US man declared dead arrested in kidnapping case
Published:Monday | November 15, 2010 | 3:54 PM
A US man who was declared legally dead 16 years ago, has been arrested in Mississippi for the kidnapping of a girl whose body was found in Louisiana.
An FBI spokeswoman said Thomas Steven Sanders had been held on Sunday at a truck stop in the Mississippi town of Gulfport, following a massive manhunt.
He’s suspected of involvement in the abduction of 12-year-old Lexis Roberts, who was found dead earlier this year.
Police are pressing him for information on the girl's missing mother.
According to court documents, Sanders abandoned his family in 1987 and was declared dead by a Mississippi court in 1994.
At the time he was declared dead, investigators say Sanders had worked as a labourer, a welder and a scrap metal collector and lived in the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia and Nevada.