LEXIS ROBERTS 12, found dead LA, MOM dead in AZ CONVICTION!

[cartfly]

La. grand jury indicts 'dead' man on kidnap charge

November 18, 2010

             
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man who was declared dead in 1994 has been indicted by a federal grand jury in the kidnapping of a 12-year-old Las Vegas girl whose skeletal remains were found last month in central Louisiana.

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 Thursday that Sanders could face the death penalty if convicted of kidnapping 12-year-old Lexis Roberts, which allegedly resulted in her death.

Authorities in Louisiana's Catahoula Parish, where Lexis Roberts' body was found in the woods off a dirt road Oct. 8, say they will charge Sanders with first-degree murder in state court after he's processed on the federal charge.

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 through dental records.

Sanders was arrested Sunday at a Gulfport, Miss., truckstop.

Other than arrests over the years on charges of child cruelty, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving violations, little is known about Sanders' life since he was declared dead by a Mississippi court in 1994. The judge declared him dead after his parents, brother and ex-wife petitioned the court for the declaration, saying nobody had heard from him in seven years.

Despite the death declaration, he drifted from state to state and lived unnoticed by authorities even after being arrested in Georgia and Tennessee under his real name. (WTH????)

Authorities say he was in a relationship with Suellen Roberts after meeting the woman in Las Vegas a few months ago. Suellen and Lexis Roberts disappeared in Arizona after taking a road trip with Sanders over the Labor Day weekend, authorities said.

Authorities say Lexis Roberts was shot by ammunition consistent with bullets that security cameras captured Sanders buying at a Walmart in Las Vegas on Sept. 3.

While being interrogated in Mississippi, Sanders allegedly told authorities where to look for the mother's body in northwestern Arizona's Yavapai County. Investigators said clothing and other evidence found with the body lead them to believe it is Suellen Roberts, though it could take a week for officials to positively identify the body.

http://www.theadvertiser.com/article/20101118/NEWS01/101118030/La.+grand+jury+indicts++dead++man+on+kidnap+charge+ 

[Nut44x4]

Imagine that ...............    I am not guilty

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.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2010/11/19/general-us-declared-dead-charges_8153038.html?boxes=Homepagebusinessnews

[Sister]

Wildlife workers in central Ohio have cut down a rotted-out American beech tree where investigators found three bodies stuffed in garbage bags.

Gary Ludwig _ a supervisor with Ohio's Division of Wildlife _ says authorities on Friday cut down the 60-foot tree where authorities had a day earlier recovered the remains of a mother, her 11-year-old son and a family friend.

The three victims disappeared more than a week ago from the mother's blood-spattered home along with her 13-year-old daughter, who was found alive Sunday in the basement of a Mount Vernon home owned by a tree-trimmer.

Ludwig says Knox County authorities wanted the tree removed from a wildlife preserve in Fredericktown out of respect for the victims' families and so that it would not become "a sightseeing thing."
http://www.newser.com/article/d9jjg4to1/ohio-wildlife-staff-cut-down-hollowed-tree-where-remains-of-3-missing-were-found-in-trash-bags.html

Is this horrid crime in the correct thread?  Lord, Nut, how do you keep them separated?  one right after the other . . . breaks my heart.

[cartfly]

I still haven't seen anything regarding the positive ID of Suellen in AZ

http://www.bradenton.com/2010/11/17/2746755/truck-stop-worker-says-dead-fugitive.html 

Truck stop worker says 'dead' fugitive 'creeped me out'

By ROBIN FITZGERALD - (Biloxi, Miss.) Sun-Herald

11/17/2010

HARRISON COUNTY, Miss. — An employee of the Flying J Travel Plaza said she worked up the nerve to call the FBI about a suspicious man and was working Sunday when a nationwide manhunt ended at the truck stop with the arrest of Thomas Steven Sanders.

