GUILTY MO - Helen Sanders, 53, drowned, found in car trunk, Columbia, 14 Aug 2008

PrayersForMaura

Help Find Maura Murray
Joined
Aug 14, 2003
Messages
14,162
Reaction score
136
A woman's body is found in the trunk of a car that motorists reported was driving recklessly on a busy highway in Columbia.

Police sent to an area near Memorial Stadium Thursday night said a car matching a description provided by witnesses was stopped along U.S. 63. After the driver was taken into custody on traffic offenses, a search of the vehicle uncovered the body of a woman in the trunk.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...6799AEFDD308A056862574A600437349?OpenDocument
 
This is awful. I hope they solve this.
 
Son Charged After Mother's Body Found In Car Trunk
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- A teenager who was driving a car with what police said was his mother's body in the trunk has been charged with tampering with physical evidence.

Officers discovered the body of 53-year-old Helen C. Sanders on Thursday night after stopping the car driven by 19-year-old Daniel A. Sanders.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=152393&catid=3
 
An autopsy Friday by the Boone County medical examiner’s office was inconclusive. Police must wait for additional lab tests and toxicology reports to determine the cause of death, Nelson said.

Police said the woman’s body did not display any signs of significant injuries.

Detectives were working in two shifts yesterday and had investigated about 30 leads by last night, Nelson said.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Aug/20080817News007.asp
 
The cause of death is still unclear. Capt. Brad Nelson of the Columbia Police Department said that there were no signs of life-threatening injuries on Helen Sanders' body.

Adelstein said Sanders had a history of illness that may have contributed to her death, but he would not elaborate. He said a theory about what happened to Helen Sanders would help point out where to go from here and what tissues to analyze more extensively.

"I'm really hoping some information comes out that gives us some direction," Adelstein said. "I thought it was a pretty straightforward case, but it's not."

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/s...results-woman-found-trunk-could-take-2-weeks/
 
Nelson said investigators seized numerous pieces of evidence from the home and from inside the trunk of the 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis, declining to elaborate. He said police have not found anything they consider a weapon.

A time of death has not been determined, but police "have a pretty good idea" where the woman died, Nelson said, declining again to elaborate.

Details of the Sanders family have been slow to surface. Neighbors said Helen Sanders lived with her two sons at the home and they kept to themselves, spending most of their time indoors.

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Aug/20080816News003.asp
 
Wow! For some reason, I am thinking she simply died and they didn't want to acknowledge it...perhaps for her money or something? Or maybe they freaked out? So many things other than foul play could be the answer on this one.
 
Looks like LE will have to wait until autopsy results are back before moving forward with charges. It may not have been murder at all.
The only problem I have with that is why put the body in the trunk if it was a natural death or accident.

 
Looks like these 2 boys killed their mother and didn't know what to do afterward with her body. Not a very thought out murder.
 
The 16-year-old son of a woman found dead in the trunk of her car last week allegedly assaulted his mother last year and threatened to kill her, according to court documents filed in connection with the death investigation. Gary Sanders and his 19-year-old brother, Daniel Sanders, have been labeled as people of interest in the death of their mother, 53-year-old Helen Sanders, whose body was discovered by police during a traffic stop Thursday night.
Daniel Sanders, who was driving the car, waived his right to a preliminary hearing yesterday in his first court appearance on a charge of tampering with physical evidence. Waiving the proceeding will allow the defense quicker access to information about the investigation, said his lawyer, Chris Slusher.




http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Aug/20080820News001.asp
 
On Friday, police searched the home where Daniel, Helen and Daniel's 16-year-old brother lived, seizing a number of items, including three computers, cell phones, bedding, a purple blanket, a medication organizer and scissors from a trash can in one of the bedrooms. Police returned the next day with a new warrant, hoping to find DNA evidence in laundry or clothes. This time, they seized clothes, three razors, a receipt from Gerbes and what police called a "Suicide Book," court documents said.
While police had Sanders in an interview room at the police department, they took nail clippings, swabbed his mouth and photographed his body, documents said.



http://www.columbiamissourian.com/s...-shovel-among-details-emerge-sanders-hearing/
 
From February 2010:

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news...cle_98cb3c99-54c5-5019-b06f-552fb579b9dd.html

Daniel Sanders, the Columbia man arrested after his mother’s body was found in the trunk of a car he was driving in 2008, pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon to voluntary manslaughter and tampering with physical evidence.

Assistant Prosecutor Andrew Scholz said the deal offered was for a 15-year sentence for the manslaughter charge and four years for the tampering charge, to run consecutively...

Sanders’ younger brother, Gary Sanders, was never charged in the case because no evidence connected him to his mother’s death, Scholz said.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
64
Guests online
2,373
Total visitors
2,437

Forum statistics

Threads
590,011
Messages
17,928,949
Members
228,038
Latest member
shmoozie
Back
Top