Thomas Sanders Charged with First-Degree Murder

The Catahoula Parish Sheriff’s Office obtained a warrant for a first-degree murder charge on Thomas Sanders, who is accused of kidnapping and shooting Lexis Kaye Roberts of Las Vegas.

Authorities arrested 53-year-old Sanders on a federal kidnapping warrant at a truck stop in Gulfport, Miss. on Sunday.

FBI agents who questioned him were lead to a pile of human remains found in a remote part of Arizona off Interstate 40 on Monday. The skeletal remains are believed to belong to Suellen Roberts, the girl’s mother, who was considered missing in September.

The Yavapai County Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy on the remains in Prescott, Ariz., which will result in the identification of the bones and the cause of death.

Currently, Sanders is at an FBI holding facility at the Rapides Parish Detention Center. His court appearance will be in Alexandria on Friday.

Early October, hunters discovered Roberts’ remains in a wooded area north of Harrisonburg in Catahoula Parish.

Detectives in Arizona say that Suellen and her daughter Lexis stayed in a Flagstaff motel in September. Prior information shows that Suellen became friends with the suspect earlier this year in Las Vegas, and decided to bring her daughter along on a vacation with him.

Detectives also received information that the trio visited the Grand Canyon during the trip.

FBI agents say Sanders was declared legally dead 16 years ago by his family in Mississippi. A criminal history of the suspect reveal a history of past violence- and drug-related arrests, including arrests for sex crimes against children.