Amber Alert Canceled, 12-Year-Old Cooke County Boy Found
LAKE KIOWA (CBSDFW.COM) - Residents in the Lake Kiowa area of Cooke County want answers from the sheriff after an Amber Alert was issued for a missing 12-year-old boy on Thursday. It has been six days since anyone has seen James Anthony Sanders or his father, Michael Louis Sanders.
Update 12:30am 6/24/11
The Cooke County Sherrif's office confirms that the amber alert is canceled. The boy has been found and the father has been arrested by Denton County officials.
According to Sheriff Mike Compton, the father stabbed the boy's mother last Friday while in the heat of a violent argument. He then drove off with his son after the mother jumped out of the car to escape.
That stabbing incident happened inside of a gated community where Michael Sanders is renting a home. James Sanders and his mother were picking up Michael for a baseball game, but the father ended up stabbing his estranged wife in the stomach and arm.
Several nearby residents were just finding out about the stabbing and the missing boy as CBS 11 News crews arrived on the scene. "This happened six days ago? And they're just now putting the Amber Alert out? I don't understand that," said one neighbor. "That's not right."
Compton said that, because the boy was with his father, and the couple is not divorced, this case was not considered an abduction. But now, Sanders did not show up for his job in Oklahoma this past week.
The boy did talk to his grandmother on the phone on Tuesday, to say that he was okay, but there has been no other communication with the father or son since that call.
Compton said that Stephanie Sanders was released from the hospital on Thursday. She initially told authorities that she did not think her son was in danger, but after the amount of time that has gone by, she has changed her mind. That is what finally, on Thursday, prompted the Amber Alert to be issued.
James Anthony Sanders is described as being 5'2" with black hair. He was last seen in an orange and white cap, black baseball pants and a red t-shirt. Michael Sanders was last seen driving a 2005 silver Buick Rendezvous with Texas license plate BK1-X060.
Anyone with information on this case is asked to call 911 immediately.