Sanders, presumed dead 16 years ago, had been sought as a fugitive on a federal kidnapping charge since he was linked to a 12-year-old Las Vegas girl found dead Oct. 8 in Catahoula Parish, La. Lexis Kaye Roberts had been shot multiple times.

A body believed to be the girl's mother, Suellen Roberts, 31, was found Monday near Seligman, Ariz.

The truck stop employee, who asked not to be identified, told the Sun Herald that Sanders had been coming in to the Flying J just off Interstate 10 near Gulfport for three weeks before she called the FBI last week.

"He creeped me out," she said. "One day he told me, 'your eyes are so beautiful, I'd like to hold your eyes in my hand.' I was scared, but I wanted to do the right thing."

"He would enter the truck stop through the truck drivers' door," she said. "There's a TV in the drivers' lounge so truck drivers can relax or take a shower."

"'Mr. Thomas' would come in and drink coffee and get refills for hours. He would buy snacks, sometimes chips, preferably Cheetos. He always made a point of letting me know he had come in. He made me nervous. One day he told me he'd be much happier if I was in his arms."

The woman said it was business as usual Sunday morning when FBI agents in plain clothes simply walked in to the drivers' lounge and handcuffed Sanders.

"He was watching 'CSI,' on TV," she said. "They'd had him under surveillance. It was so amazingly coordinated. That was the fourth weekend I saw him."

Sanders had been featured as a fugitive on "America's Most Wanted" TV show, most recently on Saturday.

The woman said she had heard talk at work about a fugitive and wondered if Sanders was wanted.

[Nut44x4]

Body identified as mom of girl found dead in La.

Associated Press - December 21, 2010 12:14 PM ET

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - 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.

Roberts and her daughter were traveling with Thomas Steven Sanders in northern Arizona over the Labor Day weekend.

Sanders had been declared legally dead 16 years ago. He has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping Roberts' 12-year-old daughter, Lexis Roberts.

D'Evelyn says authorities also are looking into whether Sanders is connected to the disappearance and death of Suellen Roberts.

http://www.klfy.com/Global/story.asp?S=13721114

[Nut44x4]

http://www.newser.com/article/d9jjg4to1/ohio-wildlife-staff-cut-down-hollowed-tree-where-remains-of-3-missing-were-found-in-trash-bags.html

Is this horrid crime in the correct thread?  Lord, Nut, how do you keep them separated?  one right after the other . . . breaks my heart.

mmmmmm.....no it isn't. Apparently I don't keep them separated 

[Nut44x4]

Sanders pleads not guilty to new charges in slaying of girl
12:00 AM, Feb. 12, 2011 

Thomas Steven Sanders pleaded not guilty Friday to enhanced federal charges of kidnapping and killing 12-year-old Lexis Roberts of Las Vegas and dumping her body in the woods in Catahoula Parish last year.

Sanders 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 on Nov. 14, and on Nov. 19 pleaded not guilty to one charge of kidnapping Lexis, whose body had lain in woods near Harrisonburg about a month before hunters found her in early October.

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.

 ::snipping2::
http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20110212/NEWS01/102120333/1002/news01/Sanders-pleads-not-guilty-new-charges-slaying-girl

[Sister]

Sanders pleads not guilty to new charges in slaying of girl
12:00 AM, Feb. 12, 2011 

Thomas Steven Sanders pleaded not guilty Friday to enhanced federal charges of kidnapping and killing 12-year-old Lexis Roberts of Las Vegas and dumping her body in the woods in Catahoula Parish last year.

Sanders 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 on Nov. 14, and on Nov. 19 pleaded not guilty to one charge of kidnapping Lexis, whose body had lain in woods near Harrisonburg about a month before hunters found her in early October.

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.

 ::snipping2::
http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20110212/NEWS01/102120333/1002/news01/Sanders-pleads-not-guilty-new-charges-slaying-girl

I wish something else was shackled so "it" could turn orange like his garb.
 

