GUILTY NV - Suellen, 31, & Lexis Roberts, 12, Las Vegas, 4 Sept 2010

[catahoula]

Just wondering. Does this monster have a driver's linc., how in the h_ _ L can he buy ammo without ID. I can't. LA need to back track this man from Arz. He has dumped moms body somewhere between NV and LA. How can someone be declared dead and keep drivers licn. and ID in the same name????? I am just really puzzled as to how this man got away with all this. Must be VERY CLEVER!!!!!! Has to be. And don't tell me his family didn't know where he was. BULL! And were his arrest made after he was declared dead? Something went terribly wrong with our justice system in this case. LA needs to check into other missing children from NV to Miss. and see if he could be connected to any of them. I guess he thought since he was "Dead" he could get away with murder.

 

[catahoula]

Does anyone know when Nancy Grace plans on airing the story. I just feel like when it goes national we will find this man. America's Most Wanted needs to get this story too. They seem to have a good track record in catching people.

 

[watchful_eye]

:furious:http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5isElCQb7FE_k4Py1fd6x6DYTdlCw?docId=1f938e19cf1e452c9384407ec545f2d1:furious:

My wave of reaction to this news:

1.

2. :furious::furious::furious::furious::furious:


3. :censored::censored::censored:

 

[SugarQueen]

Okay, am I losing my mind or are they showing photos of 2 different vehicles? The picture from Bearizona appears to be a hatch back?

 

[catahoula]

That is different cars. ?????????????????????????????????

 

[The Green Hornet]

Awful.. You can't ever be safe meeting people these days.

 

[Bratislava]

Do we know anything about Lexis' biological father? Is he alive? Has he been involved in any searches or efforts to get media attention focused on this pair? I have so much sympathy for him right now. To be alive and imagine what this horrible man did to your teenage daughter.... Grrrrr.

 

[cutegirltoo]

I wonder if they got his real name from running prints he left behind in NV. That may be when he popped up on the radar. I bet Suellen knew him by another name.

 

[Mandy113]

Once again, I'm behind in my reading here. How does someone ... with a record ... get declared dead without having their record updated to show that?

Why didn't LE take this case seriously from the beginning? If they had, perhaps Suellen & Lexis could have been saved.

End of rant & back to lurking.

 

[Knox]

I am glad that this is front and center on the local Las Vegas news this morning. However, I wish that they had a better picture of Suellen than what I believe is her DMV photo. It just looks too much like a mug shot. I believe that she was a victim of this guy and won't be found alive, but it would be nice to see a real picture of her (especially a picture of her and Lexis together).

 

[Knox]

 

[Knox]

 

[Knox]

The two photos above and the Wal-Mart Surveillance video can be found here ... http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/national/man-declared-dead-1994-wanted-kidnapping-apx-11052010

What is the black thing he put on the counter, is it a shirt?

 

[Knox]

 

[ckwood32]

I agree Mandy - it doesn't appear they took this seriously.

 

[carbuff]

The two photos above and the Wal-Mart Surveillance video can be found here ... http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/national/man-declared-dead-1994-wanted-kidnapping-apx-11052010

What is the black thing he put on the counter, is it a shirt?

It looks like a shirt to me. A fairly bulky one, possibly a dark plaid flannel?

 

[Bratislava]

I agree Mandy - it doesn't appear they took this seriously.

Which is crazy, since Lexis obviously missed school. Suellen, who seems to have been a mother who cared for her daughter, would not have kept her daughter from school, esp. as a single mom knowing that DHR watches single moms more closely than married moms.

What was LE thinking???

 

[summer_breeze]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20021946-504083.html

November 5, 2010 6:03 PM
Legally Dead Man Now a Wanted Man...for Murder
Posted by Carlin DeGuerin Miller

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Thomas Steven Sanders was declared legally dead in Mississippi in 1994. Sixteen years later, authorities in Nevada say that Sanders is very much alive, and he's wanted in the murder of a 12-year-old girl named Lexis Roberts.

