Man, declared dead, sentenced to die in slaying

ALEXANDRIA, La. — A Mississippi man once declared dead only to resurface as a suspect in a kidnapping and killing has been sentenced to death for his murder conviction.

U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley said federal jurors Friday returned the sentence against 57-year-old Thomas Sanders for the 2010 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Lexis Roberts of Las Vegas.

Sanders left his family in Mississippi in 1987. He was declared dead in 1994 after he had been missing for years.

Jurors on Sept. 8 convicted Sanders of kidnapping resulting in death and using a firearm in a violent crime that resulted in death.

Sanders confessed to killing the young girl and her mother, Suellen Roberts, after his arrest in Gulfport, Miss.