[cartfly]

Mother, daughter were both victims of murder
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader
Published Jul 28, 2011 at 3:00 am (Updated Jul 27, 2011)
    ShareThis





    Pallbearers carry the casket for Suellen Roberts and her daughter Lexis Roberts at McHugh Funeral Home in Manchester on Wednesday. Suellen and Lexis disappeared while living in Las Vegas and were found murdered last year.

    (THOMAS ROY/UNION LEADER)

 ::snipping2::
MANCHESTER — A single pink casket held the remains of a mother and daughter finally brought home to their native New Hampshire last week and laid to rest Wednesday.

It was a sad homecoming for Suellen E. Roberts, 31, and her 12-year-old daughter, Lexis Kaye, who went West more than eight years ago to seek fortune in Las Vegas.
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110728/NEWS15/707289971/-1/news

[Sister]

Mother, daughter were both victims of murder
By KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader
Published Jul 28, 2011 at 3:00 am (Updated Jul 27, 2011)
    ShareThis





    Pallbearers carry the casket for Suellen Roberts and her daughter Lexis Roberts at McHugh Funeral Home in Manchester on Wednesday. Suellen and Lexis disappeared while living in Las Vegas and were found murdered last year.

    (THOMAS ROY/UNION LEADER)

 ::snipping2::
MANCHESTER — A single pink casket held the remains of a mother and daughter finally brought home to their native New Hampshire last week and laid to rest Wednesday.

It was a sad homecoming for Suellen E. Roberts, 31, and her 12-year-old daughter, Lexis Kaye, who went West more than eight years ago to seek fortune in Las Vegas.
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110728/NEWS15/707289971/-1/news

Thanks for this update Cartfly.

[Nut44x4]

http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2011/08/12/trial-set-for-legally-dead-man-in-kidnap-case/

 Trial Set For ‘Legally Dead’ Man In Kidnap Case

August 12, 2011 3:34 PM       ::snipping2::

The trial is set for Jan. 14, 2013, in Alexandria, La., where he’s charged with the girl’s kidnapping.
 
Sanders has pleaded not guilty.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/09/03/mississippi-man-who-once-was-declared-dead-goes-on-trial-for-2010-slaying-12/?intcmp=obinsite
Mississippi man who once was declared dead goes on trial for 2010 slaying of 12-year-old girl
September 3, 2014

ALEXANDRIA, La. –  The lawyer for a Mississippi man who was declared dead two decades ago, only to resurface as a murder suspect, does not deny that her client killed his girlfriend and her daughter, but she said Wednesday that he's being tried in the wrong court.

In opening statements, attorney Cristie Gibbens said it was improper to charge Thomas Steven Sanders in federal court for the 2010 slaying of 12-year-old Lexis Roberts. She said prosecutors lack evidence to prove that Sanders committed a federal crime, rather than a crime that should be addressed in local courts.

Otherwise, she said, "We agree with the government on almost all of the facts."

Gibbens said Sanders "accepts full responsibility for the death of Lexis Roberts."

Roberts' skeletal remains were found off a gravel trail in rural Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, in October 2010, a month after authorities say Sanders dumped her body. Her mother's body was found later in Arizona.

Prosecutor Bill Flanagan said Sanders shot the girl's mother, Suellen Roberts, on a trip all three took to a wildlife park near the Grand Canyon, then drove Lexis Roberts to Louisiana, where he shot her four times and cut her throat.

Gibbens, who offered no explanation for the shootings called it "a vacation that went terribly, horribly, sadly wrong,"

Sanders was identified as a suspect long after he was thought dead. Sanders had left his family in Mississippi in 1987, and his relatives and ex-wife had him declared dead in 1994 after he had been missing for years.

A middle-aged, balding man, Sanders sat quietly with his lawyers as the killings were described, periodically wiping his eyes. Dressed in a blue shirt and khakis, he wasn't handcuffed, but a U.S. marshal sat nearby.

Sanders is charged with two crimes: kidnapping resulting in death and using a firearm in a crime of violence that caused a person's death. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

After opening statements Wednesday, witnesses described finding Lexis Roberts' remains on hunting property.