 

[notapi]

[QUOTE=catahoula;5767504]Hey guys. This has been one huge story for our little community. I sure hope they find this animal and put him away for good. This is just my suspensions but where he put Lexis body is FAR off the Beaten path. My family has a hunting lease in those hills and have hunted there for over 20 years. I was born and raise in Harrisonburg and have been in the hill many many times. But even now I couldn't find my way in or out. If he hasn't been here in YEARS then he must have had help dumping her body. I promise you don't just drive in and out of this place. Local people have been known to be lost. This man had help! In my heart I believe Mom is dead too but don't think he brought her this far. What mom wouldn't fight that monster. Please keep our law inforcement in your prayers. We have good people here who are working to catch this man and they will with everyones help. Lets get him off the streets and bring him to justice. Talk is that as soon as all this is settled the good people of Catahoula are planning to place a memorial at the spot where little Lexis was found. These hills are breath taking and beautiful but this has put such a cloud on the beauty. RIP Lexis. Catahoula Parish love you.[/QUOTE]
Thanks Neighbor--That is what I said about having to know the area--and being a dense area. I also wondered about him having help. I am not from Harrisonburg--but not to far from there.--there is a closeness in a small community--Things like this just doesn't happen around here--This case is really pulling at our heart strings!! And LEXIS WILL NOT EVER BE FORGOTTEN over here!!

 

[Knox]

Officials: Suspect lived unnoticed after 'death'

As federal and state investigators mount a nationwide manhunt for Thomas Steven Sanders, they are still trying to piece together how a man who abandoned his family in 1987 and was declared dead in 1994 lived unnoticed for years. Even though authorities arrested him on multiple charges during that time, they never realized he had been declared dead.

Sanders' relatives in Louisiana haven't heard from him in years, said Toney Edwards, an investigator for the Catahoula Parish Sheriff's Department.
"He dropped out of his life, but maintained a criminal record throughout that time," Edwards said.

A federal warrant was issued Thursday accusing Sanders of 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 daughters death and they hope she has not met with foul play.

We still consider her a missing person," Edwards said.
A few details about Sanders' movements are beginning to emerge.
Investigators know he lived in several states, including Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia and Nevada.

Sanders worked as a laborer, a welder and a scrap metal collector, but left little record behind, Edwards said. He lived under his own name but avoided putting that name down in writing, investigators said.

"He didn't have utilities turned on in his name, didn't have credit cards, didn't sign up for stuff," Edwards said. "He was out of general society."
The last time Sanders' family saw him was in June 1987. His wife, Candice Sanders, divorced him the next year, claiming she was in poverty and was apparently hoping to collect benefits to support their three children.

She was granted a divorce in February 1988 "on the statutory grounds of habitual, cruel and inhuman treatment," according to a divorce decree obtained by The Associated Press. The divorce records said the couple married in Feb. 2, 1979, and lived together until June 28, 1987.

Sanders' parents, brother and ex-wife petitioned a Mississippi court in July 1994 to have him declared dead, according to court records obtained by The AP. Mississippi officials would not release a copy of Sanders' death certificate, citing privacy issues.

There is no requirement to report a death to the Social Security Administration, said Wesley Davis, a spokesman for the agency.
"We're concerned with benefits received illegally," Davis said. "A younger person would probably not be receiving benefits so if he kept paying to that account it would not attract attention."

Despite the Mississippi death certificate, Sanders was able to move about easily, said FBI agent Robert King. "There's no national death database," King said. "He could have established a new identity or maybe just stuck to the old one and still slipped through the cracks."

Sanders used Tom and Steve as first names over the years, and the nickname "Spider," investigators said. He did collect a string of arrests during the period, Edwards said.

According to records obtained by the Associated Press, his arrests included possession of drug paraphernalia and a number of traffic and motor vehicle incidents, all in Tennessee. He was sentenced to two years in Georgia for simple battery. State and federal authorities said some of the charges involved minors, but they refused to elaborate.

Although suspects are supposed to be fingerprinted when arrested and the prints submitted to the FBI national database, the practice is not always followed, said Ronnie Jones, a professor of criminal justice at Southeastern Louisiana University, and consultant to law enforcement agencies.

In many places, he said, "you can just sign for a misdemeanor arrest and not be taken to jail. And if it's a relatively minor offense sometimes the practice is allowed to slide."

http://www.muscatinejournal.com/news/national/article_51102c78-df59-5a9e-90ac-09b7d5311fe5.html​

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