Kidnapping suspect once declared dead

JACKSON, Miss. – 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 manhunt in a 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 in 1994. He lived unnoticed for years despite being arrested several times.

Sanders, 53, was wanted in the kidnapping of Lexis Roberts, 12, whose skeleton was found by hunters early last month. There was evidence she had been shot.

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.

Thorne said Sanders was alone when he was arrested at the truck stop.

Despite being declared dead, Sanders had been able to move about easily. Investigators know he lived in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia and Nevada.

In Nevada, Sanders met Suellen 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.