Photos of a skull with small pink braces still attached to the upper teeth were shown in court, along with a purple unicorn stuffed animal that was found in the woods near Roberts' bones. Sanders' lawyers didn't dispute that the remains were identified as Lexis Roberts.

Flanagan said Sanders met Suellen Roberts while working and living at a storage facility in Las Vegas. Within a few months, they started dating and planned the Labor Day weekend trip that would end with both mother and daughter shot and killed, the prosecutor said.

After visiting a wildlife refuge known as Bearizona and stopping at the Grand Canyon, the trio pulled into a remote stretch of desert off an interstate so Suellen Roberts could shoot Sanders' .22-caliber rifle, Flangan said. Instead, Sanders shot the mother in the head while her daughter sat on a blanket nearby, Flanagan said.

Sanders left the body where it fell and drove Lexis Roberts over several days to northeast Louisiana, where he shot her three times in the head and once in the chest, the prosecutor said.

"Lexis Roberts still had not died, and so he took his knife and he cut her throat," Flanagan told jurors.

Flanagan said Sanders confessed to the child's death after being arrested in Gulfport, Mississippi, while still driving Suellen Roberts' car, and told investigators how to find her body in Arizona.

Gibbens said Sanders was in love with the mother. She said he acknowledged, "I just shot her. I didn't know what to do after that." Gibbens said after learning how Lexis Roberts' body had decomposed in the woods, Sanders replied: "She didn't deserve that."

[MuffyBee]

http://www.myarklamiss.com/story/d/story/sanders-confession-tape-played-in-court-victims-gr/44850/LtM71IDy7US29TwOMlDh1g
Sanders confession tape played in court, victim's grandmother testifies
September 5, 2014

ALEXANDRIA, La. (KALB News Channel 5) - Thursday was day two of the Thomas Sanders trial in Alexandria federal court.  Sanders is accused of "interstate kidnapping" and the "death of a person through the use of a firearm."

The charges stem from an incident Labor Day weekend 2010, when Sanders is accused of killing a mother and her 12-year-old daughter from Las Vegas.

While this trial deals with the death of 12-year-old Lexis Roberts, much of the testimony Thursday focused on the death of her mother, Suellen Roberts.

Thomas Steven Sanders is also accused of shooting and killing Suellen in Arizona. And, on Thursday, prosecution played a confession tape.

"They haven't found her yet? I want Suellen found," said Sanders in the audio tape.

Prosecutors say Thomas Steven Sanders was willing to help lead authorities to the body of Suellen Roberts after he was arrested in connection with the death of Lexis.

In an audio interview with FBI Special Agent Ben Walsh, who took the stand Thursday, Sanders gave step-by-step directions to where he left her body.

"Did you find the asphalt pile? The rock pile?" asked Sanders in the tape.

FBI agents showed Sanders maps of the desert in Arizona near where he, Suellen and Lexis had been vacationing.

At the time of the tape, Suellen's body was not found.

However, in what was probably the most important part of the audio interview, Special Agent Walsh managed to get a confession on tape.
More...

[MuffyBee]

http://www.greenfieldreporter.com/view/story/bd0236db8fb545329ce0972c94d308b6/LA--Declared-Dead-Charges
Defense fails to toss federal charges in case where man accused of kidnapping and killing girl
September 6, 2014

ALEXANDRIA, Louisiana — Jurors will hear closing arguments Monday in the case of a Mississippi man who was declared dead two decades ago, only to resurface as a murder suspect.

Prosecutors concluded their case against Thomas Steven Sanders Friday, and defense lawyers called no witnesses after failing to get the case thrown out of federal court.

U.S. District Judge Dee Drell denied a defense motion for acquittal, turning away arguments that the charges — kidnapping resulting in death and using a firearm in a crime of violence that caused a person's death — should be heard in state court.

"The issue is we're in the wrong court," defense attorney Marty Stroud unsuccessfully argued to Drell. "These crimes are local crimes."

