Man thought dead jailed in kidnapping

By Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Former Buford resident Thomas Sanders, wanted in the kidnapping of a 12-year-old girl, was arrested Sunday in Mississippi -- the same state where he was declared dead 16 years ago.

Sanders was detained at a truck stop in Gulfport, FBI special agent Sheila Thorne told the Associated Press.

Hunters in central Louisiana found Lexis Roberts’ skeletal remains on Oct. 8, a month and three days after she was last seen with her mother, Suellen Roberts, and Sanders in Arizona.

The drifter, 53, became a suspect after investigators uncovered security footage from a Las Vegas Walmart store that showed Sanders purchasing bullets.

That ammunition was consistent with the weapon used to kill Lexis Roberts, the FBI said.

Sanders, wanted for kidnapping, likely faces more charges. Suellen Roberts, who is not a suspect in her daughter’s death, remains missing.

A nationwide manhunt led federal marshals to the rural Louisiana home of Candace Tarver, Sanders’ first wife and the mother of his three adult sons.

She last saw him 23 years ago. Sanders had said he was leaving to find a job and promised to return with a new washer and dryer.

With no word from Sanders for seven years, Tarver and Sanders’ parents and brother successfully petitioned a Mississippi court to declare him dead in July 1994.

“I almost passed out,” Tarver said after agents told her that her ex-husband was alive and a suspect in the murder of a young girl. “He’s destroyed my life and he’s doing it again.”

Tarver told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday that she feared for her safety because Lexis Roberts’ remains were found just 150 miles from her home.

Tarver said her former husband previously had exhibited a disturbing attraction to young girls, but she didn’t think he was capable of murder.

Sanders, a handyman and scrap metal collector, was discovered in a compromising position with a girl, 6 -- by the child’s father -- Tarver said.

“That girl’s dad beat the hell out of him,” Tarver said.

Sanders, however, told his wife that the bruises and gashes were caused by a hammer that fell on his head.

“I didn’t believe him,” she said, adding her husband was always disappointed they never had a daughter. “He wanted girls.”

After leaving his family behind, Sanders settled in Buford, near Lake Lanier Islands, public records reveal.

He moved to Winder, where, in 1994, he pleaded guilty to two counts of child battery.

He was sentenced to one-year probation for repeatedly hitting a boy on the legs and buttocks and then rubbing a pair of underwear in the child’s face.

Outside of the Barrow County charges, there’s little to link him to Georgia.

His last known address was in Bumpus Mills, Tenn., three miles south of the Kentucky border. At some point, he made his way to Nevada, where he befriended Suellen Roberts, 31.

Sanders gave gifts to Suellen Roberts and her daughter, earning their trust, family members told a New Hampshire television station.

“He could be charming,” said Tarver, who met Sanders after he was discharged from the Marines. “He told me he had to act like he was crazy to get out of there. I think there’s always been something wrong with him.”

Jy Sanders, the man’s oldest son, said his father often was cruel. When Tarver was in labor with the couple’s third child, Sanders didn’t drive her to the hospital, he told the AJC.

Asked how he’d react if he saw his father again, Jy Sanders said, “I’d spit in his face.”

The Associated Press contributed to this article.