Yesterday, authorities issued an Amber Alert for 12-year-old James Anthony Sanders after he went missing last week. Just a few hours later, law enforcement acted on a tip they'd received and found Sanders and his father, 41-year-old Michael Sanders, in a motel in the North Texas city of Denton.
The elder Sanders took the boy last week after stabbing his ex-wife, Stephanie Sanders, sending her to Denton Regional Medical Center. Either she or authorities waited a week before issuing the Amber Alert because they felt James was not in immediate danger. Previously, it was reported that Ms. Sanders waited a week to have the alert issued because she didn't think her son was in danger, but authorities are now playing defense with some who have sharply criticized the move to wait days before going public with this. Apparently, they finally issued the alert after family members grew concerned that they had not seen or heard from the boy since his father took him.
Regardless of whether James was in imminent danger or not, an Amber Alert should have been issued immediately. Who knows what the boy went through this past week in his father's presence, especially after his mother was stabbed. He could have believed she was dead, and was grieving for her, for all anyone knows. In his crazy state, Michael Sanders could have stabbed his son. Infanticide is not unheard of, especially in families that endured nasty divorces.
Michael Sanders is now in jail in Cooke County, and will await his fate there. If the Sheriff's Department had waited any longer to issue an alert, he might still be a free man.
Image: Michael Sanders
©2011 Reno Berkeley for Gather News. Follow Reno on Twitter.
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