Stroud said the prosecution failed to meet requirements for federal prosecution by proving Sanders acted with reward, ransom or some other purpose in mind when he transported 12-year-old Lexis Roberts across state lines in 2010.

Prosecutor Bill Flanagan argued that taking and killing the only witness to the death of Suellen Roberts — Lexis' mother — showed clear purpose.

"This crime certainly could have been prosecuted by the State of Louisiana," Flanagan said. "It also can be prosecuted by the United States."

Drell said the defense can make the same argument during closing statements and allow the jury to decide. The defense then rested its case without calling any witnesses.

Prosecutors say Sanders kidnapped Lexis Roberts, killing her and dumping her body in Catahoula Parish. Some of the interviews taped after Sanders was arrested by FBI agents in Gulfport, Mississippi in November 2010 were taped and played to the jury Thursday, with Sanders admitting "I shot both of them, killed both of them."

Prosecutors have said Sanders shot Suellen Roberts on a trip all three took to a wildlife park in Arizona, then drove Lexis Roberts to Louisiana, where he shot her four times and cut her throat. They said after visiting a wildlife refuge known as Bearizona and stopping at the Grand Canyon, the trio pulled into a remote stretch of desert off an interstate so Suellen Roberts could shoot Sanders' .22-caliber rifle. Instead, Sanders shot the mother in the head while her daughter sat on a blanket nearby, Flanagan said.

Sanders left the body where it fell and drove Lexis Roberts over several days to northeast Louisiana, where he shot her three times in the head and once in the chest, the prosecutor said. With the girl still alive, prosecutors said Sanders then cut her throat with a knife. Two experts testified Friday that DNA from the blade of a knife found in Sanders' possession matched DNA samples taken from Lexis Roberts' remains.
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/local/2014/09/06/prosecution-rests-case-sanders/15171695/
Prosecution rests case against Sanders
September 6, 2014

Motion to dismiss case denied; fate of accused killer now up to jury

Thomas Sanders' hopes for acquittal were likely dashed Friday when Judge Dee Drell denied a defense motion to dismiss the case against him.

Attorneys for Sanders, who is accused of kidnapping and killing 12-year-old Lexis Roberts in 2010, moved for an acquittal on day three of his trial in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. The grounds were not guilt but jurisdiction — though the defense team has not disputed that Sanders killed Roberts, attorney Marty Stroud argued he should not be tried in federal court.

"The issue is we're in the wrong court," Stroud said. "These crimes are local crimes."

When Drell denied the motion, it seemingly left Sanders with almost no hope of avoiding a guilty verdict.

The government wrapped up a damning case against Sanders Friday with testimony from DNA experts. Their testimony matched DNA from the blade of a knife found in Sanders' possession to DNA samples taken from Lexis Roberts' remains.

Sanders is charged with kidnapping resulting in death and using a firearm in a violent crime that resulted in death. Both charges could carry a death sentence.

Sanders met and started dating Suellen Roberts in the summer of 2010, when she rented a unit at the storage facility in Las Vegas where he worked. A couple of months later, he took Suellen and her daughter, Lexis, on a trip over Labor Day weekend to wildlife park Bearizona and the Grand Canyon.

On the way back to Nevada, Sanders pulled off Interstate 40 in a remote part of the Arizona desert so Suellen could shoot the rifle he had brought on the trip.

Instead, prosecutors say, he shot her once in the head at close range in front of her daughter. After that, Sanders drove Lexis to Louisiana, where he shot her four times, cut her throat and left her body in the woods of Catahoula Parish, where a hunter found her weeks later.

Sanders confirmed those details when he was interviewed by FBI agents following his arrest in Gulfport, Miss., in November 2010. Part of those interviews was taped and played to the jury Thursday, where Sanders admits "I shot both of them, killed both of them."

After the prosecution rested its case Friday, Stroud made the motion for acquittal. The basis was the evidence did not support the charge of kidnapping made in the indictment.
 

