Second man charged in killing of Kingman, Arizona, real estate investor

KINGMAN, Ariz. — A second man has been indicted for his alleged involvement in the killing of a local real estate investor whose remains were found buried on a nearby ranch earlier this month.

Bill Sanders, 54, is charged with concealing a dead body and tampering with physical evidence.

Police reports and court records show it was Sanders who early this month led authorities to the location where the victim had been buried after being shot to death in June 2015. The remains of Sid Cranston, 40, were located Jan. 7 in a grave on a ranch about 20 miles east of Kingman.

Cranston’s disappearance had been treated as a missing person’s case for 19 months before Sanders led police to his grave after failing an FBI polygraph exam Jan. 6.

Kingman police reports indicate Sanders told authorities that Cranston associate Al Blanco killed Cranston and summoned Sanders to the scene claiming he needed help with a trailer. Blanco showed Cranston’s body to Sanders after he arrived, police said, and Sanders admitted helping load the body into the bucket of a backhoe before Blanco buried it near a barn.

The 61-year-old Blanco is charged with first-degree murder, concealing a dead body and tampering with physical evidence. He is held without bond in the county jail pending a Feb. 27 hearing.

Sanders is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 9.