Helpful 'Searcher' Now A Suspect

Sandra M. Anderson and her dog, Eagle, dazzled police for years with their uncanny ability to locate human remains. Now she stands accused of planting bones and other fake evidence in a half-dozen cases.

A federal grand jury in Detroit handed down a 10-count indictment Wednesday, charging Anderson with evidence tampering, obstruction of justice and lying to investigators.

If convicted, she could get up to 65 years in prison.

Anderson, who previously has denied wrongdoing, did not respond to a phone message left at her home. Her attorneys did not return calls.

Anderson, 43, had been widely regarded as one of the world's foremost handlers and trainers of cadaver-searching dogs. She and Eagle searched for mass graves in Bosnia and Panama, and helped search for victims of the United Airlines jetliner that crashed in southwestern Pennsylvania after being hijacked as part of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

FBI agents arrested Anderson in April 2002 as she took part in a search in the Huron National Forest in northeastern Michigan. Police had hoped to locate the remains of Cherita Thomas, an Oscoda resident who disappeared in 1980.

The indictment accuses Anderson of planting bone fragments and carpet fibers in and around a tree stump and in the muck of a drained forest creek.

The indictment does not say where Anderson got the bones she allegedly planted. Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez said he could not discuss the matter.

Anderson also is accused of planting evidence in other cases, including a saw blade stained with her own body fluid, found in the basement of a murder suspect's home in January 2000.

By John Flesher