Drell denied the motion, but said the defense can make the same argument during closing statements and allow the jury to decide if it has merit.

The defense rested without calling any witnesses after the motion was denied. The trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. Monday with final jury instructions and closing statements.

[MuffyBee]

I hope justice for Lexis and her mom is just around the corner. 

[Nut44x4]

https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/neworleans/news/press-releases/jury-imposes-death-sentence-on-a-las-vegas-man-for-kidnapping-and-murdering-a-12-year-old-girl

September 26, 2014
Jury Imposes Death Sentence on a Las Vegas Man for Kidnapping and Murdering a 12-Year-Old Girl

WASHINGTON—A federal jury in the Western District of Louisiana today returned a verdict imposing the death penalty on a Las Vegas man for the brutal kidnapping and murder of a 12-year-old girl. This case represents the first time the death penalty has been imposed in federal court in the Western District of Louisiana.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley and Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Anderson of the FBI’s New Orleans Division made the announcement.

Thomas Sanders, 57, was convicted on Sept. 8, 2014, of one count of kidnapping resulting in death and one count of using a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death, for the kidnap and murder of Lexis Roberts in the fall of 2010.

“This is a heartbreaking case,” said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. “A young girl witnessed the murder of her mother, was held captive for days, and had her life cut tragically short by a senseless, brutal murder. We hope today’s verdict will help Lexis’s family as they continue to struggle with the loss of their loved ones.”

“These types of cases are never easy, but today we remember the victims, their families and their loved ones,” said U.S. Attorney Finley. “The nature of the crime and the level of violence involved are something that we never get used to no matter how long we have done this. The severity of the sentence imposed against Sanders underscores the senseless brutality of his acts against an innocent 12-year-old girl. Lexis Roberts was needlessly taken from a family that loved her, and she was denied the most fundamental right of life, and they were denied the joy of knowing what that life could have been. Still, we do not lose sight of the fact that this trial and sentencing also represent the right of due process that was extended to Sanders, and a jury of his peers has rendered justice. Nothing, no trial or sentence, can ever bring Lexis or her mother back, but we hope that the verdict brings some measure of closure to Lexis’s family. The prosecutors and the law enforcement agencies that assisted in this case are to be commended for their hard work. The importance of their collective efforts cannot be overstated.”

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the victims who have endured unimaginable grief while awaiting the just verdict and sentence for such horrific crimes,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Anderson.

Evidence admitted during trial established that Sanders met Suellen Roberts, 31, in the summer of 2010 when Roberts rented a storage unit at a warehouse in Las Vegas where Sanders worked. Roberts and Sanders began dating, and approximately two months later Roberts agreed that she and her 12-year-old daughter, Lexis, would go on a trip with Sanders over the Labor Day weekend to a wildlife park near the Grand Canyon. As they were returning to Nevada after three days of traveling, Sanders pulled off Interstate 40 in a remote location in the Arizona desert and shot Suellen Roberts in the head and forced Lexis Roberts into the car, keeping her captive.

Sanders drove several days across the country before he murdered Lexis Roberts in a wooded area in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana. Evidence at trial established that Sanders shot Lexis Roberts four times, cut her throat and left her body in the woods, where a hunter found her body on Oct. 8, 2010. A nationwide manhunt ensued, and Sanders was arrested on Nov. 14, 2010, at a truck stop in Gulfport, Mississippi, by FBI agents and a Harrison County Sheriff’s Deputy.

At trial, the jury heard a recorded confession in which Sanders admitted killing the mother and daughter.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s New Orleans Division, Central Louisiana Safe Streets Task Force, Catahoula Parish Sheriff’s Office, Harrison County Sheriff’s Office, Yavapai County Arizona Sheriff’s Office, Coconino County Arizona Sheriff’s Office, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Trial Attorney Julie Mosley of the Criminal Division’s Capital Case Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys William J. Flanagan and Brandon B. Brown prosecuted the case.