FBI: Man Once Thought Dead Arrested in Kidnapping

[Elmore Furth]

Source: ABC News.

A man who was declared legally dead 16 years ago in Mississippi was arrested Sunday in the kidnapping of a slain Las Vegas girl whose body was found in the woods of central Louisiana, the FBI said.

FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne said Thomas Steven Sanders was arrested early Sunday at a truck stop in Gulfport, Miss. The arrest capped a massive manhunt in a bizarre case that stretched across the country.

Court documents obtained by The Associated Press show Sanders abandoned his family in 1987 and was declared dead by a Mississippi court 1994. He lived unnoticed for years despite being arrested several times.

Sanders, 53, was wanted in the kidnapping 12-year-old Lexis Roberts, whose skeleton was found by hunters early last month. Her 31-year-old mother, Suellen Roberts, is missing. Officials say she is not a suspect in her daughter's death — and they hope she has not met with foul play.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=12146527

[sally cat]

1. Obviously Big Brother isn't watching the right people.

[saigon68]

2. Where's Osama ?

[glitch]

3. Too busy harassing peace activists, environmentalists and quakers.

Priorities.