm? What could it be? What could it be?

February 12th 2011
Thomas Steven "Spider" Sanders pleaded not guilty Friday to federal
charges of kidnapping and killing 12-year-old Lexis Roberts of Las Vegas
and dumping her body last year in the woods in Catahoula Parish in
east-central Louisiana.Sanders, 53, could
face the death penalty if found guilty of either of two charges spelled
out in new indictment handed down by a Shreveport grand jury in
January.Sanders
was indicted the first time Nov. 14, and on Nov. 19 pleaded not guilty
to one charge of kidnapping Lexis. The girl's body had lain in woods
near Harrisonburg, about 60 miles northeast of Alexandria, for a month
before hunters found her in early October 2010.Sanders,
hands and feet shackled and dressed in Rapides Parish prisoner orange,
was guarded Friday by two deputy U.S. marshals in Magistrate Judge James
D. Kirk's courtroom in the U.S. District Courthouse in Alexandria.He
was flanked by his attorneys Rebecca Hudsmith, a federal public
defender from Lafayette, and Ansel Stroud III, a Shreveport attorney who
enrolled as Sanders' co-counsel after the first arraignment.Hudsmith patted Sanders on the shoulder when she greeted him in the courtroom."I tried calling you," Sanders told Hudsmith, then the two settled into whispers.Assistant
U.S. Attorneys Bill Flanagan and Nicole O. Snyder said after the
arraignment that they have haven't made a decision on if they'll pursue
the death penalty.Judge
Kirk said Sanders faces 20 years to life in prison or the death
penalty, and a $250,000 fine, if found guilty of count one that charges
the Mississippi native kidnapped Lexis and traveled across state lines
from Arizona to Louisiana, which resulted in her death.Sanders
faces five years to life in prison or the death penalty, and a $250,000
fine, if found guilty of count two that charges Sanders used a firearm
to kill Lexis.If
Sanders is found guilty, he would not be eligible for probation, and he
would serve prison sentences consecutively, Kirk said.Flanagan said a trial date would be decided by U.S. District Court Judge Dee Drell.

Read More: http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20110212/NEWS01/102120333/-Spider-Sanders-pleads-not-guilty-slaying-girl-found-Catahoula-Parish-?odyssey=nav|head

Catahoula Parish Sheriff’s Deputy Toney Edwards will be honored next month for his work on the case of a
kidnapped 12-year-old whose remains were found in October.
Edwards will be honored by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children May 18 in Washington.
The case involved Lexis Kaye Roberts, whose remains were found outside Harrisonburg on Oct. 8.
Edwards worked with the Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. The
investigation resulted in the arrest of a suspect, Thomas Steven Sanders
who was declared dead nearly17 years ago in Mississippi, then
resurfaced last year as a suspect in the disappearance of the girl and
her mother.Sheriff James Kelly said he put Edwards on the case because
he knew Edwards had a daughter about the same age as the victim.“That
night out in the woods when I assigned the case, I gave it to Toney
because I felt like he would put his heart and soul into it,” Kelly
said. “The whole thing became real personal to me when we knew for certain it was a young child,” Edwards said. “I
have kids of my own, and so do my friends. If there was someone around
here doing that to children we needed to take it personal enough to get
them off the street.”Edwards said he is looking forward to his
trip to Washington and that he wishes everyone involved in the case
could come with him.“The credit goes to all my family and my close friends and my fellow officers that worked with me,” he said.


Read more: http://www.sunherald.com/2011/04/09/3014321/deputy-hailed-for-work-in-child.html#ixzz1J63K6yhJ

Prosecutors want more time to decide whether
to seek the death penalty for a legally dead Mississippi man charged
with a kidnapping that resulted in the death of a 12-year-old Las Vegas
girl whose body was found in Louisiana.
Thomas Steven Sanders was
declared dead in Mississippi in 1994. He surfaced as a suspect in the
death of Lexis Roberts, whose body was found in October 2010 in
Catahoula Parish, La. Her mother's body was found later in Yavapai
County, Ariz.

Sanders is charged with the child's death in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, La.

Prosecutors have asked for a
30-day extension until Aug. 1 to decide on seeking the death penalty.
The motion says defense attorneys agree with the request.

U.S. District Judge Dee Drell has not yet ruled.
http://www.wdam.com/story/17359526/feds-want-more-time-to-weigh-death-penalty

Unidentified Teen Girls' Remains Found - 12-16 yo Caucasian - Harrisonburg (S of Monroe) LA

Post by TomTerrific0420 on Tue Oct 12, 2010 11:00 pm -This article is on page 6 of unresolved.

Thomas Stevens Sanders: 'Legally dead' kidnapping case set for 2014 trial
Associated Press
3:11 PM, Aug 2, 2013
3:13 PM, Aug 2, 2013

JACKSON, MS - A Louisiana judge has scheduled an August 2014 trial for a Mississippi man who disappeared and was declared dead, only to resurface years later as a suspect in the slayings of his girlfriend and her daughter.

Thomas Steven Sanders' trial had been scheduled to begin this month in Alexandria, La., where he's charged in 12-year-old Lexis Roberts' kidnapping death. Hunters found her body in Catahoula Parish, La., in October 2010.

In June, U.S. District Judge Dee Drell in Alexandria postponed the trial because he said federal budget cuts were hampering the publicly funded defense team. This week, he set the date for Aug. 18, 2014.

Drell said public defenders couldn't afford expenses for the complex, death-penalty trial because of automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, which took effect in March.

The trial had been scheduled in the last six weeks of this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The defense asked to take up pretrial motions during that time and have the trial later, so the costs could be spread out over two fiscal years.

read more:

http://www.abc15.com/news/national/thomas-stevens-sanders-legally-dead-kidnapping-case-set-for-2014-trial